2013 Antivirus Software Reviews

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BitDefender Internet Security 2013 Overall Score: 94%

by Josh Christofferson, Co-Editor

BitDefender Internet Security 2013 offers the same virus protection as their antivirus software, but with the addition of extra security features.

Overall, we found this program to consistently perform well at it's main task — virus protection.

Our primary complaint is with its poor techical support. It's also a fairly large program (but it won't slow down your PC) and we think its interface could be a bit brighter in the color-scheme.

Despite these minor issues, we recommend this product as one of the better Internet security suites out there.

Certified by:

• AV-Comparatives
• AV-Test
• ICSA Labs
• Virus Bulletin
• West Coast Labs

Bitdefender performed extremely well in our tests, making it consistently one of the better antivirus programs out there.

This was also confirmed by other major testing labs which showed BitDefender's virus and malware removal to be top-notch.

Bottom line: we trust its protection enough to put it in our top three.
Resource usage was, overall, pretty low. CPU use was slightly high, 2-3%, but still an acceptable range.

During manual scans, BitDefender used a bit more memory — 91% of RAM and 69% of CPU. This was higher than we like to see, but the system was still usable and we didn't notice any significant system drag.
BitDefender provides a simple interface with straightforward navigation.

Each section can be accessed via a tile or a drop-down menu.

The color scheme may be a little dark for some, but it's still solid and professional-looking.

Within each section, more settings and controls are available, but not so many that you get lost or confused.

The best part is, there's an "auto-pilot" mode which you can toggle on or off. This is basically a "set it and forget it" mode that is suitable for the majority of people.
The support link at the bottom of the user interface offers three support sections: "Help" — which is a searchable database of topics, "Support Center" — which launches a browser to more help topics, and "Contact" — which launches a tool that will gather data on your system, send it BitDefender for anaylisis, then they'll contact you with further options. I wouldn't call that a "contact" page (even though there's a phone icon, there's no phone number via this route).

To find an actual phone number, you'll need to navigate to the actual "Contact Us" page on their site — because there's no link or phone number on the support page, nor on the user interface.

You can also find chat, email, and forum support options on their "Contact Us" page.

Despite some very good self-help resources, BitDefender needs to make free phone support easier to access.
A crucial feature, BitDefender checks for updates upon start-up or restart as well as every hour.

There is also an option for a manual update check, if you prefer, which we appreciate.
Bitdefender offers several extra features that are worthy of consideration.

BitDefender's Parental Controls are basic but thorough. Generally, we believe that a full, stand-alone parental control software is necessary for maximum parental control. However, BitDefender's parental control option is adequate.

You have control over web access, application access, instant messaging access, and scheduling. A potential downside is that this feature might look a little confusing at first glance. For starters, the feature is a little hard to find on the user interface.

Once you find it in the top drop-down menu, you'll need to log into your account via a browser and set up your child's profile. The user interface in the browser isn't exactly intuitive, but but not too difficult to sort out after some time.

SafeGo was a new feature last year that we really got excited about. This scans your Facebook pages for links that might be scams or viruses. Even if you only use Facebook once in awhile, you need this app. And it won't slow down your Facebook experience at all.

Privacy Control is small suite of privacy-related security features. For instance, a tool bar can be activated to prevent phishing scams, launch sandbox browsing, or warn against unsafe sites.

Chat encryption and data protection rules (social security and credit card encryption) can be accessed here as well.

Safepay opens online banking pages in a separate, secure browser that prevents hackers from obtaining any banking information. A handy extra layer of protection.

This feature scans a USB flash drives from viruses and then immunizes it to prevent accidentally spreading viruses to others.

Bitdefender has always placed in our top three. It's extremely effective at virus protection, easy to use, and offers excellent extra features.

The weak spots are worth noting: Bitdefender's hands-off approach to tech support and imperfect parental controls.

If either of those are not top priority for you, then BitDefender is a great choice.