Customer Reviews

Bitdefender Total Security 2009 2Yr/3Pc [OLD VERSION]

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(30)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(27)

 

 

I do love BitDefender; the malware detection engine is top notch, and 2009 comes with a few useful new features in addition to the ones I liked in the 2008 version. The user interface has again been revamped, and can be alternated between advanced mode, which gives the user full access to all settings, and a more basic view that provides the layman with just the essentials.

Indeed, BitDefender 2009 is easily a four star piece of software, and maybe even a five ...when it works. Herein lies the problem. BitDefender has earned a reputation for releasing its new software versions when they ought to be, by most standards, still in beta. I had some issues with 2008 early on, and the company never quite worked out all the kinks. 2009 has taken these problems to a new level. Current bugs include certain settings reverting to defaults after every update, failed updates, interface display problems, and, perhaps most annoyingly, a tendency to deselect the window in which one is working, periodically causing the cursor to disappear from the text field when one is typing.

These problems may be more or less severe depending on the specific type and configuration of your computer, but the general fact is that though the underlying defense capabilities of BitDefender 2009 are excellent, the program itself is littered with bugs and can even become unstable. For advanced users it's a nuisance. For beginners it can be practically unmanagable. I have no doubt that matters will improve in the future, but at the time I write this review I cannot recommend BitDefender 2009.

If you want to take advantage of most of BitDefender 2009's capabilities and have a much more functional product, I suggest BitDefender 2008. Unfortunately, my trial period has expired, so I will not be able to update my review in the future to report on which problems are fixed and which persist, but if you'd like to see for yourself whether BitDefender 2009 is right for you, I encourage you to download the 30 day trial for free on the company's website before making a purchase.

I had BitDefender AV 10 for a couple of years and ran it with Spyware Doctor and Zone Alarm free firewall. This combination worked well for me. I started having problems with the spyware doctor new versions. Found it ran heavy on my system.
I decided to go with a suite to avoid compatibility issues. I tried BitDefender Internet Security 2008 for awhile but I had a hard time configuring the firewall. My ISP uses a denial of service modem and the IP address changes each time I sign on. The permissions in the BD firewall would not stay. Must say the tech support was excellent. They were relentless in trying to find a solution to my problem. In the meantime the BitDefender Total Security 2009 came out of beta and I gave it a shot. The techs at BD thought the changes made to the firewall would correct my problems which it did. They gave me a deal to allow me to upgrade from BDIS 2008 to BDTS 2009 and I could not be happier. Making sure I had no trace of other security apps on my PC I downloaded and installed without a hitch.
The thing I like about BD is they have a pretty basic display for people who want to go with the defaults, set it up and forget it. Then they have an advanced view that allows you to tinker a bit which I like. This company is known for good heuristics and real time protection. Their ratings have always been high and you cannot beat the price.
I like the Tune Up features also. I run the registry cleaner a couple of times using ERUNDT application which is a great freebie that backs up your registry every time you boot up. Just as a side note I would not run without ERUNDT. I used to use a separate utility to monitor my registry for changes but I can now opt to have BD do this. I am particularly bad at backing up my documents so wanted the total security just to make it easier so I would be more apt to do it.
I highly recommend BitDefender products.
Use the 30 day trial first to make sure it does not conflict with your PC configutation and setup. What works well on one PC does not always work well on another. There are still a couple of bugs because BDTS 2009 is relatively new but to me they are minor and I have full confidence that this company will fix bugs and stand behind their product. I ended up with a 1 PC 3 year license.

This review can become quite long if I elaborate too much so I'll stick to bullet points to explain my experience with the program. I was optimistic because this program received high marks from Consumer Reports but they're not known for being as thorough with software as they are with other products. I gave this program the college try but I found numerous problems and cannot recommend it. For instance:

1) My DVD/CD player was unable to detect the presence of this program on the provided CD so I needed to download it from their website.
2) During installation, the program asked if I wanted to update everything but the update failed with an error message (future updates worked ok)
3) At random times it would steal focus from whatever I was doing (like typing this review). I'm not sure but I believe this happens every time it updates.
4) When it scans my system for viruses (2 1/2 hours for a full scan) it doesn't prompt you for action, it simply deletes the file without your input. The settings can be changed to quarantine the file, but given the number of false positives that come from antivirus scanners, deleting is a horrible default choice and they need to give us the option to skip the file if we know it's safe.
5) Speaking of defaults, it doesn't scan http traffic by default and real-time antivirus and antispyware are not enabled by default. Not sure why.
6) On the other hand, it doesn't seem to detect what programs are installed in your system as I had Yahoo Messenger scanning enabled by default even though it's not installed.


