PROS
Useful new profiles; top-notch antivirus security; file encryption and device anti-theft features; slick desktop widget
CONS
Can be difficult to figure out some features
VERDICT
Bitdefender Total Security 2015 combines impeccable protection with a strong range of features, including new profile settings to optimize your PC's resources
Bitdefender Total Security 2015 combines impeccable protection with a strong range of features, including new profile settings to optimize your PC's resources.
These days, a good security suite does a lot more than just detect and defend against malware. That's the idea behind Bitdefender Total Security 2015 ($70 for one PC, $90 for three PCs), which, in addition to top-notch protection, offers a collection of centralized PC tune-up and optimization tools to make computer maintenance as easy as possible. You'll also get one year of antivirus security for up to three PCs, and a protected browser for safe online shopping. Overall, Bitdefender Total Security remains our top pick.
SET UP:
Bitdefender Total Security 2015 for PC is compatible with Windows XP and Vista, 7, 8 and 8.1. That's good news for people who still have yet to upgrade from Windows XP.
After we downloaded the Bitdefender Total Security 2015 installer from Bitdefender's website, the product started an initial scan of our Acer E5, then proceeded to install the full program. The entire process took about 10 minutes over our office Wi-Fi network, longer than other antivirus offerings such as Symantec Norton 360. After that, we entered our product key and we were in.
Interface:
When Bitdefender Total Security 2015 is running, you'll see a small, circular widget in the bottom right of the screen. This circle displays a green checkmark if you're secure, a yellow exclamation if some smaller issues have been found or a red X if there's a serious issue. Hovering your mouse over the circle makes it turn into a light-blue circle with the white B Bitdefender logo over it.
The widget is essentially unchanged from previous editions; clicking its center launches the main interface, which has received a makeover in Bitdefender Total Security 2015. It uses a gunmetal-gray background with white text, which makes the green, yellow or red of the system security notifications pop, as well as the blue that recurs here to highlight each button as you hover your mouse over it.
The top part of the main interface also displays the status of your computer's protection using the green check, yellow exclamation or red X. Beneath that area are three main square icons: Protection, Privacy and Tools. A fourth square is divided into four smaller square icons: Scan, Update, Safepay and Optimize. These latter two tools are also located under the Privacy and Tools menu, respectively, but it's nice to have them here as they're going to be frequently used.
In the Tools section are three groups of tools: Tuneup, Profiles and Safego. Tuneup includes OneClick Optimizer and Startup Optimizer, as well as PC Clean-Up, Disk Defragmenter, Registry Cleaner, Registry Recovery and Duplicate Finder.
The Profiles tool is where you can tweak your Standard, Work, Game and Movie configurations, as well as the Battery Mode setting that activates at the time when your laptop's battery drops below a specific charge (the default is 30 percent).
Overall, we like the minimalism and uniform color scheme of Bitdefender's interface. The square icons also subtly echo the new Windows 8 start menu, without too overtly replicating the design. All in all, Bitdefender Total Security 2015 isexpensive, but it provides a solid range of features. However, I would like to see more documentation inside the program about exactly what the many features do and how to customize them.
Protection features :
In the Privacy section are four tools: Data Protection, Safepay, Wallet and ID Theft Protection. Safepay is a protected browser designed to provide a secure way to make online payments. It also has a virtual keyboard, which helps thwart keylogging malware.
If you like the convenience of having websites autocomplete your credit card information, but you worry about the security of storing that data in your browser, you'll like the Wallet feature: It takes over credit data autocompletion in the browser, but provides more security over that data. Wallet can also securely store credentials for websites, messaging services and your favorite Wi-Fi networks.
If you sign in with your Facebook account, Safego will scan the links you see for malware, as well as monitor your privacy settings so you know how protected you are.
Security performance :
All of Bitdefender's 2015 security products (Antivirus Plus, Internet Security and Total Security) use the same malware detection engine, and should have the same security performance. So how does Bitdefender 2015 hold up?
To find out, we consulted the independent German antivirus lab AV-TEST. Full tests of Bitdefender's 2015 products have yet to be completed, but AV-TEST sent us preliminary results on Bitdefender Internet Security 2015, which showed that the product performs about as well as the 2014 edition.
In other words, the latest Bitdefender antimalware engine performs very well: It notched a 100-percent score for detecting zero-day exploit malware, above the industry average of 94 percent. It also scored 100 percent on detecting widespread, common malware, again above the industry average of 96 percent.
System impact :
Bitdefender Total Security 2015 has some new features, such as Profiles and OneClick Optimizer, the latter of which is designed to improve your PC's performance. But what about the impact that Bitdefender itself has on your computer's performance?
Using the PCMark7 benchmarking software, our Acer Aspire E5 achieved a baseline score of 1,718. With Bitdefender 2015 installed and a system scan running, that dropped to 1,563. During a quick scan, however, the performance score actually increased to 1,762.
