Bitdefender Review: How Well Does This Antivirus Program Perform?

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Bitdefender Review: 7.9 out of 10 ★

Bitdefender is one of the biggest names in cybersecurity and has award-winning antivirus software. You can protect up to five devices with one Bitdefender Antivirus subscription. There’s even a solid free version if you want to test it out before buying.

Pros:

• Wide range of additional security and privacy options
• The free version offers both a scanning function and real-time protection for iOs, Android, and Mac
• A good and transparent privacy policy
• User-friendly software
• Good customer service
• Fast scan times

Cons:

• The safety score has deteriorated somewhat compared to recent years
• Free version is not available for Windows
• The installation process could have been more streamlined and easier to complete
• Occasionally, a “glitch” can occur that causes Bitdefender to consume considerably more CPU resources than usual

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Would you like to learn more about Bitdefender Antivirus? Are you looking for an installation guide? You can find this and more in our article below.

Bitdefender is one of the most widely used antivirus programs in the world. The software first appeared in 1996 as “Antivirus Expert” and was rebranded to “Bitdefender” in 2007. This Romanian company claims to have around 500 million users worldwide, making it comparable to the likes of Avast and Kaspersky and clearly larger than AVG, Sophos Home, or Avira.

In this article, we’ll tell you everything you need to know about Bitdefender. We’ll discuss its security options, the speed of its scans, the load on your system, and many other features.

NOTE: Bitdefender has recently announced the discontinuation of its free antivirus for Windows and will stop supporting its free version beginning June 2022. Bitdefender does still offer its Mac virus scanner and its free virus protection for Android and iOS. For these reasons, we still tested the free version of Bitdefender extensively.

Bitdefender Packages and Prices

Like most antiviruses, Bitdefender offers various packages with different options. The best option for most users is the Bitdefender Total Security package, which allows for installation on five devices and offers lots of additional features including a built-in VPN, Device Optimizer, and Anti-Theft tools.

The screenshot below shows the various options offered as part of each package and their prices, as well as the number of devices that can be protected with each package.

All paid packages come with basic features including real-time protection, VPN, vulnerability assessment, password manager, and more. Below is the full list of the current features.

Bitdefender also has a paid antivirus specifically for Mac called Bitdefender Antivirus For Mac. This package offers users several features and starts at $19.99 for the first year and then $39.99 afterward.

Some of the features of Bitdefender antivirus include:

• Safe Files — Allows the user to add specific files to a watch list to prevent unauthorized changes.
• Time Machine Protection — Backs up files to protect them in case of a ransomware attack.
• Adware Blocker — Protects the Mac from intrusive adware infections.
• Cross-Platform Malware Detection — Detects and removes malware affecting macOS and Windows.
• Traffic Light — A browser extension that protects the user while they browse the internet by checking links and even filtering out harmful or inappropriate websites.
• Anti-Phishing Protection — Identifies and blocks websites that impersonate trustworthy websites in order to steal information such as credit card numbers and passwords.
• Bitdefender Shield — Uses proprietary technologies to automatically detect and remove threats.
• Bitdefender Autopilot — Acts as a security advisor to deep insights into the user’s cybersecurity.
• 24/7 Cloud-Based Guard Duty — Cloud-based scanning to detect and eliminate threats no matter where they originate.
• Bitdefender VPN — Offers users 200 MB of encrypted traffic a day.
• Anti-Tracker — An extension that blocks trackers and allows the user to view and manage tracked information on every visited website while keeping the browsing data private and loading webpages faster.

Now that we’ve covered the Bitdefender packages and prices, we’re going to walk through what these features mean to your security and privacy, as well as how easy it is to use.

Security: How Well Does Bitdefender Protect Your PC?

We tested the most popular version of Bitdefender, Bitdefender Total Security. Bitdefender offers several important security features. From a vulnerability assessment to complete real-time protection from malware, users can configure the software for optimal security with ease.

Some of the reasons we gave this antivirus an 8.0 in security are:

• This year, Bitdefender performed much better in AV-Comparatives’ security tests compared to previous years.
• The software blocks 99.99% of all malware, according to AV-Comparatives’ tests.
• Bitdefender has consistently been one of the best providers in terms of security.
• Bitdefender offers a huge range of useful additional security options. On top of the “standard” scan and real-time security features.

Bitdefender real-time malware protection

We understand that the most important feature of a good anti-virus program is real-time protection, and Bitdefender has you covered with all of their paid anti-virus options. The complete and real-time data protection from Bitdefender secures your computer from viruses, worms, Trojans, ransomware, spyware, rootkits, and zero-day exploits just to name a few.

