How good is Bitdefender Total Security? What features does it offer,
and how well does it protect against malware?
Find out everything in this comprehensive Bitdefender Total Security review.
Also, we will show you how to get a special 50 percent discount on Bitdefender,
as well as up to 70 percent off on our top-rated antivirus software, so stick with us till the end.
Malware and viruses are still on the rise. According to Verizon's data breach investigations,
most breaches result from hacking, malware infections, and phishing attacks. To be secure,
you need to protect yourself against these and related threats.
The best way to do this is by using a paid antivirus security suite. Premium
antivirus suites give you complete protection as well as advanced security-enhancing features
like VPN, File Shredder, Firewall, Parental control, anti-phishing,
anti-fraud, safe banking, among others. Also, most premium programs offer cross-platform
protection, meaning you can cover all your devices, including Windows, Mac, smartphone,
and tablet, with a single subscription. In this in-depth Bitdefender Total Security
review, we will cover its features, protection and performance capabilities, user interface,
pricing structure, compatibility, and more. Let’s get started.
But first, we will take a quick look at the pros and cons of this product and give you
our overall verdict. The pros include:
Award-winning antivirus protection against malware, viruses, and other online threats.
A wide array of features focused on privacy, optimization, and security.
Minimal performance impact on your system while carrying out its operations.
Compatibility with all major operating systems, such as Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS devices.
Multi-device subscription plans. A single Bitdefender subscription can
support 10 to 15 devices. This gives you excellent value for your money.
and an intuitive user interface. There are some cons as well, such as:
Limited functionality for iOS. iOS users only get web protection and some privacy features.
Fewer features for Mac in comparison with Windows. Limited VPN of up to 200MB bandwidth per device
per day. This data limit is not enough for heavy internet usage.
Overall, Bitdefender Total Security is an excellent antivirus suite. It boasts
an impressive list of features, it’s versatile and also user-friendly. Its malware defenses are
rock-solid, and it doesn't impact your system performance. This has been proven over and over
again in independent lab tests and evaluations. Bitdefender Total Security also gives you great
value for your money. It's cross-platform and compatible with Windows, Macs, Android,
and iOS devices. Besides, you can protect all the devices in your home with a single subscription.
During the past few months, The Cyber Lab team has reviewed, ranking and rated
30 plus premium antivirus suites from the biggest names in cybersecurity. We did this
so you can confidently choose the best antivirus software to protect yourself and your family.
Currently, our number one pick for the best antivirus product is
Norton 360 Deluxe. Bitdefender Total Security takes the second position,
while McAfee Total Protection ranks third on our list.
We have added official links to all of these products in the description box down below. You
can get a special 70 percent discount on Norton, and a cool 50 percent off on Bitdefender and
McAfee. So don’t forget to check out these links. Now, let’s cover Bitdefender Total
Security in detail, starting with features. But before we begin, we ask for a small favor.
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We will reply to your comment. Now, back to the review.
Let’s cover Bitdefender Total Security in detail. Starting with features: Bitdefender Total Security
is a cross-platform antivirus security suite that offers more than antivirus protection. It packs a
slew of excellent features and functionalities. Most of the features and extras are offered for
the Windows and the Android platform. Essential cutting-edge security and privacy features are
offered across all the supported platforms. Bitdefender’s features can be divided into
three categories, including protection, privacy, and utility features.
Protection features are tailored to protect you against
online security threats and vulnerabilities. Bitdefender boasts a powerful Antivirus engine.
It uses an improved powerful antivirus engine to provide real-time protection against malware,
viruses, zero-day exploits, ransomware, worms, trojans,
rootkits, spyware, and other online threats. Besides real-time protection against threats,
Bitdefender Total Security uses a behavioral detection technique
effective against suspicious activities. Its Advanced Threat Defense technology monitors your
active apps and proactively blocks suspicious activities to prevent unforeseen infections.
Another key Bitdefender feature is Online Threat Prevention. It incorporates Bitdefender
cloud-based technology to prevent attacks before they begin. It is beneficial when
you are browsing the internet. Depending on the implementation, this feature can help you
block suspicious and malware-laden websites. You also get anti-phishing and anti-fraud
functionalities that protect you against online scams and web attacks.
Bitdefender’s improved vulnerability scanner helps check whether you have outdated system settings
and software that need to be updated. The security can check for missing Windows security patches,
essential updates, security holes, Wi-Fi networks and inform you on the best course of action.
Next, we have the privacy firewall, which adds a robust layer of network
protection that ensures no unauthorized incoming or outgoing internet traffic.
