Bitdefender Antivirus / Internet Security / Total Security Discussion

This thread is dedicated towards all Bitdefender products discussion, troubleshooting, etc

 

BitDefender Free Edition v1.0.5.10

Finally, the great / light BitDefender Free gets updated after a year with no updates, now with Windows 10 Support.

As buggy and bloated as the BitDefender products are, the Free Edition contains no bloat, no ads, no HTTP scanner to slow your internet. This is one of the best free AVs out there!

 

BitDefender Free Edition v1.0.21.1109

 

@Phoenix
In your opinion, how does this compare to other free AVs' such as Avast?

 

1) Look at the performance impact (the lower, the better), both are almost at a tie = http://chart.av-comparatives.org/chart1.php?chart=chart4&year=2016&month=10&sort=1

2) Avast, if not installed correctly, has a lot of bloatware and by default, it sends anonymous usage data to Avast unless turned off from the settings. When installing Avast!, uncheck everything but the File Scanner and Webshield, you don't want any of the other junk such as software updater, avast browser, Avast DNS, etc.

3) Bitdefender just install and use, nothing to fiddle with, the only downside is that it doesn't have an exclusion option so once a false positive is detected, it is quarantined on the spot, but the user can still restore the file from the quarantine and have it excluded then only.

My personal pick: Bitdefender AV Free

Forget all other free AVs as they usually include nags to upgrade to the full version, PUPs, etc

PS: Notice in the above link for performance tests, how Windows Defender is the last, it is the heaviest AV out there. Heck, I have a software folder which contains many sub folders each with its own custom icon, if I am using Windows Defender, those icons would load one by one in slow motion, disable WD and the PC becomes all snappy again as if it was another computer

 

@Phoenix When I go to the Bitdefender website for the free version, it downloads as bitdefender_online.exe, while your link downloads the Antivirus_Free_Edition.exe.

Whats the difference?

 

I think there's is the online downloader and mine is more of the full version. Check the size of both

 

So I have a license for bitdefender total security that I was planning on installing on my new dm3. Is there a way to turn off the bloat ware or should just install the free version.

 

nope, all or nothing. I also have a Bitdednder Antivirus Plus license collecting dust. I refuse to install any security solution that wants to act like the parental guardian of my PC. ie. system optimizer, software updates checker, registry cleaner, disk cleaner, built in VPN (Kaspersky Antivirus now has that, built in Hotspot Shield which is a virus on its own if you ask me), etc.'

I would install the free version if I were you or better yet, buy ESET NOD32 Antivirus only, it has a built in HTTP scanner that catches any bad connections/downloads before you even start them, so no need for a separate firewall and having to worry about configuring it, has excellent PUP detection, is very light, minimalistic UI and the option to save all your exclusions / settings to an XML file, has 0 False positives, and best of all, doesn't make other stuff in your system NOT work

 

Bitdefender_online.exe 8262KB
Antivirus_Free_Edition.exe 193KB

Your link might be one of those quick installers that basically just checks and grabs the latest official version.

 

New layer of security: BitDefender Box

 

Single-band WiFi and 100 Mbps speeds? Pass.

 

Thanks for noticing this, I didn't

cheers

 

I installed that online.exe a bit ago on my old junk laptop. As best as I can tell, it's one of those "cloud" AVs. Had to log in with an acct. (google) to start. Kinda like Panda is doing now

 

http://robert.ocallahan.org/2017/01/disable-your-antivirus-software-except.html

 

BitDefender Antivirus Plus 2017 Build 21.0.23