According to tests run by AV-Comparatives (AVC), Bitdefender has consistently performed as one of the best when it comes to malware protection. It has reconfirmed its status in 2021: Bitdefender placed seventh out of the top 17 players in the antivirus world, according to AVC’s tests.

Below are Bitdefender’s 2021 test results:

• System compromised by malware: 0.1% (0.7% in 2020)
• User dependent: 0%
• Blocked: 99.99% (93.30% in 2020)
• False Positives: 5 (2 in 2020)

The test results show that Bitdefender provides a high level of security. A percentage of 0.1% for “systems compromised” means that AVC’s tests showed that malware was able to damage the system in only 0.1 out of 100 cases.

In terms of user dependence, Bitdefender scores well with 0%. This means Bitdefender didn’t give the user (i.e. the tester) the option to run the detected malware on their system. In other words, blocked malware is properly rendered harmless by Bitdefender. The amount of malware blocked during the 2021 tests was reasonably higher than last year’s 99.30%. This puts it in the “above average” column.

In terms of false positives, Bitdefender performs very well: about four times better than last year’s average. We should note that this average has more to do with ease of use than security, but it also shows the accuracy of Bitdefender’s scanning system.

Bitdefender firewall

Bitdefender offers a solid firewall along with a lot of configuration options. However, you’ll need quite a bit of tech knowledge to make optimal use of them. So, beginners should simply leave the firewall on its default settings as it already offers excellent protection. The firewall isn’t available on the Bitdefender Antivirus Plus or Bitdefender Antivirus For Mac but comes standard on the other packages mentioned above.

Bitdefender vulnerability assessment

Bitdefender’s vulnerability assessment helps the user increase their system’s cybersecurity by reviewing and assessing the user’s current setup and making recommendations to correct any issues. Some things that the reviews look for are:

• Outdated or vulnerable software
• Missing security patches
• Potentially unsafe system settings

Bitdefender quick or extensive scans

Bitdefender offers various types of security, both proactive and reactive. If the security features above didn’t stop an attack or Bitdefender was installed after the infected file made it on the system, the user can also perform a quick or extensive system scan to address the issue. These can even be planned and scheduled for a specific time.

Bitdefender’s additional security options

Detecting and blocking malware is the most important task of an antivirus. However, that isn’t the only way a good antivirus can make your device more secure. The very best virus scanners today are extremely similar in terms of security scores, so they try to gain a competitive edge with extra security options. On this front, Bitdefender excels at the game.

Bitdefender Total Security offers a wide variety of additional security options that also do:

• fight spam and fraud
• restore files hit by ransomware
• detect advanced threats
• block phishing attempts
• provides a rescue environment for removing sophisticated malware

Both advanced users and beginners alike will find what they need in this feature-rich antivirus tool.

Speed and System Usage: How Efficient is Bitdefender?

Bitdefender is a quick virus scanner. The program starts up quickly: you’ll hardly notice it during daily use. For the most part, the software does its job in the background through real-time scans. If you need to do something in the software itself, this can be done quickly on a well-maintained system, without any lag.

After extensive tests using Bitdefender, we conclude that:

• The software has a nice and smooth feel, and scans don’t take too long.
• The CPU load during a fast scan increases considerably, in our case sometimes up to 50%.
• The software sometimes shows a “CPU glitch,” which can drastically increase the system load. The only solution for this seems to be rebooting your PC.
• The increase in the system load depends a lot on your device. Keep in mind that we used a very light PC for our tests.

Performing periodic scans goes in a nice and fast way in protecting your device. Bitdefender offers both a quick scan — which checks the most important files on your device — and a more comprehensive scan, which goes through your entire system.

We ran both types of scans multiple times on our system, and on average, the quick scan took just a little over three minutes. Take note, the quick scan can take longer, depending on the size of your system, as you can see in the screenshot below.

The full system scans are also relatively fast. During our tests, we arrived at an average of about 25 minutes for a full scan. Bitdefender scanned over a million items in this time, so this is certainly an excellent achievement.

For most people, Bitdefender’s scan times won’t be an issue. To begin with, the software performs its scans in the background and in a very unobtrusive way. You don’t even have to leave a separate window or tab open while it runs.

In short, for most people, both the short scan and the “long scan” will be acceptable in terms of duration. Keep in mind, however, that scan times depend on your system. If you have many files on your computer, the scan times will likely increase accordingly.

