ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Bitdefender Whole Safety bundles antivirus and anti-malware with different digital privateness instruments for $109.99 per yr for people and $139.99 per yr for a household of as much as 5, although Bitdefender typically runs promotions on its annual plans. (On the time of writing, subscriptions have been discounted to $49.99 and $69.99, respectively.)
- Bitdefender affords strong safety towards threats throughout platforms by way of a set of unpolluted, user-friendly apps and extensions.
- Bitdefender is considerably extra sturdy on Home windows than on MacOS, and the included VPN is simply too restricted for many customers on desktop.
An excellent antivirus and anti-malware answer can complement your system’s privateness and safety features to combat towards evolving digital threats, together with ransomware and phishing. Bitdefender Whole Safety affords a number of layers of safety and prevention throughout platforms inside user-friendly apps and browser extensions.
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Bitdefender affords a 30-day free trial of its Whole Safety suite — all you might want to do is create an account and obtain and set up the software program in your laptop or cellphone. If you happen to do not buy or activate a subscription earlier than your trial expires, your safety will finish, as Bitdefender does not require a bank card upfront. Bitdefender Whole Safety for people permits entry on as much as 5 units (Home windows, MacOS, Android, and iOS), so you possibly can attempt before you purchase on each desktop and cell.
Like many antivirus packages, Bitdefender for Home windows has essentially the most options: anti-spam filtering, a privateness firewall, and Wi-Fi safety assessments, to call just a few. As a result of I examined Bitdefender Whole Safety on MacOS, I used to be not capable of attempt the entire full suite out there to Home windows customers.
Bitdefender is at the moment our high choose for the greatest antivirus software program general.
Set up and setup course of
You’ll be able to set up Bitdefender whenever you first join your trial or entry your subscription and downloads later by logging into your Bitdefender Central account. Observe the prompts so as to add the software program to your machine. You will want to regulate Bitdefender’s permissions in your system settings, which the setup wizard will information you thru. Bitdefender can even generate a QR code or obtain hyperlinks to ship by way of electronic mail or textual content to different units — bear in mind, you possibly can have Bitdefender Whole Safety on as much as 5 at a time — so you possibly can add the Bitdefender Cellular Safety app on Android or iOS. You will must log in utilizing your Bitdefender Central credentials.
After you have the app up and operating, you may also add the Bitdefender Site visitors Gentle extension, which protects towards phishing makes an attempt and malicious internet content material, and the Bitdefender Anti-tracker extension, to your browser.
If you wish to make the most of Bitdefender’s VPN service — which is powered by Hotspot Protect and comes along with your subscription — you may should obtain a separate app and allow the suitable entry in your system settings.
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Lastly, you possibly can add the Bitdefender Password Supervisor browser extension, log in along with your Bitdefender credentials, and arrange a grasp password to entry your vault. Bitdefender permits imports from a handful of different frequent password administration instruments like Bitwarden, 1Password, and LastPass, or you possibly can add particular person gadgets for brand new or present accounts, identities, or bank cards.
Password administration on cell requires a separate app (Bitdefender Password Supervisor), and the VPN will quickly be totally migrated to the standalone Bitdefender VPN app. You may also obtain Bitdefender Central to entry your dashboard and handle your subscription.
Bitdefender fundamentals
The Bitdefender desktop app on MacOS means that you can manually scan your complete system, do a “fast” scan on essential areas, or choose particular recordsdata or folders for a customized scan. (There isn’t a choice to arrange scheduled scans.) Bitdefender Protect is the real-time model of scanning on Mac — if enabled, it’ll scan apps, updates, and new and modified recordsdata for threats. Bitdefender can disinfect or quarantine suspicious or contaminated gadgets, which you’ll be able to view beneath Safety > Antivirus within the app. Scan logs and outcomes will be discovered on the Notifications tab.
Bitdefender for Home windows has quite a lot of settings — together with gaming, film, and work modes — to scale back the app’s drag in your machine and optimize battery life. On MacOS, you possibly can’t regulate settings for scan speeds or efficiency. A full scan required 90 minutes on my machine, whereas a fast scan took round 40 minutes. I did not discover any impression on my system throughout both.
All of Bitdefender’s apps have a clear design and are straightforward to navigate. Nevertheless, I discovered having a number of apps on desktop and cell together with three separate browser extensions to be clunky.
Distinctive options (and the way properly they work)
Bitdefender Whole Safety contains VPN safety for 200 MB of site visitors per system, per day. For many customers, 200 MB does not go very far, so it is a probability for Bitdefender to upsell you to its Premium or Final plans with limitless VPN site visitors (priced at $129.99 and $159.99, respectively, when not discounted). Inside the VPN app, you possibly can allow advert blocking and anti-tracking, regulate auto-connect settings, and activate a kill swap, which is able to shut down all site visitors if the VPN connection is misplaced.
On MacOS, Bitdefender protects towards ransomware by stopping unknown packages from accessing, making modifications to, or deleting necessary recordsdata. The app routinely selects doubtlessly delicate folders and file paths, however you possibly can take away or add others in addition to see any purposes that attempt to acquire entry. Time Machine safety does the identical for backups of your system.
The TrafficLight browser extension catches threats like phishing and malware by exhibiting you which ones hyperlinks in your search outcomes are secure or suspicious and alerting you if you happen to’ve clicked on one thing harmful. Individually, Bitdefender Anti-tracker identifies and blocks advert trackers, web site analytics trackers, third-party cookies, and so on., as you browse, which additionally decreases web page loading instances. You may also disable blocking for particular websites. Each extensions are free and work independently from a Bitdefender subscription.
Cellular safety on iOS contains anti-phishing safety for internet searching and calendar occasion hyperlinks, safety scans of your system, SMS filtering, and knowledge breach monitoring on your electronic mail tackle. On Android, you get further safety features like an app lock and anti-theft to remotely lock or wipe your system.
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ZDNET’s shopping for recommendation
As we have famous earlier than, you do not essentially must pay for antivirus software program: your system already has built-in safety, and there are a variety of free third-party instruments. Bitdefender is definitely considered one of our picks for one of the best free antivirus, with fundamental scanning and reside buyer assist out there for free of charge. The $109.99 annual subscription for Bitdefender Whole Safety is probably going to offer extra worth to Home windows customers than these on MacOS due to a extra sturdy set of options, a wider vary of safety, and extra granular efficiency settings, so if you’re on the lookout for a paid antivirus choice, Bitdefender is a strong alternative.
Having a bundled password supervisor, VPN, and knowledge breach detection could also be enticing to some customers — however Bitdefender’s variations of those instruments are extra restricted than particular VPN and password administration companies (a lot of that are out there at little or no price) and should not be the first motive to pay a premium for antivirus.
Lastly, at first look, it is laborious to find out the distinction between the cheaper Bitdefender Antivirus Plus and Bitdefender Whole Safety apart from password administration and the flexibility to guard as much as 5 units (in comparison with one or three relying on the tier you select). There are a handful of further options for Home windows customers, comparable to parental controls, a privateness firewall, and cryptomining safety. On MacOS, although, the upcharge for Whole Safety does not get you a lot over Antivirus for Mac.
