BitDefender Total Security 2011 Review
BitDefender Total Security 2011 Antivirus/All-in one Security Software
Overview:
Pros:
- Reliable
- Adaptability to user type irrespective of the level of computer knowledge
- Extremely flexible interface
- Heaps of customising options available
- Minimal system resource usage
- Clever scanning with Smart Schedule
- Lower scan times with QuickScan
- Omission of known OS files
Cons:
- Slow loading by Search Advisor
- Frequent Firewall Pop-ups
- Redundant messages
Review:
In the antivirus industry, the BitDefender Total security is quite a solid product. It has no specific specialists, which is exactly the reason it pushes itself above the herd, having said that, it does not have any major disadvantages to its name either. It poses to be a convincing alternative for those looking for a change from the other well known rivals. The 2011 version of the suite has been released and the company has announced that the consumers will be able to find a great deal of enhancements along with some new features that raises the bar of protection. BitDefender has also said that this suite will be easy to handle even to the novice users. In the following review of the BitDefender Total Security 2011, let us find out if this manufacturer has lived up to its own promises.
Pervious users’ attention!
Before we go into the review of the Total Security 2011, you should be aware of the fact that BitDefender provides free upgrade to its 2011 product line to any of the 2010 version users. This means, all you have to do is, enter the Total Security 2010 key in order to activate the 2011 version of the Total Security suite. You will also find a single installation kit of 254MB that includes all the three paid PC security products by BitDefender. This kit includes the Antivirus plus, Total Security and Internet Security. The difference is made only by the license key you enter.
A simplified user interface:
It is true that the Total Security is one of the most complex security suites by BitDefender that features most security features that man knows of for a system user. At the time of installation, we noticed that the process of creating a user profile has been simplified by a great deal. Now, all you have to do is, just select one of the three view types you wish the suite to look like at the first launch. The three view options of the suite to appear like later on from the application window includes expert, intermediate and basic.
Keep or Remove:
Prior to the commencement of the actual installation, the BitDefender Total Security runs a quick security scan in order to be certain that the system does not suffer from any active malware that has the potential to obstruct the procedure. At the time of installation, if you had the previous version of the suite installed, the software will remove it first and only after that is done, the 2011 version will be installed. A restart is required for this process to be completed. Note that, it is mandatory that you have to sign in with your BitDefender account in the next screen that appears if you are looking to use the suite after the 30 day trial period. If you are using a license that had been validated before, this will prove to be a bane.
Having said that, the BitDefender also does an aggressive search for other security programs installed. Unlike the suites from other major security brands, BitDefender does give you the option to keep it if you wish to do so. However, if you choose to keep it, this suite might not function properly, but at least you have the option, while other suites will refuse to install until the other is uninstalled. As far as the uninstallation of the Total Security 2011 is concerned, the process is fast and painless and the program even gives the user options to activate Windows Defender as well as Windows Firewall. However, we found a few registry entries that were left behind.
The initial configuration:
Depending on the type of view you like once the installation is complete, the initial configuration window comes up which offers numerous choices about how to configure the installation. Hence, if you choose the Expert view, you will get to choose on the features and modules you wish to be enabled. With the Basic and Intermediate views, you can customise the dash board, which is the main application window, along with shortcut features such as Parental Control, Game Mode and Home Network Management. While you are examining the configuration steps you would like to deal with, at the background, BitDefender will be silently running all of the installation routines. However, it does not go unnoticeable, as you will have pop-ups that go on constantly giving information that the Firewall and Windows Defender have been disabled. At the end of all this, you can ask the suite to do a complete system scan, so that you are sure that there is not malware whatsoever. During this time, the Total Security does further configuration to establish the type of network connection.
After the completion of the installation, BitDefender 2011 Security Software opens a website in your default browser and requests you to rate the installation experience. Though we appreciate BitDefender being keen on knowing users feedback, we are not quite sure if this is the right way to elicit this. Our thought is that, this is not one of the low-input installation and also needs a lot of babysitting than most users would like.