Bitdefender’s processor usage

It’s of course important that the virus scanner you use doesn’t demand too much from your system. An antivirus program that handles your CPU as efficiently as possible is therefore preferred. This means your system won’t slow down, or only barely so. Bitdefender scores pretty well in this area, but it isn’t perfect.

When Bitdefender runs real-time scans in the background, you’ll barely notice the impact on your CPU. We ran the scanner in the background while visiting a website without a security certificate which resulted in many “suspicious connection blocked” notifications. Nonetheless, we noticed only a very limited impact on CPU usage, namely an average of only about 2%.

However, if you run a scan, it’s a completely different story. During a quick scan, we noticed that Bitdefender’s CPU usage approached 50%.

High percentages of this kind occasionally also occurred in full system scans, although this mainly happened at the start of the scan and a few times in between. In general, the CPU impact appears to be lower with the long scan, with average percentages between 10 and 20 percent.

Bitdefender’s “CPU Glitch”

Bitdefender seems to have some sort of defect, which causes the processor usage to increase drastically, sometimes even up to 100%. However, this is easily resolved by rebooting your system.

Even so, this can be a bit annoying. We experienced this issue ourselves, both during a scan and while running the program in the background. We also noticed that this issue has been reported online several times, including on Reddit and the Bitdefender help forums.

A closer inspection of the task manager revealed that Bitdefender’s task called “Bitdefender virus shield” is the cause of the sudden increase in CPU usage. This is the part of the software that’s responsible for the real-time protection of your device, so turning this off isn’t really an option. Only do this if you’re doing something with a minimal chance of malware infection.

This includes, for example, working on documents or gaming without being connected to the internet. The fact that this problem does happen from time to time, and that there doesn’t seem to be a good solution for it except to reboot your system, is of course a big drawback.

Keep in mind that our tests were conducted on our system and that your system may differ greatly from ours. In most cases, these differences will be positive, as our tests were conducted on an Intel NUC. This is a kind of small mobile “computer box” that isn’t much bigger than a cigarette box. As a result, components such as our CPU are very light. For example, our NUC has an i3 processor with only two cores. It’s therefore logical that, with such a light processor, we’d notice a much greater impact on our system.

Based on these findings, we give Bitdefender a 7.5 for speed and system usage.

Privacy: How Does Bitdefender Handle Your Data?

Now that we’ve covered the security features, we’re going to review the privacy features that Bitdefender offers.

At VPNOverview, we always compare antiviruses to our front doors. Some people find it enough to just lock them, while others prefer a security chain or a protective shutter. The choice is yours. With this in mind, Bitdefender offers some necessary privacy options. These welcome additions include:

• a VPN connection
• a built-in password manager
• Safepay for providing a unique, dedicated browser that secures your transactions to prevent fraud
• an anti-tracker
• audio and visual protection

Bitdefender VPN

A VPN is a must for anyone’s cyber security toolbelt. Although this isn’t the best VPN on the market, it’s still a great option for most users. Below are the main pros and cons of this VPN.

For the full details, read our in-depth Bitdefender VPN Review.

Bitdefender password manager

The password manager provided with all of these packages allows you to secure your passwords, credit card information, and other sensitive data in Bitdefender’s cyber vault. That way, you have easy access whenever you need them. The feature even gives you the option to autofill online forms, as well as recommends secure passwords.

Bitdefender Safepay

Bitdefender’s Safepay feature gives you a unique, dedicated browser to bank ad shop from. This secures the user’s transactions, keeping them private, in an effort to prevent fraud.

Bitdefender anti-tracker

The Anti-tracker is an extension that blocks browser and website trackers that collect your data. The feature gives the user the ability to manage any information gathered by any website they visit. This keeps their browsing data private and gives the user more control over who has access to their information.

Bitdefender audio and visual protection

Bitdefender offers protection for the user’s microphone and web camera. The microphone monitor gives users the ability to see what apps have access to their device’s microphone and webcam, as well as when they had access to them.

The webcam protection notifies the user when apps try to access your webcam and gives the user the ability to block unauthorized access. This protects the user’s privacy and prevents webcam and microphone leaks.

Bitdefender privacy policy

Bitdefender offers a lot of useful privacy features in addition to its security. However, there’s another important thing few ever think to consider: their privacy policy. This document tells you how an antivirus program handles your data.

Bitdefender does its best to be as transparent as possible. For example, Bitdefender openly communicates how customer data is collected, used, and protected. Bitdefender also clearly states who has access to your data, which includes Bitdefender employees and external data processors.

