Bitdefender Antivirus Free review

Bitdefender
Antivirus
Free
may
be
the
lowest
and
most
basic

free
antivirus
software
product
in
the
Bitdefender
range,
but
don’t
let
that
put
you
off.
Sure,
there’s
no
VPN,
password
manager
or
parental
controls,
but
Bitdefender
Antivirus
Free
does
include
precisely
the
same
leading-edge
antivirus
protection
as
Bitdefender’s
big
suites,
all
at
zero
cost,
and
that
works
for
us.

We’re
less
impressed
by
the
platform
support:
Bitdefender
Antivirus
Free
is
strictly
Windows
only,
a
problem
when
Avast
and
Avira
have
free
products
for
Windows,
Mac,
Android
and
iOS.
But
if
the
focus
on

Microsoft
isn’t
a
problem,
could
Bitdefender
Antivirus
Free
be
the

best
malware
removal
and
protection
suite
for
you?
We
put
the
app
through
some
very
in-depth
tests
to
find
out.

Bitdefender
Antivirus
Free:
Getting
started

You
can’t
install
Bitdefender
Antivirus
Free
without
setting
up
an
account.
That’s
quick,
easy
and
free,
but
it
does
mean
handing
over
your
email
address.

Avast
Free
Antivirus
and

Avira
Free
Security
can
be
installed
and
used
without
registration
or
handing
over
any
personal
details.

This
isn’t
just
about

privacy;
there
are
practical
issues,
too.
Because
Bitdefender
requires
you
to
log
into
an
account,
it
knows
the
number
of
devices
you’re
protecting,
and
currently
limits
you
to
a
maximum
of
three.
Avast
and
Avira
don’t
know
who
you
are,
and
you
can
install
their
apps
wherever
you
like.

We
noticed
another
complication.
Bitdefender
Free
Antivirus
is
only
available
if
you
have
a
new
Bitdefender
account
with
no
subscription.
If
you’re
currently
protecting
three

laptops
with
a
Bitdefender
Total
Security
license,
for
instance,
there’s
no
way
to
add
a
free
license
to
give
another
laptop
basic
protection.
There’s
a
workaround
–
create
a
new
Bitdefender
account
with
a
different
email
–
but
we’d
much
rather
the
problem
didn’t
exist
at
all.

On
the
plus
side,
signing
up
for
a
Bitdefender
account
does
get
you
access
to
live
support,
not
something
we
see
with
other
free
antivirus.
That’s
potentially
very
important,
because
antivirus
issues
can
be
complex.
If
you
run
into
technical
troubles,
having
access
to
live
expert
help
could
make
all
the
difference.

Bitdefender
Antivirus
Free:
Features

The
Bitdefender
Antivirus
Free
dashboard
gives
easy
access
to
the
app’s
core
antivirus
features.
Quick
Scan
speedily
checks
the
most
commonly-infected
areas
of
your
device;
System
Scan
takes
its
time
to
inspect
absolutely
everything;
the
Scheduler
allows
you
to
set
up
scans
to
run
automatically
when
you’re
not
around,
and
you
can
manage
Exceptions
(files
you
tell
Bitdefender
to
ignore
because
it
flags
them
incorrectly)
and
Quarantine
(where
Bitdefender
securely
locks
away
blocked
files.)

The
app
is
missing
some
of
Bitdefender’s
more
advanced
antivirus
features.
There’s
no
Rescue
Environment,
unfortunately,
to
remove
stealthy
threats
which
can’t
be
touched
when
Windows
is
running.
That’s
bad
news
if
you’re
suffering
a
serious
infection,
and
not
a
problem
we
had
with
Avast
Free
Antivirus,
which
supports
creating
a
bootable
rescue
scanner
and
has
many
other
scan
types.

The
app
doesn’t
have
Bitdefender’s

ransomware
remediation,
either,
a
valuable
extra
layer
which
can
restore
encrypted
files
after
a
ransomware
attack. 