The Expert and Intermediate views:
If you wish to have access to all of the features and functions of the suite, you have to opt for the Expert view. With Expert view, you get complete control over the suite as well as its modules such as parental control, firewall, anti spam, privacy control, antivirus, back up, vulnerability, home network, tune-up, encryption, game and laptop mode. With each of these options, you get a wide range of customisation possibilities that allows you to have the suite your way.
As far as the Intermediate option is concerned, the dashboard gives you access to the system maintenance tools, security module, backup and encryption tools and Home Network. The Intermediate view actually adds heaps of complexity to the Basic Interface. Here, you will find more options in the main user interface along with top level tabs and some configurable tools beneath it for swift access to the most commonly used features. It is just confusing and we feel that the Intermediate view does not make much sense. Just being an uncomfortable balance between the text links and shortcut icons. Even though you are an advanced user, we would recommend the Basic View option if you want to speed up the installation process, you can change to Advanced interface later.
Basic View:
As the name indicates, the Basic View is the least comprehensive management tool of the lot and by default, with this module the control a user has over the modules is quite minimal and you get only the essentials in the interface including some system tune up tools, scanning and also a few instruments of backup and restore. Here, you get a large, coloured security status indicator on the left and some really large buttons on the right for accessing Tune up, Security and My Tools. On clicking on each one of these, drop down menus open with a list f choices. You also get to customise the list of visible extras. With the Basic View, there is also a possibility for you to activate the laptop and game modes and also to run a quick scan, which you will be able to find in the Security Menu. While the Intermediate and Basic view modes come with very less management possibilities, you will be able to configure the dashboards of both the views to expand your control. This is one of the biggest advantages of the adaptive design feature that BitDefender has introduced in its 2011 product line.
Quick Scan and Smart Scan:
It is no secret that cloud antivirus is great at taking the load off user’s station as well as provide faster scan results. You can also opt out of this cloud based virus scan. There is no doubt in the fact that this is important and recommended too, but it took almost five minutes on our system. Hence, for consumers with older computers, or just unprepared to take that break will get quite frustrated with the delay.
BitDefender calls this feature as QuickScan and it helps with reducing the impact in system resources a great deal and also the time required for completing a full scan. The Smart Schedule feature enables the user to run scans while the computer is idle, and pauses as soon as the system resumes. As far as the efficiency of this improvised malware protection is concerned, the standard has not been lowered in this version. When tested against a database of three hundred of worst threats, the results seemed to be pretty satisfactory as just eleven of the threats managed to get through the threats. And with the latest database of 38 worst threats, only eight were left behind.
Improvised scanning:
BitDefender has improved the scanning technology on its Total Security 2011 by moving most of the scan to the cloud. This is by following the trend of the most of its rivals whose behavioural engine has proven to be more effective and successful at stopping threats than the traditional virus definition files. However, you must make a note that the VDF remains to be a component in how the BitDefender protects the users. This reputation engine on this suite does not completely ignore the file that has been identified as safe. On the basis of a geometric progression algorithm that has an eye on when the particular file was previously accessed, the suite will regularly look at safe files in order to make sure that they have not been converted into sleeper agents.
Antivirus:
The Antivirus module on the BitDefender Total Security 2011 has bought in a new layer of security. This new layer is apart from the standard protection offered against all types of malware, which is nothing but the signature based detection and elimination of phishing attacks by the antiphishing toolbar that is automatically installed in the internet explorer as well as Mozilla FireFox. In order to counter attack the infections that can be caused through malicious sites, BitDefender has introduced the Search Advisor. From the 2011 version of the BitDefender Total Secirity Suite, the software is capable of scanning through the search results of search engines such as Bing, Google and Yahoo and identify the sites that seem to have compromised with the security.
Search Advisor:
The Search Advisor is based on the identical technology as the one used by antiphishing as well as anti fraud engines, and it is also equipped to check if the links that are returned by the search engine are reliable or not. To make sure that the efficiency is high, the results are checked against a database of signatures, but there is nothing to worry as the code is also analysed. But note that, this will have an adverse effect over your browsing speed. We noticed this during our tests as the safety marks will be loading progressively.
