*NEW!*
BitDefender Internet Security 2010
BitDefender Internet Security 2010 keeps up the good work this year with an excellent Internet Security suite.
They've kept the solid antivirus and malware protection we've come to expect from them, have improved the interface, and added some new noteworthy features, too.
The firewall software compontent is strong and easily managed by the novice or advanced user.
A software firewall is a vital first line of defense in any Internet security suite.
IMPROVED FEATURES
Great real-time protection
Excellent resource usage
Powerful firewall
Spyware and adware detection and protection wasn't quite as good as we'd hoped, but it should still do the job for most people.
The user interface has been modernized for 2010, with BitDefender taking a strategy similar to many other antivirus firewall software vendors and providing Novice, Intermediate, or Expert settings.
We usually feel like these settings aren't done well, but in BitDefender's case, we feel like they got the settings right.
As for system resource usage, we're glad to see resource usage was very low again this year.
Scanning and email protection was solid with only a few exceptions.
Parental controls, like most found in antivirus / Internet security software, were average at best.
While they can monitor and control most web activities, they leave out social networking sites and chat rooms which are major flaws.
Overall, BitDefender Internet Security 2010 does a terrific job at general PC protection.
We expect nothing less from BitDefender, and they deliver as promised. It's still a low-cost, minimum-footprint, powerful antivirus/firewall solution for computer security--especially for what you get.
BitDefender Internet Security 2010 Features
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- Real-time Protection
Keeps your PC safe from viruses, spyware, adware, and other malware in real-time. Rest assured your computer is being protected 24/7.
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- Spyware Removal
Stops spyware and adware from infecting your computer. Finds and deletes spyware already on your PC.
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- Email Protection
Stops viruses and other malware from infecting your inbox. Scans incoming and outgoing emails for potential threats.
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- Instant Messaging Protection
Keeps IM conversations safe by scanning and blocking malicious file transfers. Helps to keep suspicious intruders out of your IM chats.
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- Anti-Phishing
Identifies and blocks suspicious phishing sites that may try to steal personal or sensitive information. Reduces the threat of credit card and identity theft.
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- Parental Controls
Monitors and blocks inappropriate websites to keep kids safe online. Helps parents limit computer usage time.
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- Firewall
Stops intrusive programs from accessing your PC. Your first line of defense against viruses and malware.
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- Anti-spam
Helps keep your inbox free of junk email.
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- Vulnerability Check
Checks the following: Windows updates, application updates, Windows account passwords, up-to-date programs.
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- Privacy Control
Allows you to make rules that prevent certain users from sending out sensitive data via IM, email (smtp only), or web.
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- Encryption of IM Messages
IM conversations are encrypted for maximum privacy and protection.
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- Rescue CD
Creates a rescue CD just in case you need an emergency recovery.
BitDefender Internet Security Suite 2010 Assessment
Here we've listed a breakdown of each category we've tested for BitDefender Internet Security 2010. Each category was given a percentage rating based on those tests.
Antivirus Installation: 91%
A standard install wizard will walk you through all the steps needed to install. For a direct download, download time was only about 1 min.
During the install, as with the basic
BitDefender Antivirus 2010, you'll be asked to choose a profile: Typical, Gamer, Parent, or Custom.
Each of these have different settings according to the needs of each type of user. We found the settings to be logical and appropriately named for what level of protection you get in each mode.
If you're on a home network, the installation will give you settings that allow you to manage other BitDefender products if you have them.
This is a very, very handy feature when you've got more than one PC to take care of, as you won't have to manually go to each computer to perform antivirus firewall software maintenance tasks. Very nice.
And, if you're on a laptop, the installation process will install features that help to manage battery power.
Definition updates are automatically downloaded with the installation process. The total install took us only about 5 minutes all together.
BitDefender's installation has some different options than you may be used to, but we found them to be most useful and a nice advance in overall process.
For instance, BitDefender asks you if you want to reboot or not, but you'll need to do a reboot to get the software to work properly.
It's nice that they give you this option, but you'll want to reboot as soon as possible regardless.
BitDefender Internet Security Installation Screenshots
Un-installation: 92%
If you ever need to uninstall BitDefender, it's as easy and straightforward as you can ask for.
You can either uninstall through the self-uninstaller or through Windows' ADD/REMOVE Programs feature.
