Bitdefender Internet Security 2015 Review

excellent
key review info
application features
  • Redesigned UI
  • (11 more, see all...)

Four months ago we reviewed Bitdefender Internet Security 2014. The developer has just released the 2015 version of the antivirus application, bringing in new features and improvements concerning usability. We had the opportunity to take a look at the new product a bit early and evaluate it for ourselves.

NOTE: Bitdefender Internet Security 2015 was tested on 64-bit Windows 8.1 Pro.

Installation and interface

The setup procedure is similar to the one in the previous edition. It is speedy and customizable in terms of installation directory and proxy settings. Although it is not mentioned anywhere in the installer, the tool integrates a couple of entries into the Windows Explorer context menu, in order to quickly scan and shred files, folders and drives.

As far as the interface is concerned, Bitdefender preserves the same dark and green theme. However, the buttons are flatter now and some elements have been removed to make the look cleaner overall.

The largest three buttons in the main menu provide access to the protection and privacy modules along with tools, while four lesser buttons enable users to quickly perform a scan, check for virus definition updates, optimize the disk by resolving junk files, invalid registry keys and privacy issues, as well as navigate the Internet via Safepay, Bitdefender's proprietary web browser which ensures secure online transactions.

The autopilot mode can be activated with one click to apply optimized settings and let the application handle any threats automatically, thus letting users proceed with their usual PC activities. If disabled, it is possible to select an ideal profile based on the type of activity: standard, work, game or movie.

Different scan modes and advanced settings

Bitdefender implements six layers of protection against viruses, worms, Trojans, rootkits, adware, spyware, and other types of malware: antivirus, vulnerability scans, anti-spam, firewall, web protection, and intrusion detection.

Computer scans can be performed quickly to look into the usual hiding places of the system, such as Program Files and the Windows directory. When it comes to scan configuration, it is possible to adjust the on-access scanning and active virus control levels (permissive, normal, aggressive), create exclusions (files, CD/DVD and USB devices, mapped network drives) and personalize quarantine settings (e.g. delete old content). Additional scan options focus on the file types to take into account (all, only programs, archives) and types of objects to target (e.g. boot sectors, memory, registry, cookies, rootkits). These settings are also applicable to scheduled scan tasks.

BIS2015: The interface is neatly organized and comfortable
BIS2015: The interface is neatly organized and comfortable

Custom scans can be scheduled and created by specifying the exact files, directories and drives to verify, along with the severity level to favor either resources consumption or speed. They can be set to run with low priority, minimize the scan wizard to the system tray, as well as to shut down the PC, close the scan window or just show the summary window if no threats are found.

Just like in the 2014 version, this new edition contains Rescue Mode, a feature that should be used in critical scenarios when the computer can no longer boot properly due to virus malware infiltration.

Vulnerability scans verify the operating system for weak points by looking into critical Windows updates, application updates, weak passwords, and media autorun. The antispam module filters emails in clients using the POP3 protocol, in order to weed out dangerous or unwanted messages. It can be set to block emails written in Asian or Cyrillic characters, submit spam and legit samples to the cloud to share information with other users in the Bitdefender community, as well as manage email addresses and domains separately for friends and spammers.

Built-in firewall, browser assistant, sandbox, and anti-hacker tools

Bitdefender comes packed with its own personal firewall that is automatically turned on at installation while deactivating the Windows Firewall to prevent any conflicts. It can block Internet Connection Sharing and network port scans, monitor wireless connections, follow pre- and user-defined rules to allow or deny Internet access to active processes, as well as manage network adapters.

Web protection is provided by default via Search Advisor (a browser assistant that indicates trustworthy and suspicious websites), SSL scanning, along with shields against fraud and phishing links. The Bitdefender Toolbar is optional and includes the previously mentioned components which can be easily activated and deactivated with one click, together with a sandbox feature that confines all browsing activities into a virtual and secure environment. Any URLs can be excluded from the web protection module by adding them to a whitelist.

Lastly, the intrusion detection system is a safety measure against hacker attempts to get in the computer and corrupt data. It prevents any modifications to the critical system files and registry entries, informs users about DLL injection-based attacks and blocks the installation of malware drives. Its severity level can be set to permissive, normal or aggressive.

Security configuration for privacy-related data

Bitdefender's privacy component has multiple purposes. It can securely delete files via File Shredder (also accessible via the Explorer context menu) to prevent third parties from recovering them using specialized tools, as well as monitor children's activity online and keep track of lost or stolen notebooks or Android devices via the parental control features (it requires online registration, free).

Apart from the Safepay feature which was previously discussed, Bitdefender includes a Wallet that saves all login credentials to any sites when surfing the Internet (supported by Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome), apps, email clients and wireless connections, putting them in a safe location protected with a password which is requested at every system startup (handy if the PC is shared with other users). It can be exported to file and imported on another computer running Bitdefender.