Our custom benchmark test matches 20,000 names (many containing special characters) to addresses in OpenOffice. Without Bitdefender 2015 installed, the test completed in 14 minutes, 28 seconds. During a full system scan, the time increased to 18 minutes, 26 seconds. In a quick scan, it dropped to 17 minutes, 29 seconds.
These are good scores for Bitdefender Total Security 2015. Most PCs with the program installed should see only minimal, if any performance impact during antivirus scans.
Performance optimization:
The big new feature in Bitdefender Total Security 2015 is the ability to manually switch among different security profiles — Standard, Work, Game and Movie — depending on what you're doing with your PC. When Bitdefender is set to Autopilot (via a button on the home screen), the program switches among the profiles automatically, an update from the previous Automatic Game Mode feature.
In Game and Movie mode, Bitdefender Total Security 2015 will delay scans until you're done with your playing or viewing session. It will also adjust the performance of other applications to prevent them from slowing your system during a critical maneuver or climactic moment. You can tweak these profiles in the Tools section under Profiles.
Another new tool is OneClick Optimizer, found under the Tools section, which helps improve your computer's speed by deleting junk files, cleaning up disk space, optimizing your registry and more. This is similar to what free optimization tools such as CCleaner do.
There's also Startup Optimizer, an easy way to determine which programs automatically launch at system startup. Startup Optimizer is a welcome tool for improving startup speed, and it's a welcome alternative to digging through your computer's system settings or using a separate program.
Most of Bitdefender 2015's tools have a small switch icon in the top right corner. If you have trouble using a tool, double check whether it's been turned off.
Firewall, Parental Control and Anti-Spam:
All of the above features are available in the lower-priced Bitdefender Antivirus Plus 2015 ($60) and Bitdefender Internet Security 2015 ($80). Three others features come with Internet Security 2015 and Total Security 2015: Firewall, Parental Controls and Anti-Spam.
The firewall can block network attacks such as unwanted Internet Connection Sharing, unwanted port scans and other Wi-Fi connections.
Parental Controls, accessible either under the Privacy menu or via Bitdefender's online portal, mybitdefender.com, let parents create limited user accounts for their kids on any device (computer, tablet or smartphone) on which Bitdefender is installed. The program will then generate reports on the webpages and apps the child uses as well as all instant messages, SMS messages and calls the child makes.
Finally, Anti-Spam is a cloud-based feature that filters out spam emails before they reach your inbox.
All of the above features are available in the lower-priced Bitdefender Antivirus Plus 2015 ($60) and Bitdefender Internet Security 2015 ($80). Three others features come with Internet Security 2015 and Total Security 2015: Firewall, Parental Controls and Anti-Spam.
The firewall can block network attacks such as unwanted Internet Connection Sharing, unwanted port scans and other Wi-Fi connections.
Parental Controls, accessible either under the Privacy menu or via Bitdefender's online portal, mybitdefender.com, let parents create limited user accounts for their kids on any device (computer, tablet or smartphone) on which Bitdefender is installed. The program will then generate reports on the webpages and apps the child uses as well as all instant messages, SMS messages and calls the child makes.
Finally, Anti-Spam is a cloud-based feature that filters out spam emails before they reach your inbox.
Safebox Online Storage and Device Anti-Theft :
File Encryption :
The File Encryption feature in Bitdefender creates encrypted volumes called "secure vaults" on the PC, in which you can store sensitive documents. You first create a vault and determine how much storage space it should have. Each vault can have a unique password.
Vaults behave like drive partitions; when you open one, the computer mounts it as it would a new storage device. You can create and save documents directly to a vault. When finished, you'll need to "lock" (unmount) the vault by going back into Bitdefender, navigating to File Encryption, right-clicking the open volume and clicking "Lock."
If you lose a vault's password, the documents in the vault are lost for good, but Bitdefender doesn't warn you of that risk. Other services, such asTrueCrypt or DiskCryptor, offer similar drive-partition encryption for free and with more robust features, but Bitdefender's interface is tidier and easier to use.
Bottom line :
Bitdefender Total Security 2015 is a solid and dependable security suite with a good range of extra features. We especially appreciate Bitdefender's new profiles, which automatically adjust your computer's performance based on whether you're working, playing a video game or watching a movie. It's also hard to argue with Bitdefender Total Security 2015's perfect antimalware detection scores.
So should you buy Bitdefender Total Security 2015? If you're most concerned with top-notch protection, check out Bidefender Internet Security 2015 ($60 for one PC, $80 for three PCs). There'salso Avira Free Antivirus, which earned perfect scores in AV-TEST's antivirus analysis. But if you want a more robust suite with extra features, includingfile encryption and secure online storage, we highly recommend Bitdefender Total Security 2015.