It can take up to 2 minutes to complete the uninstall, and a reboot is required.
All related files were successfully removed, and we didn't find any troublesome traces in the registry.
User Interface: 96%
The user interface control panel has a very modern and clean look without being overwhelming or unfamiliar.
BitDefender realizes there are ever-increasing settings needed for total Internet security.
The question is how to present these security options to the user.
Therefore, for starters they've wisely split the user interface into 3 separate sections for you to choose from: Novice, Intermediate, or Expert.
The Novice interface is very easy to use. You can set-it and forget-it.
The Intermediate interface walks you through several wizards where you choose the best settings for how you use your computer.
We felt like the wizard was logical and did a good job.
The Expert interface uses a tab-based format where you freely access any and all settings.
Overall, the 3 different interface styles provide an easy user interface appropriate for any user level.
BitDefender Internet Security User Interface Screenshots
Real-time Protection: 90%
The real-time protection is fast acting and accurate. BitDefender detects viruses and malware as soon as they're transferred to your computer.
When a file is transferred to your PC, an alert is given that the file is in use, and there's a notification in the System tray describing the threat.
BitDefender detected 90% of all malware we tested against it--and we tested a lot.
Really, it's a great score considering no Internet Security / antivirus firewall software can ever be 100% accurate.
Memory usage was less than 5MB while real-time protection was engaged.
Memory usage increased only slightly when the software was dealing with a malicious file.
Overall, a very good real-time protection result.
Manual Antivirus Scan: 95%
BitDefender detected 90% of all viruses and malware when we ran a full-system manual scan.
The scan took a little longer than some of the other Internet Security software we tested, but that's ok since the resource usage during a manual scan was so low.
A fair trade-off, we feel.
BitDefender Internet Security Manual Scan Screenshots
Resource Usage: 92%
Memory usage during real-time activity was about 3% (very low).
During a full-system manual scan, BitDefender used only about 82% CPU. Memory usage started around 70MB and slowly grew to 110MB after 12 minutes of scanning. Not bad.
We didn't detect any noticeable lag-time in browser or PC usage during real-time protection or manual scanning.
Overall resource usage was very low. At 3% real-time memory usage, you really can't beat that.
BitDefender Internet Security 2010
Antivirus Scanning Resource Usage
|
| Real-Time Memory |
3.0% |
| Manual Scan Memory |
110MB |
| Manual Scan CPU |
82% |
Note: These are the average results we found during our testing.
Every PC is different, of course, so your results may vary, but we expect these results to be fairly representative.
|
Spyware/Adware Protection: 89%
As for malware of the spyware / adware variety, 75% were removed.
While this isn't a great score per se, it's still much better than most of the other Internet Security software we've ever tested (note: the remaining spyware that was not removed was also not removed by most competing antivirus firewall software either.)
There were a few items that couldn't be removed during our tests. While they were detected, final deletion wasn't possible. However, all of the most dangerous and annoying spyware/adware was successfully removed.
Not a bad anti-spyware and anti-adware, but we hope they'll do much better next year.
Virus Removal from a Pre-infected Machine: 91%
We pre-infected our testing PCs, then installed BitDefender to see how well it would perform.
During installation, the software scanned the system and caught 20% of the already installed malware. However, it didn't identify the dormant malware we planted on the machine that wasn't yet installed and active.
After running a full-system scan, BitDefender caught 90% of all malware already on the system. We always encourage our users to perform a full-system antivirus scan after you install any antivirus firewall software to ensure all viruses and malware have been detected and removed.
While BitDefender didn't perform as well as we'd like to see on an initial installation scan, we still give them a good score because once a full system-wide scan was performed, it picked up all the viruses we expected it to.
Email Protection: 95%
This version doesn't include a direct email anti-virus feature. However, all files or programs attempting to access your PC are equally scanned – whether they come via email or web.
Therefore, your inbox is still protected with BitDefender's overall antivirus/anti-malware protection as long as your realtime antivirus protection is enabled.
Anti-spam: 70%
A fully-featured anti-spam toolbar is added to Outlook, Outlook Express, and Thunderbird, the three most popular email clients.
It has predefined definitions for spam, but needs to be trained for optimum protection.
You point the toolbar towards your inbox to indicate “safe” emails, then point it to your spam folder for “bad” emails.
This allows you to train the anti-spam fast and efficiently.
