Antivirus

[guest4538]

This is the full Which report on BitDefender for those interested....

"Can BitDefender Internet Security 2012 beats all viruses and all anti-virus software? We sent it to our lab to find out.

With some useful features BitDefender promises much, but is ultimately let down by some ease of use niggles.

Security
Though BitDefender was ultimately capable of catching the high-tech threats we threw at it, we'd have liked to see it step in a bit earlier. For example, we were able to copy a piece of malware on to the PC's hard drive without the software giving a warning. When we manually told the software to hunt for dangerous files, it found them easily enough - but it was rather let down by the user interface.

The software is commendably non-intrusive, but the lack of a default choice for what to do with each piece of malware is disappointing. Even when you told the software what action to take, it wasn't always clear exactly what was going on, and whether you were now safe - we also saw instances where one window was warning you of a problem while another said all was well. However, we were pleased to see that it automatically ran a background scan that picked up viruses on a USB drive we inserted.

Parental controls
The parental control feature, which helps you keep younger members of your family safe online, offers a good range of preset age ranges to choose from. However, the interface is badly thought out, meaning it isn't always clear what to select. It allows you to define lists of permitted or forbidden websites, and there's a handy parental opt-in feature to enable discussion about what's allowed and what's not. However, we found this rather clumsy to set up.

Extra features
BitDefender offers a network monitoring tool to help keep an eye on other PCs on your home network. This gives you full control of the BitDefender software on those machines, allowing you to update the software or run scans whenever you want.

There's also an effective identity-protection feature included, though it's a little fiddly to set up. Tell it the information you want to secure - addresses, credit card numbers, paswords etc - and it will keep an eye out and stop them being sent to unscrupulous third parties.

Pros: Lots of useful features, good network management tool

Cons: Ease of use niggles - inconsistent interface, message wording is sometimes unhelpful"

[guest4538]

To further clarify, "BitDefender 2012" is 21st out of the 21 tested by Which. I do recall that there have been times in the past when BitDefender was very high on Which's ranking, so I don't know what has caused their downfall! 'Which' have reasonable researchers and I don't think they are influenced by any commercial pressures: 2 out of the 4 best-buy products are freebies!

[guest4538]

For what it's worth, Microsoft Security Essentials tops Which's best buys (or almost). Which has granted only 4 best buys (see below). BitDefender is way down their list, with a score of 42%!

[el-bow]

Hi, Ive used bit defender in the past & have found it to be very good, if you click on this link you will see that its rated No1 in the top ten review
http://anti-virus-software-review.toptenreviews.com/

[loafer]

Hi,

Does anyone use BitDefender Total Security 2012 or previous versions or any BitDefender antivirus and would like to give me an opinion it. PM if you want.

Cheers,

Loafer