As we understand it, these external third-party data processors are IT companies who undertake part of the data processing for Bitdefender on a contractual basis. Bitdefender has said that they are required to maintain the same level of customer data security as the company itself. Additionally, they aren’t allowed to share data with other third parties.

Bitdefender even shows the countries that host the servers that may be holding your data. The only exception to this otherwise perfectly fine privacy policy appears to be the following: in exceptional cases, Bitdefender may disclose customer data to “competent authorities,” if permitted and required by law.

Bitdefender puts it this way: “In exceptional cases, Bitdefender may disclose personal information to competent authorities, at their legal request in accordance with applicable law or when necessary to protect the rights and interests of our customers and Bitdefender.”

For most users, the above exception won’t be a problem at all, especially if you aren’t doing crazy things online. It also makes a difference that Bitdefender obviously doesn’t have access to your entire network traffic, like a VPN does, for example. You’re only in contact with Bitdefender’s servers when you visit their own or a related website.

Based on all this, we conclude that Bitdefender takes a serious approach to maintaining the privacy of its users. That’s why we give Bitdefender an 8.5 for privacy.

Ease of Use: How User-Friendly is Bitdefender?

In this section, we look at the user-friendliness of Bitdefender’s website, supported operating systems and languages, and the installation process. The summary of our findings are as follows:

• The Bitdefender interface is user-friendly and clear.
• Many terms and functions used in the interface are quite complex. Some good tutorial videos might be able to provide better explanations.
• The website looks a bit messy and isn’t very easy to navigate.
• We didn’t find the Bitdefender installation process very user-friendly and streamlined. There’s still room for improvement.
• Customer service is very good. Although some contact methods aren’t suitable for foreign language speakers, Bitdefender offers multiple quick and easy ways to get answers to questions in both English and other languages. The only thing that could be improved, is if they also offered their live chat in languages other than English.

Bitdefender website

The Bitdefender website is user-friendly and easily navigated with its main menu or through the “For Home” and “For Business” prompts on the home page. The home solutions page provides a basic overview of each product with the ability to either purchase the product or quickly navigate to the specific product’s page for more details.

Unfortunately, we found the FAQ page to be hard to locate and not especially helpful. To start with, we couldn’t navigate to the FAQs via the homepage. We could only get there via a Google search.

Once you locate it, the FAQs listed are not especially useful. It’s hard to believe that these are the current most frequently asked questions. An example of a question listed is “How Do I Install, Register & Configure Bitdefender 2011?”

A definite plus, however, is the fact that the website is available in multiple languages.

Bitdefender installation process

The Bitdefender installation process could have been slightly simpler and more streamlined. With both the paid and the free version, we had to restart our computer several times to complete the installation process.

In addition, when installing the paid version, we had a strange compatibility issue and needed an activation code that wasn’t provided in the installation email. Below, we’ll describe the installation procedure for both the free and the paid Bitdefender versions that we tested.

Installing the Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition

1. Go to the free version’s download page and click the button that says “Free download.”
2. Open the installation file and go through the installation procedure.
3. Create a Bitdefender account by entering your name, email address, and password.
4. Wait for the program to download and log in with your email address and password.

Installing Bitdefender Total Security

1. Subscribe to Bitdefender Total Security via the Bitdefender website.
2. Add email addresses to send installation emails to the correct users.
3. Open the Bitdefender installation email on the device where you wish to download the software. Note that one account allows for a maximum of five users.
4. Click on “Download & install.”
5. Open the installation file and run it.
6. Create a Bitdefender account.
7. Remove any incompatible applications.
8. Restart your PC.
9. Accept the subscription agreement and wait while the Bitdefender Total Security software is downloaded.
10. You may be asked for an activation code. If you aren’t the person who took out the subscription, you’ll have to contact the person who purchased the software for this code.

Bitdefender user experience

After our extensive testing, we found that Bitdefender’s software scores well in terms of ease of use. The software offers a wide variety of options. The great thing about Bitdefender’s software is that these options are displayed within the interface in such a way that it doesn’t feel too crowded or overwhelming. The many features are neatly grouped by the main function.

In other words, suppose you only want to work with the scan and firewall functions of Bitdefender and ignore all other options, then you can. Each option has its own “box” with accompanying options.

What’s also very nice about Bitdefender is that the program doesn’t feel intrusive or busy when you’re working with other programs.

For example, you hardly notice a scan being performed (except when looking at the CPU load). This is because you can simply click away from the “scan screen” (with the minimize button). The screen will only reappear when the scan is finished or if you want to check the progress. This may seem like a small thing, but it makes the user experience a little bit nicer, neater and slicker.

