AntiVirus Software: Bitdefender Antivirus Plus 2012

Review

If you’re looking for a strong and easy antivirus software, Bitdefender Antivirus Plus stands at the ready. Offering rock-solid security, simple usability, effective resource usage and an enticing price point, Bitdefender Antivirus Plus is the best antivirus software and our TopTenREVIEWS Gold Award winner. It is a top-tier antivirus software solution with superior protection and performance whether you’re an advanced user looking to control the whole process manually or an average user who simply wants a set-and-forget solution. This antivirus software provides protection and peace of mind without taxing your PC performance or paycheck.

The software is available as boxed software or via online download. Both are easy to install and implement. Installation is quick and includes step-by-step instructions. The process includes a pre-installation scan and doesn’t require a reboot before you’re up and running.. The user interface is elegant and minimalistic. You can drag and drop modules to perform actions directly from the main window. The application uses a feature called Autopilot to make security-related decisions without prompting you for responses. There is nothing to configure, no alerts and no pop-ups. If you choose to make any manual changes to the security settings, Autopilot shuts itself off in the same way that your car's cruise control cancels itself if you tap the brakes.

Performance

Bitdefender Antivirus Plus is effective at successfully blocking, removing, neutralizing and preventing malware infections. Third-party industry testers and reviewers agree that Bitdefender is one of the best. It ensures security without sacrificing speed. Smart Scan technology takes advantage of PC processing power without being burdensome. Depending on what other tasks you have running and what resources are available, Bitdefender Antivirus Plus adjusts to optimize operations and maintain speed. In order to maintain the maximum performance that contributes to ease of use, the Scan Dispatcher feature discovers and uses available time slices if your system's resource utilization drops below a certain threshold.

Features

Bitdefender Antivirus Plus protects against a number of online threats, including social media threats, viruses, spyware and phishing scams. The software covers you from every angle, protecting you from threats on the internet, over email and via instant messaging. The application scans all web, IM and email traffic for malware, and it can encrypt IM chat conversations. The product includes a cross-browser module that intercepts and scans web traffic before it can touch the browser. With SEO-poisoning and targeted attacks (particularly on popular search terms), even the top results in Google can be dangerous.

The best aspect of the software is its unmatched level of security. Active Virus Control is a feature that detects and demolishes stealth threats using proactive measures to monitor all application activity. It keeps an eye on suspicious file behaviors. One minor discrepancy won’t stop the file in question (thus avoiding false-positives), but if enough malware-like actions are detected, Bitdefender Active Virus Control will lock it down. Malware has difficulty bypassing Active Virus Control because most malware functions in kernel mode. The design of Active Virus Control ensures that it does not have an undue impact on system resources.

Bitdefender also monitors privacy settings on Facebook and Twitter and blocks any threatening links that your friends send you from inside those social media networks. An Anti-fraud Filter detects fraudulent websites that are likely to scam and blocks you from fake banks, escrow scams and career/employment scams. Another way in which the product protects you from scammers is with a free credit monitoring service. The service is available within the United States and it will alert you if it discovers changes to your credit reports.

When, inevitably, threats such as rootkits breach all other defenses and burrow deeply into the operating system, you can reboot in Rescue mode, which places you into an environment where you can perform cleanup and restoration. If you pop in a CD, DVD or USB drive, the system detects the action and scans the media for threats.

A special tool worth mentioning is the secure gamer mode. Whether you’re playing a video game or in full-screen mode for a presentation or video, the gamer mode turns off any interruptions but doesn’t sacrifice security. You can even set up a list of games or other applications that require gamer mode for a completely automatic solution. A similar feature is the laptop mode, which saves resources when a laptop is unplugged.

While the proactive, heuristic detection and real-time prevention technology fight off new threats, timely virus definition updates are also an essential part of antivirus software. Bitdefender can perform updates automatically and run in the background without slowing down your computer. You don’t have to update manually (though you can if you want), and you don’t have to worry about updates slowing down your system. Furthermore, you don’t have to worry about updates causing problems or losing program files. If file damage occurs, Bitdefender automatically repairs itself with the newest working update.

Help & Support

This antivirus application is easy to use. But for times when you need additional assistance or support with a specific problem, help is available 24/7 via phone, email or online live chat. The dedicated help section on the Bitdefender's website includes articles, a knowledgebase, help files, troubleshooting and a variety of video tutorials. Integrated help is completely searchable, helping you to locate relevant answers and information.

Summary

We’ve been impressed with Bitdefender Antivirus for years. The publisher continues to innovate and improve year after year to maintain its premiere position. New online threats continue to emerge and target different vulnerabilities. This antivirus software beats the threats from viruses, worms, Trojans and other malware. It protects against the dangers that appear on social media networks. And it protects you from dangerous emails and malicious web sites. It is effective at what it does, as documented by the most respected third-party test labs. It is also easy to install and to use. The product contains thoughtful features that anticipate most of the situations in which you may find yourself. It behaves well if you are playing games or your laptop is unplugged. It pays attention to when you are using the computer heavily and doesn't consume system resources if they are already working hard. Bitdefender will happily update itself and function without bothering you, unless you want to be more involved in the security decisions. If something bad makes its way past Bitdefender in such a way that the product can't clean it, a Rescue Mode reboot puts you in position to isolate and terminate the problem. You can always contact the publisher for help via online chat, telephone or email on any day and at any hour.

BitDefender Antivirus Plus delivers effective and affordable protection. Buy it and don't look back.

Source: TopTenREVIEWS

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Bitdefender AntiVirus Plus 2012 Value M2 3Pc/2 Years

Bitdefender AntiVirus Plus 2012 Standard M2 - 3Pc/1 Year

Bitdefender AntiVirus Plus 2012 Standard M1 3U/1 Year