Bitdefender
Antivirus
Free
doesn’t
include
any
of
Bitdefender’s
bonus
privacy
or
security
tools.
There
are
buttons
for
the

firewall,
antispam,

parental
controls,
anti-theft,
the
performance
optimizer
and
more,
but
they
all
display
a
padlock
icon
which
means
they’re
not
accessible
unless
you
pay
to
upgrade.

The
VPN
is
one
of
the
few
without
a
padlock,
but
not
because
there’s
a
free
version:
you
just
get
an
option
to
install
a
7-day
trial
of
Bitdefender’s

free
VPN.
That’s
still
welcome,
but
if
you’re
looking
for
an
antivirus
suite
with
a
free
VPN,
Avast
One
Essential
is
a
better
option.
Its

VPN
has
major
restrictions
–
can’t
change
location,
no
kill
switch
–
but
the
5GB
a
week
data
allowance
is
generous,
and
it
might
work
for
simple
tasks.

Bitdefender
Antivirus
Free
is
best
described
as
‘basic’,
then,
but
that’s
not
necessarily
bad
news.
Avira
Free
Security
includes
extras
like
a

password
manager
and
software
updater
to
check
for
missing
software
patches,
but
they’re
limited,
and
we
suspect
most
people
won’t
use
them
more
than
once.
If
you
only
want
quality
antivirus,
Bitdefender’s
stripped-back
design
may
appeal
more
than
the
‘here,
have
loads
of
features
you
don’t
need’
approach
used
by
many
competitors.

Bitdefender
Antivirus
Free:
Protection

We
begin
checking
antivirus
effectiveness
by
monitoring
results
of
nine
regular
tests
from
top
labs
including
AV-Comparatives,
AV-Test,
SE
Labs
and
MRG
Effitas.
The
tests
measure
protection,
performance,
usability
and
more,
and
we
combine
their
scores
into
a
single
aggregate
figure
to
give
us
an
overall
measure
of
antivirus
effectiveness.

Bitdefender
is
currently
equal
first
with
Avast
and
McAfee,
an
excellent
result.
ESET,
F-Secure
and
Norton
are
equal
fourth,
while
Avira
trails
a
little
in
seventh
place.

We
ran
further
tests
of
our
own,
attempting
to
access
50
brand
new
phishing
URLs
on
a
Bitdefender-protected
system.
The
results
were
a
little
below
average,
with
Bitdefender
blocking
64%
of
threats.
(Avast
blocked
86%
in
its
own
tests,
and
Avira
reached
an
excellent
90%.)

Phishing
results
can
vary
hugely
depending
on
the
test
URLs,
though,
and
Bitdefender
scored
much
better
on
our
malware
tests.
We
gave
Chrome
50
links
to
malicious
files,
and
Bitdefender
blocked
92%
at
the
domain
access
or
download
level,
and
the
remaining
8%
as
they
were
saved
to
our
hard
drive,
for
a
perfect
100%
protection
rate.
Other
free
antivirus
apps
got
close
–
Avira
managed
90%,
Avast
94%
–
but
Bitdefender
is
the
only
provider
in
recent
testing
to
score
100%.
Even
most
paid
apps
can’t
manage
that.

Bitdefender
Antivirus
Free:
Final
verdict

Bitdefender
Antivirus
Free
is
a
great
malware-hunting
performer,
but
is
still
fractionally
behind
Avast
in
independent
testing.
As
Bitdefender
also
leaves
out
tools
which
Avast
includes,
such
as
a
bootable
scanning,
it
means
you’re
a
little
less
likely
to
be
able
to
remove
an
infection
if
something
does
penetrate
your
defenses. 

The
difference
is
fractional,
though,
and
not
enough
to
outweigh
your
personal
preferences
in
other
areas.
If
you
only
need
Windows
antivirus,
and
you
trust
Bitdefender
more,
don’t
like
Avast’s
more
pushy
marketing
or
need
its
stack
of
extras,
Bitdefender
Antivirus
Free
is
still
one
of
the
very
best
zero-cost
malware
hunters
around.

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