BitDefender Total Security 2008 – 2 Years/3 Pc’s

BitDefender seems to have taken a cue from the more popular AV software in its newest release. BitDefender 2008′s appearance has changed dramatically in its new incarnation; its master interface looks and feels suspiciously like Symantec’s Norton Antivirus. While the attempt to be more user friendly is a good thing, the controls may feel bulky and inefficient for those used to the old setup. Further, the BitDefender console can run quite slowly on less powerful computers, and, oddly, some buttons don’t seem to work at times.

BitDefender 2008 also seems to suffer functionality problems on some systems (I run Vista Home Premium); occasionally features (update, identity control, stealth mode, and firewall among them) will simply stop working (BitDefender will say they are “unavailable”), and not start again until the computer is restarted. This is usually associated with either an update that requires a system restart (in which case it will inform you) or coming back from sleep or hybernation (in which case it will NOT always say your protection has been compromised). This seems to have improved as the software has been patched, but it’s still not 100%.

Despite these hangups, BitDefender is a solid piece of internet security software. 2008 is loaded with features; all those from the last version plus some new ones, including automatic file backup, registry cleaner, identity control, a basic disk defragmenter, game mode, and a file shredder (I won’t bother explaining them here; check the BitDefender website and they’ll tell you all about it). Makeover aside, it still provides the same superior protection old customers will expect and new ones appreciate.

Bugs aside, BitDefender still makes the grade, with quicker definitions updates and better heuristic detection than most competitors, including Norton and McAffe. If you’re willing to tolerate its flaws, it provides efficient and effective antivirus, P2P, and firewall protection.

First, most security software packages offer free trials. Try them before you buy since there is no internet security suite that works great on most computers. If they work great then come here or someplace else that has better prices then the manufacturer. Then just type in the installation key.

I am giving stars to security software I tried based on two criteria. First is how well does it protect, and second, what are the odds it will work well on your computer. I decided to give it three stars.

Caveat – This is not totally fair since if BitDefender works for you, it is the best deal out there for the price. You get two years of excellent protection for what others charge for one year.

At first BitDefender worked great on two computers, a super fast somewhat new computer, and an old 1.5 ghz XP computer, both XP computers built by me.

It gives 5 stars coverage when it works since it gives outstanding protection. Independent testing says it is great. I left it on my children’s computer for almost the entire 30 day trial and it ran really fast and prevented all problems. I did not test the spam protection since my email provider does that well. However my children normally download all sorts of infected downloads and autoloading junk, and the computer can quickly get infected with nasty viruses(not lame cookies).

However on my computer I had the same problem as an earlier reviewer where the firewall and scanning turned itself off. For that reason I am guessing the odds of it not working are pretty good, and the consequences when it doesn’t are pretty severe. In BitDefenders defense, they warn you with two big red X’s that the protection is off. I was just too dense to look up what that meant. But since I feel the odds of not working are pretty good, I give it three stars overall.

Just to clarify, all other security software I tried gave me problems. Norton was the worst. I not sure why I tried Norton since we use it at work and I am not happy with it there (it has advantages in a network evironment), but I could not get it to do anything. Worse I could not remove it. I tried standard uninstall, a utility program on the Norton site, and standard windows methods including registry deletions. I finally booted up in command mode and deleted the program that way. However I then lost network connections and tried for three hours before I gave up and did a total new install of Windows.

McAfee is good but I detested the user interface on the 2007 version so I never tried the 2008 version.

I have decided to purchase TrendMicro again. But it has problems too, such as the 2007 version will not run on my children’s computer. It conflicts with most security software. And forget about installing it if you already have viruses (Try it after BitDefender which did a great job of cleaning up my children’s computer and that will not be a problem).

BitDefender, TrendMicro, McAfee, Norton and Panda will protect your computer well if they work. I just think TrendMicro has a better chance of working.