The firewall also shields you from network port scans, and you can also tweak various
settings. This firewall ensures your personal information stays safe from malicious actors.
Bitdefender also uses a multi-layered ransomware protection approach,
which protects you against ransomware attacks. Antispam is another cool feature from Bitdefender.
Its powerful email filters protect you against attacks and threats via email.
Antispam uses cloud protection to scan suspicious email attachments and blocks them.
Now, we will discuss Bitdefender’s privacy features, which help safeguard your private
information against various online threats. Using the Bitdefender SafePay functionality,
you can now enjoy safe online banking without the fear of online attacks.
SafePay provides you a secure browser that allows you to bank and shop safely. SafePay protects you
against online fraud, phishing, keylogging and can autofill your credit card details.
Bitdefender also boasts a secure VPN to protect you against prying eyes and secure your online
traffic. It does this by encrypting your online traffic and tunneling it through a secure server.
The server assigns you a virtual IP address that replaces your actual IP address.
However, this VPN offers 200 MB of bandwidth per day per device.
This is not enough for daily internet surfing and usage. For unlimited VPN bandwidth,
you will need to upgrade to the Premium VPN tier. Another cool privacy feature is the Password
manager. It provides you with a Wallet, a secure cyber-vault where you can store your passwords,
and sensitive information such as credit card information. Besides storage, the password manager
can recommend secure passwords and autofill this secure information in online forms.
File Shredder is another privacy-oriented tool that permanently deletes files from your
hard drives. This is the best way to delete files securely that leaves no traces in your hard drive.
Bitdefender also ensures Webcam and Microphone protection. It lets you know when apps or
services want to access your microphone or webcam. Additionally, you can block the apps
or set Bitdefender to do the work for you. This feature is essential against microphone and webcam
leaks that can compromise your privacy. Other than antivirus protection, you can
also provide a safe online environment to your children through Bitdefender’s parental controls.
Moreover, you can keep tabs on them, limit their screen time, block websites and apps,
schedule restrictions, and safeguard them from inappropriate online content.
Bitdefender will also send you reports if your kids try to access the restricted services.
Another prominent feature in the privacy category is Anti-theft.
You can stop worrying if you misplace your Windows laptop and Android devices with this
Bitdefender feature. In the unfortunate event that you don't remember where you placed your device,
or it has been stolen, Bitdefender got your back. Utilizing your device's GPS and network
triangulation, Bitdefender can locate your device. You can remotely track your devices on the
Bitdefender Central account and also lock them, wipe sensitive data or make them sound an alarm.
Next, we will take a look at Bitdefender’s utility features aimed at improving your
system's performance. These features enable the antivirus program to deliver security and
protection without compromising performance. One-Click optimizer is Bitdefender’s effective
cleaner that helps you eliminate junk and temporary unused files.
You can run a disk, registry, and privacy scan and do the necessary cleanup. Cleaning your
devices helps them run smoothly and efficiently. The Profiles feature is another great offering
from Bitdefender. The Total Security suite offers various profiles that you can use
as your daily drivers. These profiles – namely game, movie, battery, public WIFI,
and work – let Bitdefender know when to use the system heavily or release the required resources.
For instance, if you are gaming, Bitdefender will detect the load and switch to game mode.
Subsequently, Bitdefender will adjust visual settings, temporarily halt pop-ups,
and even pause unimportant background processes.
So, that’s the end of Bitdefender’s long, robust feature list.
Overall, Bitdefender gets a full 5 out of 5 marks for features.
Now, we will see how Bitdefender Total Security fares in terms of anti-malware protection.
Bitdefender Total Security packs an efficient anti-malware and antivirus engine. Also,
its multi-layered approach against various threats ensures unbeatable protection. Bitdefender also
relies on cyber threat intelligence technologies to stop attacks even before they can happen.
This tech enables Bitdefender to analyze malware and botnet-related URLs, block sophisticated
exploits, identify suspicious network-level activities and even stop brute force attacks.
Using a combination of other security and privacy features, Bitdefender can
smartly give you the recommended protection. To analyze Bitdefender protection capabilities,
we will look at results from the AV-Test independent lab. This independent lab assesses
and evaluates antivirus security suites based on the criteria which simulate a real-world scenario.
AV-Test real-world testing involves protection against malware infections such as viruses,
worms, Trojan horses, and zero-day malware attacks. It also tests for the detection
of widespread and prevalent malware. AV-Test subjected Bitdefender to various
samples in which it got 100% in both detection and protection capabilities. Bitdefender also scooped
the overall protection score of 6 out of 6. This shows that Bitdefender offers exceptional
protection against online malware and other threats.