New tools for computer optimization and maintenance

Internet Security 2015 brings additional tools dedicated to PC tuneup. OneClick Optimizer looks for junk files that unnecessarily take up disk space, invalid registry entries which may prevent system issues, along with browser traces that may compromise the user's activity, such as cache, cookies, temporary files and visited links.

Startup Optimizer gives users the possibility of delaying or disabling apps which automatically run at system boot to increase Windows startup speed, as well as to view the boot time of each program and overall system.

PC cleanup can be performed with typical settings to take into account browser cache, error reporting files, memory dumps and Windows junk files, or with customized options by excluding any of these areas.

A disk defragging tool allows users to select the exact drives to analyze and reduce fragments on and ensure better computer performance, while the registry cleaner tool previously mentioned in the OneClick Optimizer module can be separately run and personalized in terms of registry areas to clean (after analyzing all of them).

All registry keys are automatically backed up before removal, and they can be restored using a separate component. Furthermore, Bitdefender integrates a function that identifies and removes duplicate files in order to free up disk space and declutter the system.

Manage work, movie and game profiles

As far as profile configuration goes, it is possible to enable real-time optimization and let Autopilot manage profiles, activate battery mode for notebooks, as well as make some tweaks to the work, movie and game profiles, such as postponing Windows automatic updates along with user-defined background programs and maintenance tasks, as well as adjusting the power plan and visual settings for movies and games.

BIS2015: Customize the work, game and movie profiles
BIS2015: Customize the work, game and movie profiles

Safego, a feature that's also available in the 2014 edition, is specially designed for Facebook to scan all links sent and received from friends via various locations like News Feed and comments, in order to make sure they are not infected with malware. It can be remotely accessed and has a mobile version available for smartphones.

Events concerning each major component can be examined in a log area. In addition, Bitdefender automatically sends a weekly report with the security status and improvement tips, provided that the user is logged in. It is possible to password-protect the entire application and manage the automatic update frequency.

Performance results

A collection of 8,502 virus samples was submitted to the test, in order to verify Bitdefender's threat detection ratio. The test machine was an Intel Core i5-3470 @CPU 3.20GHz with 12GB RAM and 500GB Seagate Barracuda ST500DM002 7200RPM, running Windows 8.1 Pro. Default settings were applied. The collection did not include zero-day threats.

The real-time guard was excellent! As soon as we triggered the extraction procedure of the 8,502 virus samples from the password-protected archive, Bitdefender immediately picked up on it and started eliminating files while remaining completely silent (no kind of notifications were shown). In the end, it left behind only 225 files.

In the next step, we proceeded with a contextual scan to find out whether the tool was capable of detecting and removing more files, and we were right. It detected and eliminated 207 extra files, leaving behind only 30 items. Overall, Bitdefender had a success rate of 99.6%.

In order to evaluate the app's scan speed, we ran a system scan (the primary drive had 156GB occupied space). Default settings were applied. Bitdefender finished the scan job in roughly 1 hour and 36 minutes.

No false positives were spotted in these tests.

CPU and RAM consumption was minimal. The tool was completely stealthy. 


The Good

The redesigned interface definitely looks cleaner than the old one. Bitdefender's firewall has been simplified to allow less experienced users to configure it. The new profiles for work, games and movies have handy customization settings.

The real-time guard is highly responsive and does an excellent job. Virus detection ratio was outstanding. Scan jobs were fast, while CPU and RAM usage was low.

The Bad

Although the interface is pretty attractive overall, some windows blend together depending on the order in which they were accessed.

The duplicate finder takes a really long time to sort files into groups after finishing a scan job.

The app sometimes becomes unresponsive when attempting to stop or cancel scan jobs.

The Truth

The new toolbox with PC tuneup features was not really necessary for an antivirus utility, since other apps which specialize in this category offer more advanced settings. Nevertheless, they are welcomed to quickly resolve common issues, in addition to the new profiles with optimized settings for working, gaming and watching movies.

Built to last, Bitdefender continues to dominate the anti-malware solutions community. Since this is a brand new edition, professional tests have not been carried out yet (e.g. AV Comparatives, Virus Bulletin), but we're certain that Bitdefender Internet Security 2015 will continue to impress as far as real-time responsiveness, virus detection ratio, scan speed and resources consumption are concerned.

NOTE: You can also read our previous review for Bitdefender Internet Security 2014.

user interface 4
features 5
ease of use 4
pricing / value 5


final rating 5
Editor's review
excellent
 
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Bitdefender Internet Security 2015 (25 Images)

BIS2015: Easily install the av solutionBIS2015: The interface is neatly organized and comfortableBIS2015: These are all the protection modules availableBIS2015: Configure av settings before running a scanBIS2015: Run a vulnerability scan on the critical Windows parts
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