So far these are just minor annoyances, however, the following leads me to believe there are more systemic problems:

1) In spite of Bitdefender clearly stating it supports my email client (Thunderbird), it rendered it unusable. When I open Thunderbird, a message pops up saying, "In order to manage spam, it is necessary to select one or more emails." This box steals focus and prevents you from doing anything else on your computer. There's a box to check to it wouldn't show this message again, however even when checked the box keeps popping up over and over until you terminate Thunderbird.
2) When running the antispam "wizard" it does not detect either my Thunderbird email folder or my address book and it provided no avenue for me to point out the correct folders. Since the filter could not be trained, the constant popup boxes rendered Thunderbird unusable and I was prevented from checking my emails.
3) Bitdefender allows no option to pause or disable protection. In fact, even when these are disabled manually in settings they continue to load in the background. In other words, even when I tell it not to load antispam (since it didn't work) it would continue to load, generate popup boxes, and render Thunderbird unusable.
4) Bitdefender adds toolbars to your email and web clients and, while they may be useful, they take up an entire row of space for just one icon and they don't allow you to move the icon to a different toolbar.
5) Like others, I was only given 250MB of online backup space as opposed to the 2GB promised on the box.
6) Worst of all, it is impossible to disable Bitdefender from running. There is a box to check in settings to tell it whether or not to load at startup. This is ignored and Bitdefender will load regardless of what you want.

Similar problems exist when you try to get web based support. If you go to chat support, they will not accept any messages longer than 128 characters. Unfortunately, they don't tell you this beforehand. Even when you correct this, the support client stops working. You have to close your web browser and start over from scratch. I finally jumped through all the hoops and connected to support. The first time I connected I waited for five minutes with no response. Eventually I was prompted to leave them an email message. The second time I connected someone named "Bob" connected. I explained the problems I was having and he simply left the chat session with no response whatsoever. Later I receive an email response to my first session saying I need to set up an account before they would respond (I already did this).


In short, I believe this program wasn't tested properly before release and support was not helpful. There are too many bugs that need to be fixed before I could recommend it to anyone.

BitDefender shut down outgoing large emails on 2 systems. They said it was not their issue. I spent a total of 8 whole days of business time trying to define what happened. Time Warner Cable spent 8 hours with me. I kept getting bounces and statements that my mail box was 70% full. I finally reached of someone (support in Romania) who said it was a known issue. They sent tools for me to run and email results. I never heard back in the hour they promised. Next person I was able to reach said I didn't run the tar files. Sent me a new tool. Again, never heard back. Next day someone said they had corrected the issue on a down load. I uninstalled BD (emails then worked) and did download. Problem reappeared. I spent 4 hours trying to get through again, and finally gave up and got McAfee. They do not answer the phone. They answer and disconnect. They do not respond to emails. They disconnect from chats. There is no REAL tech support. The program has a design flaw. They refuse to refund any money. IF you would like days of frustration, get BitDefender.

Before I throw in how this software ran, I should put up a little about the machine I ran it on.
Windows Vista Ultimate 64-Bit, 3.0 GHz Core 2 Duo, 4 GB RAM, with all the bells and whistles turned off. In simple terms, my machine has plenty of power to spare. However, slower machines should not see too big of a performance hit, because of the way BitDefender works. Let me get into the things I like first.

When scanning viruses, and doing other tasks, BitDefender was really awesome about NOT slowing my computer down! I found this to be VERY awesome when scanning the entire machine for viruses! Definately a HUGE benefit! The whole software package runs nice and speedy, and doesn't cause slowness, or make you want to leave and come back when it is done.

I purposely found a few viruses and made sure it found them and such. Nothing too horrible, just some easy to find ones. It found them, and automatically blocked their use. Seems to be a very thorough program.

Cornucopia of features! AntiVirus, AntiSpam, Firewall, Parental controls (which lets you limit the time users on your machine can access the web, block programs, websites and more) and automatic updates/scanning! I have mine set to scan every night, and leave my computer running 24/7. I get greeted with a nice report of the results in the morning. I also really like the firewall features!

The firewall tends to recognize a program trying to access the internet, and automatically adds a rule to allow access to it if in a list of safe programs. Otherwise, it asks you if you would like to allow or bock the program's access. I would kind of like it to ask for every program, or give an option on the popup letting me know it is allowing that program, instead of having to manually go block the program later if wanted. However, I have not come across a situation where it allowed access when I would not want it to.