Bitdefender could improve by making the antivirus terms it uses more understandable to novice users. However, we understand this can be tricky, especially for an antivirus program that offers so many options. Still, this is important. We expect that many users won’t immediately know the difference between the “system scan” and the “vulnerability scan” that Bitdefender offers, to name just one example.

If you click on the various options, you frequently do get an explanation, but this is often too complicated and contains a lot of jargon. An idea to solve this might be to add extensive tutorial videos on the Bitdefender website, or something along these lines.

Finally, foreign language users will appreciate that Bitdefender is available in many different languages. Since some of the terms and options in the Bitdefender interface are quite complex, this is certainly a plus.

Based on the assessments above, we reward Bitdefender with a 7.0 for ease of use.

Customer Service: How Helpful was Bitdefender’s Support?

Bitdefender’s customer service has pros and cons. Firstly, an advantage is that you can reach customer service in various ways. You might send an email, call customer service (9 am to 6 pm, Mon-Fri), use live chat, or ask your question in one of Bitdefender’s forums.

Unfortunately, not all of these options are available in all languages. In languages other than English, you can only email or call. The live chat and forums are only available in English.

Bitdefender’s live chat response time is very fast — much faster than sending an email. We received clear answers to all our questions within two minutes. If your question is a bit more complicated, this may take a little longer. Nevertheless, we were very pleased with Bitdefender’s live chat feature.

NOTE: the Bitdefender live chat function isn’t available from foreign language websites. You need to access this function via the English site. Simply follow this link to get there quickly.

Calling is another good option to contact Bitdefender. The call doesn’t have long and complicated selection menus and you’ll be helped quickly. Our question was answered within five minutes and the customer service representative also sent us a useful tutorial video.

The forums can be very helpful as well. They’re actively monitored and any responses can come from the Bitdefender “expert community.”

In conclusion, it would be better if all contact options were also available in all languages, but in general, Bitdefender still has good customer service. The email option is the only option we don’t recommend, as it often takes a long time (from one to several hours) for a response. As a result, we reward Bitdefender’s customer service with an 8.0.

Options of Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition

We recommend going with one of the paid versions for a better level of protection, but Bitdefender does offer a few free versions for Mac and Android devices if your budget is tight. Bitdefender had a free Antivirus program for Windows, but they no longer offer it and will stop supporting it in June 2022. The current free antivirus programs from Bitdefender are:

In general, we found that Bitdefender Free offerings are much more limited and offer fewer options than Bitdefender Total Security. On the other hand, the free version feels a lot more manageable and simpler to use. This can be especially useful for novice antivirus users who aren’t that knowledgeable about the technical details of antivirus programs.

However, for the most complete and effective Bitdefender antivirus solution, we still recommend Bitdefender Total Security.

Final Verdict

There are some additional nice-to-have utilities as well. These aren’t strictly necessary but can be useful nonetheless. They might help you improve the performance of your system, for example.

In conclusion, Bitdefender offers tons of essential and useful options for any serious antivirus user. Its simple interface makes it easy to recognize and access the relevant settings quickly.

Time for our final review of Bitdefender. First, we’ve detailed Bitdefender’s advantages and disadvantages in the table below.

Bitdefender is a virus scanner with a lot to offer. Its most complete version (i.e. Bitdefender Total Security) includes a huge range of security and privacy options. You can easily navigate through these options, even though there are so many of them, thanks to the software’s clear design. If you do have a problem, Bitdefender’s excellent customer service can help. On top of everything, Bitdefender’s AV-Comparative scores are consistently good and have even improved since last year.

The main downside to Bitdefender is its somewhat tricky installation process. Yet the software consistently blocks most viruses and malware.

Below is our final score. We arrived at the final score using the following values: security (weighting of 0.5), speed and system load (weighting of 0.2), privacy (weighting of 0.1), ease of use (weighting of 0.1), and customer service (weighting of 0.1). Our results are as follows:

• Security Score: 8
• Speed and System Load Score: 7.5
• Privacy Score: 8.5
• Ease of Use Score: 7.0
• Customer Service Score: 8.0

Based on these numbers, our final score for Bitdefender is a solid 7.9. In other words, we can certainly recommend this provider for most users.

How was your experience with Bitdefender? Let us know in the comments below. If you’d like more information on Bitdefender or if you want to take out a Bitdefender subscription right away, visit their website by clicking the button.