Bitdefender Antivirus Plus

Main Window

The main window of Bitdefender Antivirus Plus packs in a lot of power and information, with a status indicator at left, above a left-rail menu, a recommendation from the AutoPilot feature in the middle, and a group of four quick action buttons that you can select from a pool of eight possibles.

Scan Complete

You should always run a full scan after installing a new antivirus, even if it takes a long time, as Bitdefender did. Optimization during the initial scan makes subsequent scans significantly faster.

Dangerous Page

The Web Protection component steers your browser away from malware-hosting pages and other dangerous pages. In testing with recent malware-hosting URLs, it did a good job.

Phishing Blocked

Web Protection also blocks phishing pages, fraudulent pages that try to steal your login credentials, and identifies them as such. Its phishing test score was among the very best.

Exploit Blocked

When we hit the test system with exploit attacks, Web Protection blocked about 40 percent of them. The antivirus component flagged the malware payload of a few, identifying them using their official CVE names.

Anti Tracker

New in this edition, the anti-tracker actively foils ad trackers and others, protecting the privacy of your online activity. Clicking its button brings up the detail pane seen here, which includes an estimate of the loading time saved by suppressing trackers.

Safe Files at Work

The Safe Files feature prevents all unauthorized modification to files in Documents and other protected folders. Here it has prevented an unauthorized text editor from changing a file.

Advanced Threat Defense

To test Bitdefender’s behavior-based Advanced Threat Defense, we turned off all other real-time protection and tried to launch almost a dozen ransomware samples. Advanced Threat Defense detected all of them except an unusual one that attempts whole-disk encryption.

Password Manager

Bitdefender comes with a basic password manager that captures and replays passwords, fills web forms, and syncs across devices.

VPN Montage

The VPN installed with this antivirus limits your usage to 200MB of bandwidth per day. From left to right in this montage: just click a button to connect; you can view server locations but can’t choose one; there are hardly any configuration settings; when you’re connected it shows how much bandwidth you’ve used.

SafePay

When you visit a banking website, Btdefender offers to open it in the isolated SafePay browser. You can streamline the process by telling it to always open this domain in SafePay.

Vulnerability Scan

Among the many bonus features is a vulnerability scanner that, among other things, reports any missing security patches for Windows and popular applications.

About Our Expert

Neil J. Rubenking

Principal Writer, Security

My Experience

When the IBM PC was new, I served as the president of the San Francisco PC User Group for three years. That’s how I met PCMag’s editorial team, who brought me on board in 1986. In the years since that fateful meeting, I’ve become PCMag’s expert on security, privacy, and identity protection, putting antivirus tools, security suites, and all kinds of security software through their paces.

Before my current security gig, I supplied PCMag readers with tips and solutions on using popular applications, operating systems, and programming languages in my "User to User" and "Ask Neil" columns, which began in 1990 and ran for almost 20 years. Along the way, I wrote more than 40 utility articles, as well as Delphi Programming for Dummies and six other books covering DOS, Windows, and programming. I also reviewed thousands of products of all kinds, ranging from early Sierra Online adventure games to AOL’s precursor Q-Link.

In the early 2000s, I turned my focus to security and the growing antivirus industry. After years of working with antivirus, I’m known throughout the security industry as an expert on evaluating antivirus tools. I serve as an advisory board member for the Anti-Malware Testing Standards Organization (AMTSO), an international nonprofit group dedicated to coordinating and improving testing of anti-malware solutions.

The Technology I Use

Much of the testing I do, particularly testing with real-world ransomware, is just plain dangerous. To perform such tests safely, I sequester them inside virtual machines managed by VMWare Workstation. For cross-platform testing, I use a MacBook Air, a Google Pixel 4, and a 6th-generation iPad.

I rely on my Delphi coding skills to create and maintain small applications. These include programs to check whether an antivirus correctly handled the malware it detected, launch dangerous URLs and record the security program’s reaction, and analyze the malware that I collect for use in testing. I also wrote a tiny browser and text editor for use in testing security apps that have predefined reactions for known products.

I do my writing and research on a Dell OptiPlex desktop, relying on Microsoft Word (my fingers know all the shortcuts). Many of my articles include charts and analysis; Excel is my go-to for those. When work hours end, though, I escape the bounds of Microsoft and Windows. There’s an iPhone in my pocket, I relax with my oversized iPad, and my Kindle Oasis is always loaded with the best science fiction and fantasy.

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