Contact lists can be imported into the safe list. Works with Outlook, Thunderbird, and Outlook Express.
We weren't thrilled with the overall spam detection rates; however, it was easy to train and use and did catch quite a bit of the spam to our spammiest test email accounts.
Firewall: 97%
BitDefender Internet Security Suite 2010
Firewall Scores
|
|
Firewall Performance
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| Inbound Blocking |
96 |
| Outbound Blocking |
96 |
|
Other Firewall Ratings
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| Firewall Ease-of-Use |
98 |
| Configuration Flexibility |
97 |
|
The BitDefender firewall performed exceptionally well in our tests.
The software firewall caught all malware attempts to access the Internet.
If the file was identified as a virus, the firewall wouldn't allow it access. If the file could not be identified, BitDefender's firewall still blocked it to be safe.
This is what we expect from all antivirus firewall software. Period. We're glad to see BitDefender nailed this.
Both inbound and outbound requests are monitored.
For firewall management, you can choose from three different levels: Novice, Intermediate, or Expert.
The Novice and Intermediate modes are very stripped down, but firewall protection is still at 100% no matter what mode you're in. It's really just a matter of what level of
control you need from firewall software.
The Novice and Intermediate settings are a bit more hidden and won't bother you with prompts for normal functions like web browsing, Outlook, etc.
An alert will, however, let you know when unknown or potentially harmful programs try to access your PC.
Expert mode gives you the most settings and alert options. In Expert mode the firewall software has traditional features, and thanks to the well designed user interface, it's easy to use.
When you're in Expert mode, it will ask you permission for every attempt to access the Internet, then let you always allow or always deny that item.
This makes for a nice blanket permission selection, and it's also very helpful for tracking down really, really pesky spyware and viruses, if you ever need it.
BitDefender's firewall gets one of our highest scores this year.
Parental Controls: 82%
The parental control suite allows you to block web pages, schedule web usage, and monitor applications and IM conversations.
Windows users accounts can be set to either Adult, Teenager, or Child mode. Each category has different levels of preset web-blocking.
There are 17 categories of websites that can be blocked, and these categories can be changed for each mode (Adult, Teen, Child), but not for each Windows account unfortunately.
New categories can be added to make unique settings across multiple Windows accounts (since all Adult, Teen, and Child accounts are the same).
Application usage can be scheduled, or applications can be blocked at all times. Nice for parents who're trying to make sure their kids really are working on their book report and
aren't just chatting with friends on AOL Instant Messenger.
You can add keywords, and if these keywords are found in a website, IM, or email, the web page will be blocked.
The IM protection lets you allow or block contacts by denying all except your listed contacts, or allow all except listed contacts.
The parental controls can also email you an activity report. This is a great feature that not every full-fledged parental control software offers.
The parental controls are easy to use and would be effective for limiting a child's access to websites and for limiting the time playing games or being online.
However, it won't help you see who they're talking within social networks or chatrooms. It won't capture keystrokes or help you gather passwords.
Social networks and chatrooms are key danger zones for kids of all ages. This is one major flaw in BitDefender's parental controls feature and the main reason we can't give this section a higher score.
That said, having this feature built into an Internet security suite is likely to be a good choice for many parents who don't want--or can't afford--dedicated parental control software.
IM Protection: 90%
Although Instant Messaging (IM) protection is not listed as a separate feature, all URLs that pass through IM are still scanned for phishing (Live/MSN Messenger, and Yahoo Messenger only).
However, we still give BitDefender high marks for effectively scanning any file that attempts to transfer through IM (as long as real-time protection is enabled of course).
Anti-phishing: 93%
Impressively, the anti-phishing feature caught and correctly identified all known phishing sites we tested, which is something few competitors can say.
BitDefender's anti-phishing tools come in the form of toolbar for Internet Explorer and Firefox. Currently, there's no support for Chrome, Opera, or other browsers.
Most sites were blocked immediately, but there were a few that took 3-8 seconds to block.
We also like the fact that it gives you the option to proceed to a site “this time only” or whitelist it directly from the blocked page (as opposed to opening the Internet Security settings), just in case their software mis-labels something as a phishing site that isn't.
In our testing we didn't see even one site labeled as a phishing site that wasn't. BitDefender had a 100% success rate in correctly labeling sites with zero false positives.