Again, Bitdefender bags all the available 5 points in this category.
We will now evaluate Bitdefender’s system performance capability.
Bitdefender keeps your devices safe without compromising on performance.
Using the Photon technology, Bitdefender Total Security adapts to your system to improve speed
and performance. Depending on your software and hardware setup, Bitdefender can save computing
resources while doing scans. Additionally, most times,
you will notice a virtually zero impact on your system performance. When heavy
scanning is a necessity, Bitdefender takes it to the cloud while maintaining your privacy.
Hence, Bitdefender doesn't impact your resources nor affect your system's speed and performance.
In the recent AV-Test evaluations, Bitdefender Total Security got a perfect 6 out of 6 scores.
It was tested in various situations where it might affect performance, such as file operations,
browsing, installing apps, and downloading. The rating clearly indicates that Bitdefender
does not impact the performance or speed of your devices.
Again, in this category, Bitdefender bags all the points.
In the next section, we are going to review Bitdefender’s user interface.
Bitdefender sports a user-friendly intuitive interface. Although there were some slight
updates, the base design remains simpler and somewhat unchanged. The main window still has
two major panels. The left one for major modules, while the right one expands on the modules'
features and functionalities. The modules include the Dashboard, Protection, Privacy,
Utilities, Notifications, and Settings. The Dashboard presents various scans, the VPN,
and the SafePay feature. It also gives you recommendations and subscription status. You can
also customize it. The Protection, Privacy, and utility modules open up to the related features.
For interface, Bitdefender gets 4 out of 5 points. Now some words on Bitdefender’s pricing plans.
Bitdefender offers various subscription plans for its products. The plans carry a
30-day free trial, and the subscription period starts from 1 year to 3 years.
Bitdefender Total Security goes for $39.98 and covers 5 devices for the first year.
The first 2 years for 5 devices cost $89.99,
whereas the three-year plan costs $119.99. Apart from the Total Security package,
Bitdefender also offers a few other antivirus products for home users. They include:
Bitdefender Antivirus Plus, which costs $29.99 per year for 3 devices.
Bitdefender Internet Security, which retails at $34.99 for 3 devices.
The Family Pack, which goes for $49.99 for 15 devices.
Bitdefender Premium Security, which costs $64.99 for 10 devices.
In short, Bitdefender subscriptions and pricing plans offer the best
value for your money in the antivirus market. For pricing, Bitdefender takes 5 out of 5 points.
Compatibility Moving on to Bitdefender’s compatibility, the
Total Security suite is a cross-platform product and is compatible with Windows, Macs, Android, and
iOS. Its subscription plans are also multi-device; a single subscription can support up to 10
devices. If you have more devices, you can upgrade to the Family Pack, which supports 15 devices.
Bitdefender Total Security is fully featured for Windows than it is in Macs.
The Mac version has few features, but you can get the same unbeatable protection. This also goes for
the mobile version. Android packs more features while iOS is limited to some essential protection.
Mac and iOS are closed systems, and hence there is little third-party products can do.
For compatibility, it would be unfair to give Bitdefender anything less than 5 points.
Customer support Finally, we will take a look at Bitdefender’s
customer support options. Bitdefender offers customer support through the FAQ knowledge base, a
24/7 live chat option, and the second level email support. The knowledge base contains guides and
tutorials regarding activations, installations, and how to troubleshoot common issues.
If the FAQ support isn't enough, you can try the live chat. It's usually responsive and
can help you with issues not addressed in the knowledge base. For more complicated issues,
you will need to use email. It is relatively slow but effective for complicated matters.
When it comes to support, Bitdefender gets a 4 out of 5.
To sum up, Bitdefender Total Security is a top-tier antivirus product with an excellent
array of features. Its impeccable protection is unbeatable, and it doesn't get in your way during
your daily activities. Its subscriptions offer you a better value for your money,
and they support multi-devices. Moreover, Bitdefender Total
Security is cross-platform, compatible with Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS. You get a
fully-fledged antivirus security suite in Windows, Android, and a stripped-down version on Macs.
Similar to other antivirus suites, in iOS, you get web protection with very few features.
So that’s the end of our in-depth review of Bitdefender Total Security.
We hope you enjoyed this video. Do share your feedback in the comments section down below
and let us know which antivirus program you use or plan to use in the future.
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