Which Antivirus (PC) do you think is the best?

[the_dead_man]

yup...toilets are an important content of antvirus software....

wow i never knew that

[tekina]

wow i never knew that

wat? u didnt know? there are many viruses in.... u know....

[Noxide]

wat? u didnt know? there are many viruses in.... u know....

That's a bit off....

[tekina]

i know.... how is bitdefender btw?

[Noxide]

i know.... how is bitdefender btw?

I've never used it. But it gets good reviews.

[tekina]

oh....... thx for the help man

[Noxide]

Ease of Use:

Most people want antivirus software they can install and forget and BitDefender does just that! In less than a half an hour, you can download, install, follow the prompts, re-boot your system and voilá, you're protected and can forget about viruses, trojans, spyware, worms, and malware. Nobody wants to spend time tweaking antivirus software when they could otherwise be getting work done or watching the latest videos on Youtube. We all want protection without the effort or expense and now we can have our cake and eat it too.

When tested right out of the box with the default setting, BitDefender did exactly what it was supposed to do. It scanned boot-up files, recently accessed files, packed files and incoming and outgoing emails. For those who want more aggressive protection, BitDefender can be enabled to scan HTTP blocks on port 80 and 443 for malicious ActiveX and JavaScript which is nice, but not necessary. Simple installation of the program using the default setting is recommended for the average user.

One of the best advancements in the latest version of BitDefender has been the increase in scanning speed. Softwin makes BitDefender capable of logging when files were last accessed, and if a clean file hasn’t been used since the last scan, BitDefender skips it. This has made scans much faster than they used to be, which is nice because scan speeds were BitDefender’s prior weakness.

Effectiveness:

You might think antivirus software that’s this easy to use and this inexpensive might not be as effective as products with bigger brand names and bigger price tags, but you would be wrong. AV-Test.org is among the most prestigious, independent research laboratories in the world for testing antivirus software. In recent tests, BitDefender received their highest rating for having removed 98% of all viruses and spyware in their rigorous tests. In addition, BitDefender has received the highest ratings for effectiveness by Virus Bulletin (VB100%) and AV Comparatives.org, and was certified by ICSA2007, Checkvir.com and West Coast Labs for its ability to detect viruses and virus replication while minimizing false positives (detecting viruses that are not there).

One of the key features BitDefender has developed is a virtual machine that runs invisibly in the background on your computer where it tests suspicious code, which is code that looks like a virus but doesn't currently match any of the known virus signatures. In this way, BitDefender can protect your computer from viruses no one has reported yet. In the same tests by AV-Test.org, BitDefender scored higher than Kaspersky, Norton, Computer Associates (CA) and McAfee on its proactive detection of viruses and other malware with this heuristic approach. BitDefender scans somewhat slower than some of its competitors, due (we believe) to this virtual machine running. Naturally, there's going to be a price for this type of protection, but other products like ESET's NOD32 have done a better job at minimizing it.

Although BitDefender is great at removing viruses and spyware, it excels at protecting your system from incoming viruses. The new BitDefender can actually strip viruses from your incoming HTML stream before the virus makes it to your browser. We think every new computer should be outfitted with this kind of protection.

Updates:

Virus signatures need to be updated regularly to maintain overall effectiveness. The heart and soul of antivirus software is recognizing malicious code and BitDefender does that primarily by matching code on your computer with known virus signatures.

BitDefender updates its virus signatures every hour unless you adjust it to a longer interval. Or if you are really into managing your antivirus software (does your photo appear in Wikipedia under the listing geek?), you can set it to “manual” and manually update the virus signatures and decide what other features you want updated. Otherwise, just sit back and know that your BitDefender is updating itself every hour, 24/7.

Feature Set:

In the spirit of “install and forget” software, BitDefender doesn't go in for the blinking red and green lights to notify you of its activity. Instead, a tiny red and black icon appears in the lower-right corner of your desktop, just above the system tray. This unobtrusive icon is the scan activity monitor. A green line indicates when files are being scanned for viruses and spyware. You can remove the monitor by going into the configuration settings.

The antispyware section of BitDefender includes Privacy Protection. This feature is disabled by default, but turning this feature ON is recommended. In the Advanced Setting link, you can enter your credit card numbers or other private information, and if any Windows application attempts to send these over the Internet, it stops and requires your active permission. Otherwise, BitDefender will refuse any program that attempts to send your personal information over the Internet.

