BitDefender has recently released Free Antivirus 2009.  The software uses the same antivirus engine as the paid Bitdefender version.  However, Bitdefender Free only includes on demand scanning and not on access or always on ptotection.  We also ran into a few bugs and annoyances upon installation and scanning.

Bitdefender Free Installation:

In order to get bitdefender free, you must first go to the bitdefender website.  Unfortunately, you need to register the software with an email address. The download link will be sent to your email address.  The program download is approximately 300 kilobytes and the download manager will download the rest of the antivirus program upon installation.  After the download is complete, the software requires a mandatory reboot.  I think this is interesting considering that the program only includes on demand scanning functionality yet it wants to also install a Windows service (requiring a reboot.)

First Bitdefender Use

Everytime the program starts up it will display a banner ad telling you the advantages of the paid version.  You are required to click through this ad each time.  Next, you will need to register again with Bitdefender.  This time you will need to enter in a user name and password.

Basic vs. Advanced Mode

I like Bitdefender’s attempt to create an advanced and basic mode.  The advanced mode will provide more information about the scan while the basic mode presents a clutter free environment.  The problem is when you start a scan under the advanced mode and then transfer back to the basic mode it doesn’t recognize that you have already started a scan.  The basic mode will then start a new scan on top of the original scan if a user isn’t careful.  The “Deep Scan” functionality also doesn’t work (this maybe due to my OS configuration.) I also didn’t like how the advanced scan didn’t show the progress of a scan, it just stated the current items and how many files had been scanned.

Bitdefender Updates:

The first bitdefender free antivirus update was about 10 megabytes and downloaded pretty slowly.  My biggest pet pieve was the fact that I had to reboot again after the update was applied. Why can’t the software update before the initial install was completed?

Bitdefender Detection and Performance

The bitdefender free antivirus utilizes the same detection engine as bitdefender’s other software antivirus.  The free edition is certified by ICSA, Virus Bulletin, and Westcoast Labs.  PC tools antivirus also has the same certifications.  Interestingly, according to the AV-comparatives report, Bitdefender was awarded an “Advanced” rating.  This was higher than the “Standard” rating given to AVG and Avast.  This suggests that against newer viruses Bitdefender is one of the most effective free antivirus software. However, a full system scan took quite a while.  It easily took over an hour for a 55 gigabyte operating system partition.  So be prepared to be patiently waiting for the system scan to complete.  Also, whether this is unique to my computer or not, my system crashed after the full system scan completed.

Lack of a Resident Shield or always on scanning

All of the other featured free antivirus software have a resident shield.  This is a crucial component to any antivirus product.  If a user downloads a program from bittorrent etc.  the virus will infect the system immediately. Bitdefender will only be able to detect the virus once a scan is run by the user or on a schedule.  However, Resident Shield protection is included with the paid version if you want to upgrade.

Conclusion:

Bitdefender lacks alot of the features included with other free antivirus.  Bitdefender  also has several software bugs and annoying pop ups.  However, the software exceeds in virus detection ability because it uses the same engine as the paid versions. One should at least scan their system with Bitdefender occasionally to make sure that computer is genuinley virus free.

Pros:

• The highest detection rate of the other free antivirus
• Utilizes the same scanning engine as the full product
• An established antivirus company

Cons:

• Need to register
• Large updates to download
• Need to reboot twice after installation
• Has pop-ups
• No on access scanning