It's important to note that if you're going to rely on the BitDefender anti-phishing tool, their toolbar needs to be installed and active at all times to work.
Antivirus Definition Updates: 90%
In Expert mode, you can change the frequency of updates (the default is one hour, which we feel is fine for most everyone).
You can also change it so the alerts are completely silent or you can set other combinations of alerts/prompts when downloading or installing updates.
Customer Support: 89%
Phone, chat, and email support are all free; however, the phone numbers aren't toll-free.
We couldn't find any listed support hours for chat services, but phone support is available 24 hours a day in English (US, Canada, UK and worldwide).
Unfortunately, the phone, email and chat support options are not always easy to find. From within the BitDefender control panel there's access to the Help Files. There you'll find a small support link that will give you access to the Knowledgebase.
Once in the Knowledgebase, you can either find your answer there or click deeper to finally get to the chat, email, and phone support options.
You'll be required to sign in for these features using the BitDefender ID that you created during installation.
We applaud BitDefender for having free customer and tech support, but they really need to make access to these features much easier.
BitDefender Internet Security Suite 2010
Review Conclusions
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BitDefender Internet Security Suite 2010 Scores
|
|
Antivirus
|
$39.95
|
| Overall Internet Security Protection |
97 |
| Real-time Security Protection |
90 |
| Manual Antivirus Scanning |
95 |
| Resource Utlization |
92 |
| Virus Removal (Pre-infected Machine) |
91 |
| Antivirus Definition Updates |
90 |
|
Additional Internet Security Features
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| Spyware/Adware Protection |
89 |
| Email Protection |
95 |
| Anti-Spam Protection |
70 |
| Firewall Software |
97 |
| Parental Controls Software |
82 |
| IM/Instant Message Protection |
90 |
| Anti-Phishing Protection |
93 |
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Other Software Ratings
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| Installation |
91 |
| Un-installation |
92 |
| User Interface |
96 |
| Customer Technical Support |
89 |
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We really like BitDefender Internet Security 2010. Year after year they've released an excellent Internet security software suite suitable for any user level. This year is no exception.
The user interface is easy to use. The firewall is powerful, easily managed, and does its job very well. And the antivirus and malware protection is top-notch.
- Great real-time protection
- Nice user interface
- Better resource usage
- Excellent firewall
The only real issues we had were with the average
Parental Controls
and the less-than-stellar antispyware protection.
Both are acceptable for use, but they could use stronger features next year.
Real-time antivirus and malware protection was excellent. BitDefender's software responded fast and accurately every time.
For core, thorough PC protection, you really can't go wrong with BitDefender Internet Security 2010.
BitDefender Internet Security Suite 2010
XP System Requirements
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- Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 or higher
- Mozilla Firefox 2.5 or higher
- CD-ROM drive
(NOT required for installation via the Internet)
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| Software
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Microsoft Windows XP Professional
(Service Pack 2)
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
(Service Pack 2)
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| Processor/CPU
|
Intel Pentium processor 800 MHz or faster
(or compatible)
|
| System Memory/RAM
|
512 MB
|
| Free Disk Space
|
450 MB
|
| Email
|
- Thunderbird 2.0.0.17
- Microsoft Outlook 2000
- Microsoft Outlook 2003
- Microsoft Outlook 2007
- Outlook Express
- Windows Mail
|
| Instant Messaging
|
- Yahoo Messenger 8.5
- Windows Live Messenger 8
|
BitDefender Internet Security Suite 2010
Windows 7 / Vista System Requirements
|
- Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 or higher
- Mozilla Firefox 2.5 or higher
- CD-ROM drive
(NOT required for installation via the Internet)
|
Software
(32/64 bit)
|
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium
Microsoft Windows Vista Business
Microsoft Windows Vista Enterprise
Windows 7
|
| Processor/CPU
|
Intel Pentium processor 800 MHz or faster
32 bit (x86)/64 bit (x64)
[or compatible]
|
| System Memory/RAM
|
1 GB
|
| Free Disk Space
|
450 MB
|
| Email
|
- Thunderbird 2.0.0.17
- Microsoft Outlook 2000
- Microsoft Outlook 2003
- Microsoft Outlook 2007
- Outlook Express
- Windows Mail
|
| Instant Messaging
|
- Yahoo Messenger 8.5
- Windows Live Messenger 8
|
BitDefender vs VIPRE Antivirus
