Bitdefender is regarded as one of the best technical Windows
internet security suites, and Total Security 2015 lives up to that rep.
The 2015 version aims to make life even easier for customers
by introducing Profiles, which adapt the software for particular tasks, like
playing games, watching movies or general office work.
After installation, you are presented with a very Windows
8-looking tiled interface. Rather than having a lot of tiles slide awkwardly
through the Bitdefender window, as in the 2014 version, here there are three
large tiles and four subsidiary ones, giving quick and easy access to all the
program’s key functions.
The modules provided by Bitdefender Total Security 2015
cover AV, anti-malware and anti-spam, tune-up, online banking protection, a
2-way firewall, parental control, online backup and anti-theft provision.
Online backup, which Bitdefender Total Security 2015 refers
to as Safebox, is handled from the My Bitdefender online site, which is unusual
– it is usually set up and managed locally.
It works by synchronizing the files and folders you select
with off-site storage and offers 2 GB of space. System optimization looks at
three different areas that might need attention: disk, Windows Registry and
privacy.
After we had adjusted the default settings to leave browser
caches and history alone, Bitdefender Total Security 2015 still managed to
recover 8.7 GB from our test system, which is worth having back. You can run
the optimizer with a single click.
The anti-theft features include locating, locking down and
wiping a stolen laptop, although still no facility to take a photo of the
person using it. While testing on a desktop PC, we tried the locate facility,
which repeatedly reported we were in a suburb of Doncaster, a place we have
never knowingly visited (although we are sure it is very nice). Since this
writer is based in Devon that is not very encouraging.
The Profiles, apart from the Standard one applied by
default, are for work, games and videos. They postpone protection and
maintenance tasks, which impair performance and put off automatic Windows
updates. Like many tasks in Bitdefender Total Security 2015, you can leave
selection of the correct profile to AutoPilot, which automatically manages the
IS suite when engaged.
Our tests showed a fairly low scan rate of 54.5 files per
second, but good file fingerprinting, dropping the number of files scanned from
79,145 to 14,703 on a second scan.
We measured very little resource hit, too, with just a 10
percent impact on our copy test, when also running a background scan with
Bitdefender Total Security 2015.
The German test site AV-Test (www.av-test.org) has awarded
Bitdefender Total Security 2015 top marks in its test groups for the last three
years, which is a notable achievement. Also see: How to beat the Hollywood
Hacker: Protect your data, photos and more.
Most recently, using the 2014 product, the product managed
an overall score of 17.5/18.0, which breaks down into a perfect 6.0/6.0 for
Protection, the same for Usability and 5.5/6.0 for Performance.
Performance looks at how much the software affects the
overall speed of the system its run on, and here it gave just a 1-second
knock-back, against 5 sec for the group Bitdefender Total Security 2015 was
tested in, as a whole. A very good result.
The price of this program is $69.95 per year for one
computer, or $89.95 for three licenses. Well, for limited time, you can get it
for free as a special offer from CHIP. You may install this software on
different Windows OS: Microsoft Windows XP SP3, Windows Vista SP2, Windows 7
SP1, Windows 8, or Windows 8.1.
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