ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Bitdefender Total Security bundles antivirus and anti-malware with different digital privateness instruments for $109.99 per 12 months for people and $139.99 per 12 months for a household of as much as 5, although Bitdefender usually runs promotions on its annual plans. (On the time of writing, subscriptions had been discounted to $49.99 and $69.99, respectively.)
- Bitdefender presents stable safety towards threats throughout platforms by way of a group of unpolluted, user-friendly apps and extensions.
- Bitdefender is considerably extra sturdy on Home windows than on MacOS, and the included VPN is just too restricted for many customers on desktop.
A superb antivirus and anti-malware answer can complement your system’s privateness and safety features to battle towards evolving digital threats, together with ransomware and phishing. Bitdefender Total Security presents a number of layers of safety and prevention throughout platforms inside user-friendly apps and browser extensions.
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Bitdefender presents a 30-day free trial of its Complete Safety suite — all you might want to do is create an account and obtain and set up the software program in your laptop or cellphone. In case you do not buy or activate a subscription earlier than your trial expires, your safety will finish, as Bitdefender does not require a bank card upfront. Bitdefender Complete Safety for people permits entry on as much as 5 gadgets (Home windows, MacOS, Android, and iOS), so you possibly can attempt before you purchase on each desktop and cellular.
Like many antivirus applications, Bitdefender for Home windows has probably the most options: anti-spam filtering, a privateness firewall, and Wi-Fi safety assessments, to call a couple of. As a result of I examined Bitdefender Complete Safety on MacOS, I used to be not capable of attempt all the full suite obtainable to Home windows customers.
Bitdefender is at the moment our prime decide for the best antivirus software overall.
Set up and setup course of
You may set up Bitdefender once you first join your trial or entry your subscription and downloads later by logging into your Bitdefender Central account. Comply with the prompts so as to add the software program to your machine. You may want to regulate Bitdefender’s permissions in your system settings, which the setup wizard will information you thru. Bitdefender may generate a QR code or obtain hyperlinks to ship through e mail or textual content to different gadgets — keep in mind, you possibly can have Bitdefender Complete Safety on as much as 5 at a time — so you possibly can add the Bitdefender Cellular Safety app on Android or iOS. You may have to log in utilizing your Bitdefender Central credentials.
After you have the app up and working, you may as well add the Bitdefender Site visitors Gentle extension, which protects towards phishing makes an attempt and malicious net content material, and the Bitdefender Anti-tracker extension, to your browser.
If you wish to make the most of Bitdefender’s VPN service — which is powered by Hotspot Defend and comes along with your subscription — you will should obtain a separate app and allow the suitable entry in your system settings.
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Lastly, you possibly can add the Bitdefender Password Supervisor browser extension, log in along with your Bitdefender credentials, and arrange a grasp password to entry your vault. Bitdefender permits imports from a handful of different frequent password management tools like Bitwarden, 1Password, and LastPass, or you possibly can add particular person objects for brand new or present accounts, identities, or bank cards.
Password administration on cellular requires a separate app (Bitdefender Password Supervisor), and the VPN will quickly be absolutely migrated to the standalone Bitdefender VPN app. You may as well obtain Bitdefender Central to entry your dashboard and handle your subscription.
Bitdefender fundamentals
The Bitdefender desktop app on MacOS permits you to manually scan your complete system, do a “fast” scan on vital areas, or choose particular recordsdata or folders for a customized scan. (There isn’t a choice to arrange scheduled scans.) Bitdefender Defend is the real-time model of scanning on Mac — if enabled, it would scan apps, updates, and new and modified recordsdata for threats. Bitdefender can disinfect or quarantine suspicious or contaminated objects, which you’ll view underneath Safety > Antivirus within the app. Scan logs and outcomes might be discovered on the Notifications tab.
Bitdefender for Home windows has numerous settings — together with gaming, film, and work modes — to scale back the app’s drag in your machine and optimize battery life. On MacOS, you possibly can’t alter settings for scan speeds or efficiency. A full scan required 90 minutes on my machine, whereas a fast scan took round 40 minutes. I did not discover any affect on my system throughout both.
All of Bitdefender’s apps have a clear design and are straightforward to navigate. Nonetheless, I discovered having a number of apps on desktop and cellular together with three separate browser extensions to be clunky.
Distinctive options (and the way properly they work)
Bitdefender Complete Safety contains VPN safety for 200 MB of site visitors per system, per day. For many customers, 200 MB does not go very far, so this can be a likelihood for Bitdefender to upsell you to its Premium or Final plans with limitless VPN site visitors (priced at $129.99 and $159.99, respectively, when not discounted). Inside the VPN app, you possibly can allow advert blocking and anti-tracking, alter auto-connect settings, and activate a kill swap, which can shut down all site visitors if the VPN connection is misplaced.
On MacOS, Bitdefender protects towards ransomware by stopping unknown applications from accessing, making adjustments to, or deleting essential recordsdata. The app mechanically selects doubtlessly delicate folders and file paths, however you possibly can take away or add others in addition to see any purposes that attempt to achieve entry. Time Machine safety does the identical for backups of your system.
The TrafficLight browser extension catches threats like phishing and malware by exhibiting you which of them hyperlinks in your search outcomes are secure or suspicious and alerting you if you happen to’ve clicked on one thing harmful. Individually, Bitdefender Anti-tracker identifies and blocks advert trackers, website analytics trackers, third-party cookies, and many others., as you browse, which additionally decreases web page loading instances. You may as well disable blocking for particular websites. Each extensions are free and work independently from a Bitdefender subscription.
Cellular safety on iOS contains anti-phishing safety for net searching and calendar occasion hyperlinks, safety scans of your system, SMS filtering, and knowledge breach monitoring on your e mail deal with. On Android, you get further safety features like an app lock and anti-theft to remotely lock or wipe your system.
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ZDNET’s shopping for recommendation
As we have famous earlier than, you don’t necessarily need to pay for antivirus software: your system already has built-in safety, and there are a selection of free third-party instruments. Bitdefender is definitely certainly one of our picks for the best free antivirus, with fundamental scanning and stay buyer assist obtainable for free of charge. The $109.99 annual subscription for Bitdefender Total Security is probably going to offer extra worth to Home windows customers than these on MacOS due to a extra sturdy set of options, a wider vary of safety, and extra granular efficiency settings, so if you’re in search of a paid antivirus choice, Bitdefender is a stable selection.
Having a bundled password supervisor, VPN, and knowledge breach detection could also be enticing to some customers — however Bitdefender’s variations of those instruments are extra restricted than particular VPN and password administration companies (a lot of that are available at little or no cost) and should not be the first motive to pay a premium for antivirus.
Lastly, at first look, it is onerous to find out the distinction between the cheaper Bitdefender Antivirus Plus and Bitdefender Complete Safety aside from password administration and the power to guard as much as 5 gadgets (in comparison with one or three relying on the tier you select). There are a handful of further options for Home windows customers, akin to parental controls, a privateness firewall, and cryptomining safety. On MacOS, although, the upcharge for Complete Safety does not get you a lot over Antivirus for Mac.