Parental Controls:
The parental controls are same as the ones found in the previous versions. However, there is a major difference; now you get to view and configure the activities of your kids remotely for any of the web access point via an online parental control management console. Just log in to the BitDefender account, and you get immediate access to recent activity, alerts as well as settings. You can still enjoy the amazing flexibility that users are accustomed to in the version too; from blocking the websites and applications to defining the Internet access schedules. You also get to see the stats of the most accessed sites along with the most used applications and contacts in IMs such as Yahoo and Windows Live Messenger. Note that the effects of the settings in the online console is not instant as it takes a while for this data to be sent to software that had been installed in the system and get the restrictions alive.
Home Network:
The number of computers in a household increases as the size of a family increases and, with the BitDefender Total Security 2011, you get to administer the BitDefender products that are installed on various stations that are inside the particular network. As far as what you get to do with remote access includes running manual scan, registering the product, begin the process of update, run a tune-up procedure, initiate a fix all the issues routine and also a specific parental control. Once you add the system to the BitDefender Home Network and complete the verification of all the passwords, you will be just good to go.
Vulnerability Scan:
The Vulnerability feature is amazing, though it has a generalised name. What this feature actually does is, analyse the programs that you had installed that possess sneaky vulnerabilities. This has software such as Adobe Flash Player that especially has reputations for being slow to provide security updates. In individual checks, the software has a look at the installed programs and Windows patches, and it even does an analysis at your system password in order and let you know if it is strong enough. This does quite a deep scan to find even the noncritical updates. But the only issue here is that, the suite does not know to differentiate between a real noncritical update and other noncritical but essential updates.
Monitor system resource:
The module for improving the performance of the PC in the Total Security 2011 all-in-one security software offers you with a new instrument to maintain the computer at the best of its behaviour. There is a Monitor option in the menu which offers you with a great deal of statistics about each of the applications that currently run in your system, and it even calculates the average RAM and CPU usage and goes on to label the usages to be high, medium or low. With this information, you get to decide which of the apps cause a performance drag on your system and just shut it down. Above all, the Total Security will make a half an hour RAM and CPU usage for each of the elements available. One of the additions to this module is that, at the time of PC Clean-up, you have now got the advantage of choosing the elements that you wish to be removed. For those who are confused on what good is this going to make, here is it: for instance, you can select Internet Explorer or FireFox cache to be purged or say, if the list of temporary and recent documents be removed.
The system usage is kept to minimal and during tests the BitDefender Total Security 2011 required just 80MB for the tasks involving scanning and the average CPU use was in-between 50% to 60%.
Smart Tips:
BitDefender has also included a Smart Tips feature which informs the user when they are missing out on some of the essential security and performance tasks. For instance, it will notify you when a recently created file has not been packed up.
Tutorial Supports:
If you are a novice user and opt for the Expert View, you will simply be baffled by the overwhelming options. Hence, just be careful with the view option you select with the BitDefender Total Security 2011. However, you need not panic as the learning curve of the suite is not too tough, particularly when taking into consideration the new support feature sporting flash videos which explain each step in detail as plainly as possible. These tutorials cover a wide range of topics right from the creation of the BitDefender account to the most difficult process such as elimination of infected files from the System Volume Information folder and addition of exclusions in the Active Virus Control module. The only requirement for this to work is that, you will have to possess internet connection to view the video clips.
Existing Features:
Now that we are done with the new features and enhancements included in this 2011 version of the BitDefender Total Security, it is also worth noting that the suite has also maintained quite high standards that were experienced with the BitDefender Total Security 2010. The Firewall still takes care of the high profile job of filtering the data coming in as well as the stuff going out and the Vulnerability module will keep on having an on the latest installations of updates as well as applications on the system to be up to date. For the sake of identity theft, there is Privacy control, which also offers guard against tracking cookies or scripts from gaining access to your private data and Trojans trying to fit in Windows Registry.