Speaking of firewalls, I installed it after having installed Apache web server and MySQL on my machine. I had no issues whatsoever with accessing the web pages, MySQL database, or sharing files with other computers on the network after installing BitDefender Total Security! That was surprising! It even let me connect with VNC from work, without causing issues. That was a relief! However, it also blocked other connections, and pings too! That is how I wanted it in the first place!

I did have a bit of trouble figuring out how to get it working with VMWare. I had to set the "stealth" setting to "off" for my network adapter (the "Local Area Connection" - not the ones created by VMWare) before my VMWare could access the internet at all. That was a little hard to figure out, but was a simple fix, except it does not block pings and such with stealth turned off.

I play a game called Warhammer Online. It is a full screen MMO game. The firewall caused no issues with that either, which was amazing! Didn't even bother me with whether I wanted to allow access. This program seems to be programmed with my kind of thinking in mind, and it really plays friendly with my whole system!

Now for the troubles I experienced ... which was not too horrible, however sometimes annoying. When BitDefender performs updates in the background, it will steal focus from whatever program I am using. In browsers, or other windows, the window just becomes inactive. When in a game, it gets really annoying when you no longer have control. I caught BitDefender in my alt+tab list, so I knew it was to blame, being the only other thing running. I could not find any resolution for this online, but it is not a constant ongoing issue, so it is just an occasional nuisance.

The other thing I found a little lacking was a more detailed firewall system. I was hoping for a little more editing and options. It automatically detects your network adapter IP's, but does not let you add others manually. That would have been a more optimal resolution for the VMWare (add it's IP too). I do not see any specific port blocking, it all seems to be program based. I would have liked to see a section for auto allowing/blocking all communications on specific ports. Not too much of a deal, but I just would feel in better control with it.

The CD comes with a RootKit removal tool, however, it only works on 32-bit machines apparently. I tried to run it on my 64-bit system, and it told me it was not compatible, and was a 32-bit only program. Oh well. I would like to see a RootKit removal tool for 64-bit systems, as 64-bit is what everyone is moving to.

Otherwise, with the online backup (which is a little small for trying to backup your whole PC, but great for backing up your important documents and pictures) and the local backup, defragmenting, registry cleaner, duplicate file finder, and the option for linking multiple computers on a network for managing the whole thing from one interface, this is really an awesome suite! And for the price, this is really great!

I agree with everything Jane Dust, Derek G, and Ezekiel Zabertini had to say. I tried this product based on Consumer Reports, and wish I had not. I also have the issue with MS Windows security update KB954430 reported by Jane. Google "BitDefender KB954430" and read about the others. I've worked in IT for a living and can sympathize with balancing feature content, quality, and market timeliness, but this product is beyond reason in my opinion. This Romanian company has a lot to learn about software quality.

Tim K.

This is a nice security program. My husband is the techie so he installed it but he said it was simple to do. He particularly likes that there is a game mode option, and that you can set the program to recognize when certain programs are gamaes, so they can avoid certain problems that can happen when running games. Every couple days he makes another positive remark regarding the program which is very high praise from him, as he's hard to impress or even please.

EDIT: I have to edit this and take away two stars from my original review. The problem is that the "standard" install blocks me from using the printer! It can probably be fixed by re-installing using the "advanced" install and making certain selections, but how lame is it that we have to do that? My husband turned Bitdefender off and so far hasn't been motivated to try getting this to let us print. Disappointing!

EDIT 2: We've removed this entirely because it was deleting applications willy-nilly that allow the internet browser to work. After installing it twice, my husband was fed up with it. Not good! Useless for us.

Bidtdefender is rated as a superior product. I installed it on my desktop with no problems. Next I tried to install it on my laptop. It would not install. I could not find the error listed in their knowledge base so I decided to use their chat line. The wait was short and their suggestions mirrored the info listed online. I was sent an email with instructions for sending a screen shot, an error file and a dump. I promptly sent the information as reauested. After a week, I sent a second request asking the status of the call. I am still waiting for a response. As for security on my machines, I loaded Nortons, their support is much better.

I've been using security suites since the early days of the internet and viruses and seen good ones come and go. It often seems that a product will work great, then the next year's update comes out and it's now slow and bloated. Norton I won't let near my computers any more and McAfee soon followed. A couple years ago I was happily using TrendMicro but the latest version just would not behave on my new computer properly. I had finally given up and was just using AVG Free for virus scanning but wasn't totally happy with that either. So dubious but willing to try something else, I decided to give BitDefender a look.

The install wasn't without issues. I got error messages about the programs not being certified for Windows XP and a trip to their website provided no information at all on why I was getting this. Certainly XP has been out long enough that a program in 2009 should not be causing these to come up! Regardless, my first impression is their support area is pretty bare bones, compared to most competitors, and is not likely to give you much help if you run into glitches. The help in the application itself also could use some work, it's not context sensitive so you often have to search for the right entry to match the page you need help with.