BitDefender is the only antivirus software reviewed with a gamer mode. With gamer mode enabled, online gamers are protected without sacrificing much performance. Since online gamers are notorious for disabling firewalls and other protection to optimize performance, this could be a lifesaver for the family computer used for online gaming by members of your household.

Ease of Installation:

Here is where BitDefender really shines. Installation is easy and intuitive. BitDefender also easily and transparently removes any other antivirus software you might have on your computer. This is a requirement for effective use of your computer after installation. Two antivirus packages on your system do not give you twice as much protection, but rather play havoc with performance and diminish protection.

Bit Defender uses about 60MB of hard disk space (new computers average about 200GB hard drive so it uses about .03% of your hard drive space), which is more than Kaspersky and NOD32, but about 1/3 of the space required for Norton AntiVirus.

Help/Support:

BitDefender does its job without you having to fuss or tinker with it. BitDefender is much like your car or phone, ready when you are. It works without you having to. You can rest assured, though, in the rare case when you may need some help, BitDefender offers good live support either over the phone or through live chat online.

Previously, BitDefender phone support required you to fork out money for a long-distance call to Europe. But the manufacturer, Softwin, has since issued a FREE phone support line for you to use (1-888-868-1873), making it cheaper and easier to get support when you need it.

For common issues, BitDefender offers a FAQs page. BitDefender can also be reached via email at Log in to see links, and they have been very prompt and effective in answering questions.

Summary:

BitDefender is nearly everything you’ll want in easy-to-use, highly-effective antivirus and antispyware software. When BitDefender upgrades their tech support and improves their uninstall utility, they will have a nearly perfect product.

[EvilSpaghetti]

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[Noxide]

The choice of possible guard-dogs for your PC is certainly wide ranging. Some security suites are more effective than others, some are more comprehensive, and BitDefender's effort definitely has the latter base covered.

It offers the expected virus and spyware protection, firewall and anti-spam, as well as some more in-depth features such as phishing protection and even some system tune-up facilities. So there's plenty of program for your money, but in practice, is BitDefender's bark worse than its byte? (It sure as Hell can't be worse than that pun).

We were certainly impressed with the anti-virus coverage. A slider lets the user pick from several levels of anti-virus security: the standard mode provides the usual protection expected, but when notched up to 'aggressive' the program scans not only new files and e-mails in real-time, but also all Web traffic. Naturally, this does slow your system down somewhat, but it's a welcome option for the extra-cautious folk out there.

The virus definitions are updated very regularly - we're talking every couple of hours here - and they seemed thorough, performing well on our test scans. The process is speedy as well, which makes it doubly impressive.

BitDefender's firewall keeps your online connection secure with its stealth mode that makes the PC effectively invisible to probing port scans. It also has a slider offering several different security levels, the most interesting one being a new addition for this year. The low security “gamer mode” can be switched on to temporarily ensure pop-up alerts are disabled, and it sets anti-virus security to low alongside switching off automatic updates. This trims down system and bandwidth usage to an absolute minimum when playing games.

This suite contains some clever measures to make Web surfing a more secure experience, such as anti-phishing technology that's integrated with Internet Explorer. Then there are identity control settings; these allow you to block specific sensitive information from ever being transmitted online. For example, you can enter part of your credit card number, and BitDefender will always pull up any Net traffic that involves this. Sites that you actually need to use your card with can be put on an exceptions list.

Rounding off the Net security features is a solid anti-spam module, complete with Bayesian filter which can be trained for greater accuracy in sifting out your junk mail, and a thorough range of parental control options. The latter includes a timer function to only allow surfing for specific periods, plus there's an intelligent Web filter that can be set to either child, teenager or adult levels of access. About the only weak spot we found in this suite was that this filter didn't block all dodgy content, but not many can.

Finally, Total Security 2008 has some useful extra trimmings in the form of temp file and registry cleaners, a secure file shredder and a data backup management utility. There are more strings to BitDefender's bow than the English army at Agincourt, and it's not just quantity here; the quality of the various modules shines through.

[Noxide]

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Thanks Dude!!!