Performance:
The detection engine of the BitDefender Total Security 2011 is same as that of its siblings, the BitDefender Internet Security 2011 and BitDefender AntiVirus Pro 2011. Though BitDefender might not be a very popular name in security industry, but a popular name does not always mean efficiency. The initial scan is completed in about four minutes and a quick scan averages about a minute and a through complete scan takes just over 50 minutes.
Third party ratings:
Virus Bulletin has provided the BitDefender Total Security 2011 the VB100 award, which means, the suite is capable of detecting most viruses in the loose at both on-demand and on-access scanning and does not generate any false positives while scanning clean files. According to the on-demand detection tests of AV Comparatives, the Total Security 2011 has got the Advanced+ rating. West Coast Labs has offered the suite its checkmark certification as well as Platinum Product Award.
The AntiSpam issue:
That was all good news, so here is the bad one. We had some issues fiddling with the suite and was not able to test the AntiSpam module. When tried in the Mozilla Thunderbird and Outlook 2010, both of which are portable and desktop versions, we had no luck, and the result was the same ‘no emails filtered’. When we thought the issue was just with us, we found several of the users also came up with the same problem.
Support:
Unfortunately, now a days, security suite businesses choose to keep their support number deeply buried and BitDefender is no exception. Its support number as well as the live chat support is kind of hidden. Access from the software interface would be excellent, especially if the net goes down.
Verdict:
The enhancements made on the BitDefender Total Security 2011 is not negligible at any cost; stuff like selective scanning of files when the suite is aware that the data is clean, results verification in Yahoo, Google and Bing, Scanning in the Cloud and the online parental control console are all a big step towards a big evolution of the security suite. Except for the very minor niggles encountered at the time of testing, the suite was great in all the other fronts and, the best part about the suite is the kind of confidence it gives the beginners. The advanced users are also not starving with the expert view and the overall level of protection offered by the suite is commendable. The BitDefender TotalSecurity 2011 has set new standards for the company itself. Having said that, the mixed test results make it a product hard to sell when compared to some of its nearly perfect competitors.
There have been heaps of user reviews stating that the product completely stopped them from connecting to the internet. Though we did not experience it, the complains have just been too overwhelming to ignore. Because of the inconsistencies in performance too, it is quite hard for us to recommend the BitDefender Total Security 2011.
BitDefender Total Security 2011 – Software Specification Details
| Manufacturer | BitDefender |
| Model Name | BitDefender Total Security 2011 |
| Suite type | All-in-one |
| License type | Complete package |
| License Validation period | One year |
| License quantity | Three users |
| Package type | Retail |
| Minimal System requirements | Windows XP SP2, Vista, Windows 7 800MHz processor RAM: 512MB (Windows XP) 1GB (Windows Vista and Windows 7) 450MB available hard disk space Internet Explorer 6 |
| Recommended system requirements | Windows XP SP2, Vista, Windows 7 Intel CORE Duo (1.66 GHz) or equivalent processor RAM: 1GB (Windows XP and Windows 7) 1.5GB (Windows Vista) 600MB available hard disk space Internet Explorer 7 |
| Software Requirements | Yahoo Messenger 8.5 Windows Live Messenger 8 Firefox 2.5 Thunderbird 2.0.0.17 Outlook 2000, 2003, 2007 Outlook Express Windows Mail |
| Supported browsers | Internet Explorer and Firefox |
| Anti-Virus | Yes |
| FireWall | Yes |
| Anti-Spyware | Yes |
| Anti-Phishing | Yes |
| Anti-Spam | Yes |
| Parental controls | Blocks inappropriate websites. Customised settings to limit your children’s access times. Allows remote parental control Centrally secures your home network |
| Other security features | Online fraud, Online ID theft, Hackers, Viruses, Spyware, Junk mail, tune-up and secure online backup |
| Special Operating Modes | Game Mode which reduces system load and postpones scans Laptop mode that prolongs battery life |
| Tune up | Removes unnecessary files & registry entries, for optimized performance |
| Data Backup | Yes |
| Other Key features | Advanced gamer mode Completely customizable Online backup IM encryption Flexible Firewall |
| Support | Assistance with common issues built directly into the product
Free technical support for the entire duration of the product license |
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