I went ahead with my install and proceeded to set up. There's a lot of stuff in the Total Security suite. I won't cover all of it, particularly items that other reviews have already touched on. I found the interface boring, but reasonably easy to use. One thing I liked is that I could turn off modules I did not want to use, without having to constantly be prompted that it is off. For instance, I use an internet spam filtering service, so don't need BitDefender to do this. I had tons of trouble in other applications disabling this type of feature, here it was very easy and has not bothered me since. Likewise turning off virus scanning of emails, also easily accomplished in the Advanced settings.

The firewall comes preconfigured with a lot of applications which is very helpful. In many cases, the first time I fired up an application it would automatically create a new rule (such as my first use of Remote Desktop) and in other cases it prompted me whether to allow it or not before adding the rule. A vast improvement over other firewalls I've used that have very little preconfigured and required me to add a lot of rules manually.

My first antivirus scan was not without a hiccup. It deleted a file I am pretty such was not infected, it was purchased software that I've used many times in the past, and in all these years has never shown as infected before. I did have a newer version of the software so it's not a major loss (and could retrieve from a backup regardless), but I wondered why the file showed as deleted and not in the quarantined files, as I have the scanner configured for. I've very concerned about additional files I need being deleted so will have to monitor this and see if it happens again. I have not however seen any issues with duplicate files being removed as someone else mentioned as a possibility. I have huge numbers of duplicate files for the websites I develop and haven't seen a problem...nor did I even find a setting regarding this.

I have been very impressed with the resource usage of the software. This has been my biggest gripe with such software in the past (Norton being a notorious memory hog in particular) so I was pleasantly surprised with how low a profile this software kept, even when running updates or scans. I do a lot of resource-intensive work during the day and simply can't have a virus scanner/security suite bogging my system down and so far, that has not been an issue.

Still getting to know the other features, I did try the online backup and found that pretty underwhelming. First, it only allows 2 gig which is pretty minimal. If you want more, they charge $50/year for 5 gig, and so on up. That's very pricey, considering I currently use a service that charges that much for *unlimited* storage. I also found the backup interface a bit more bug-ridden than other areas, routinely locking up and freezing on me. I paused it at one point during backup and simply could not get it going again until rebooting. This makes me a bit reluctant to use the local backup features, as I'm not sure I can rely on them to work properly were I to need to do a restore.

There are some other minor gripes. I would prefer the updates to run at night, but didn't have any settings that allow me to schedule a time to run them (only an interval) for instance...as I said, a minor gripe. I'll get to know the program a bit more if I continue to use it and hopefully play with some of the other features as I need them like game mode and network settings.

UPDATE: As of now, I've removed this product and am no longer using it. It caused havoc with my home network and I finally gave up and removed it. Immediately got the network running fine again. So while I still like it as a security suite for a stand-alone computer, if you run a home network (I'm specifically on XP Professional) be warned that it may cause major problems.

Bitdefender is a small and up-and-coming security vendor. They emphasize the end user experience in a simplified user friendly package. Total Security 2009 offers all the normal protection layers including protection against Rootkits, Worms, Trojans, and Action Applications.

Installation was around 7 minutes followed by a re-boot. Their are nine steps afterwards to walk you thru the post install process. You will be asked to sign up for a BitDefender user account. At the end of the nine-step configuration process you are prompted to update the software and run your first scan. These processes took about 20 minutes. The software then checks for updates again after the initial scan. This is a new and unique feature of Total Security 2009 that further customizes it for your computer.

The menu system for Total Security 2009 is a dashboard format. There is a basic and advanced view to choose from. Local security, Anti-Phishing, Anti-Spam, Identity Control, Vulnerability Scanning, Tune-ups and Back-ups are all accessible from the dashboard.

Scanning is quick. Average scan time on my computer was around 20 minutes and got faster by a couple of minutes after each consecutive scan. It remembers clean files from earlier scans and stores this info in a database. The database is scanned each time for integrity.

Malware detection is pretty good. It cannot see inside zipped files that are password protected however. Otherwise it seems to be top notch. Malicious URL detection is another feature that works well. Spam detection checks emails pretty good out of the box, but it will need training to fine tune it. That is something that will get better and better each day that you use it. There are a lot of hidden gems in the software package such as the Tune-up tools and registry cleaner. The IM encryption works great.

These are all serious improvements over the past version. 2009 is a well rounded package that delivers a solid performance. I think it's well worth the upgrade price.