BitDefender Total Security 2010 Beta - Advanced Mode

For hardcore users who need more granular control and the entire palette of options and settings featured by BitDefender Total Security 2010, Advanced Mode is the way to go. But although all the fine tuning is present in this section this does not mean that there are complex operations restricted to professionals. On the contrary, a mid-level computer user could do it easily. All eleven modules are stacked vertically in the left hand side of the interface making for easy access and quick view over all of them.

If you need a look at the overall state of the system General section is the place to visit. It'll give you comprehensive statistics on a number of scanned files, disinfected ones, date and time of the last scan and when your computer is scheduled for the next check. Additionally, there are the file and network activity graphs showing the intensity of the scanning done by BitDefender and the network traffic filtered by the firewall.

Here's where you can make settings that affect the entire suite in general and where you can have a look at information about the system, such as Services, Run Items, Startup Items, Known DLLs, Scripts, Hosts or running processes. For each of them there is a brief description containing the object, file, local path, product version and publisher.

The antivirus boasting preemptive and real-time protection is configurable down to creating customized scan levels, should the preset ones not suit your needs. The three pre-configured levels run from permissive to aggressive through default and for each of them there is exact information on how it behaves.

Antiphishing does not come as a standalone module but is integrated in the antivirus section. Considering the amount of options, it would not need anything more. This type of protection is found under the form of an addon for Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer and supports a minimum setup directly from the two web browsers.

Preemptive protection in BitDefender Total Security 2010 also provides minimum configuration and all you can do is move the scale up and down in order to ensure more or less aggressive behavioral scan and create a white/black list.

Protection against malicious emails is governed by the antispam engine. There are quite a few settings to be made here as well as defining lists of spammers and friends. Again, there are three security levels to pick from (Permissive, Moderate and Aggressive), which control the level of false positives you receive. Contributing to the right segregation of emails will improve the filtering because BitDefender lies its antispam protection on the famous Bayesian filter.

Setting up antispam is just a matter of ticking the desired options. These cover URL filtering, marking spam and phishing messages in the subject enable the learning engine (Bayesian), heuristic filtering, image filters, etc. If you are used to antispam filters (and you should, since this is the Advanced Mode), there is nothing to give you a headache; on the contrary, all is very well defined.

The most disturbing feat of a firewall for most users is the frequent notification that some process communicates outside your computer. Well, in the case of the one included in the BitDefender Total Security suite it is nothing like this. It already comes properly pre-configured to grant trustful app connection to remote locations (it comes with a comprehensive whitelist) and does not stress you unless there is a real cause for concern.

It is simple enough to be manipulated by most user types, but it is complex enough to let you set up rules regarding any application. The rules include restricting communication through protocols, adapter types used, direction (inbound/outbound), IP version, local and remote ports and IPs. It is actually very simple to work with as it offers the essential options needed to block or allow a connection.

It also brings options for network configuration. This way you can set the trust level for each connection you use. All is good with the firewall, but you don't get a chance to expand the pre-configured list of trustful apps and add your own. It would be a nice touch since we're talking advanced mode here.

As we get deeper and deeper into the modules, the suite seems to have crossed all the T’s and dotted all the I’s. In Parental Control for instance there are all the options a parent would need to keep the lease on the kid with regard to Internet and application use. It lets you block access to web pages for certain periods of time, filter emails, IM traffic based on specific words as well as cut access to the Web completely between desired time intervals. Of course, this offer stands as long as the computer has multiple user accounts and each of them is configured individually.

You can give your kid access only to a restricted list of websites, or let the Parental Control URL filter do the job for you, only in this case you will have to trust the developer about the pages your child is allowed access to. You are also in control of the applications that can be run on the computer and block them according to your schedule or at all times.

With keywords things are pretty much the same. Simply define them, set the channels to be monitored (HTTP, POP and IM) and the Parental Control feature will block them accordingly. However, keep in mind that only Yahoo! and MSN Messenger IM programs are supported and you also have to consider that not all web browsers as well as not all email clients are affected.

The Web Time Limiter is easy to handle and provides great restriction of the Internet. Defining the hours when the Web is accessible is a cinch indeed. And the best part is that it works great as the HTTP will be off-limits.

There is no better time like the present to keep your private stuff private from remote prying eyes glancing into your browsing sessions, or holding a keen eye on the entries in the registry or holding down identity data leaks. Privacy Control module attends to all these and more, letting you receive notifications on cookie sending or script execution.

Identity-related data blocked by BitDefender includes passwords, addresses, bank account and credit card numbers, social security numbers, PINs, etc. Basically, everything defined as personal information can be protected against cyber thievery. In this case BitDefender filters email, web and IM, restricting the sending of private data.

Just like the last year edition, BitDefender Total Security 2010 features a module for gamers and laptop users. Although it is very low on resources, the suite can be configured to skip tasks or postpone them as long as a certain application is in full screen. It will detect such apps by itself and you can add them to the list or discard them.

When game mode is turned on the suite is designed to spare you of pop-up messages and postpone or skip antivirus and backup tasks. This way you will not be interrupted from playing and the schedule will not be messed up. With laptop mode the emphasis is on resource usage and refers to the same antivirus and backup jobs.

Even if this is the first beta of the suite, it does quite a good job. The antivirus has been improved and thanks to its real-time and behavioral feats it is ready to tackle a wider number of malware. In our preliminary tests it scored high and it was also easy on system resources. RAM level for all its processes did not exceed 70MB while the CPU recorded little stress on a Core 2 Duo system.

However, if security and malware protection does great, the Tune-Up module needs a lot of attention. Bugs like emptying the Recycle Bin by simply accessing the interface of an instrument will definitely be eliminated through future improvement steps. But the fact that it uses the defrag tool in Windows or that the registry cleaner may not do the best will definitely give the developer a hard time.

The Good

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The Truth