Bitdefender Free - Personal Opinion

Product name
Bitdefender Free
Installation (rating)
1.00 star(s)
User interface (rating)
2.00 star(s)
Accessibility notes
Very simple and nice looking.
Informative.
Performance (rating)
1.00 star(s)
Core Protection (rating)
4.00 star(s)
Proactive protection (rating)
4.00 star(s)
Additional Protection notes
Very good at detecting all kinds of malware.
Very bad at detecting new malware due to having only a single way of detecting malware, no behavior blocker.
Browser protection (rating)
5.00 star(s)
Positives
    • Freeware
    • Easy to use
    • Simple and non-intrusive
    • Strong and reliable protection
    • Accurate results and reliable antivirus engine
    • Effective malicious URL blocking
    • Effective malware removal
    • Well designed, clear and easy to use interface
Negatives
    • Features are considered too basic
    • Noticeable negative system impact
    • Resource intensive tasks
    • Weak protection against zero-day threats
    • Not as many features as some competitors
    • Scans can be rather slow
Time spent using product
Reviewed over a 30-day period
Computer specs
Lenovo IdeaCentre Y710 Cube

Intel Core i5-6400
geForce GTX 1070
C: drive
Manufacturer: SanDisk
Interface: SATA
Capacity: 119 GB

D: drive
Manufacturer: Seagate
Interface: SATA
Capacity: 931 GB
Recommended for
  1. All types of users
Overall rating
4.00 star(s)

Syafiq

Level 11
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Well-known
May 8, 2017
536
If I can remember correctly, Bitdefender Free does have its own Behavior Blocker.. Called Active Virus Control(Now it's called Advanced Threat Defense) But you can't manage any settings except enabling/disabling real time protection and adding exclusion :)
 

EndangeredPootis

Level 10
Thread author
Verified
Well-known
Sep 8, 2019
461
If I can remember correctly, Bitdefender Free does have its own Behavior Blocker.. Called Active Virus Control(Now it's called Advanced Threat Defense) But you can't manage any settings except enabling/disabling real time protection and adding exclusion :)
It doesnt have that in the free version, only in the paid, and its pretty much accurate saying it has no settings whatsoever.
 

EndangeredPootis

Level 10
Thread author
Verified
Well-known
Sep 8, 2019
461
I think you are wrong ;)
In what way? by saying it has no settings whatsoever? yes I know it does have settings, but you can only add exclusions and disable it, nothing else, so I dont consider it to even be settings, again, this is my personal opinion.
 
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Moonhorse

Level 37
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Content Creator
Well-known
May 29, 2018
2,602
Buggy setup that often doesnt even install it and gets you stuck in a restart loop.
Is very true, should be installed after clean install of windows

Cons from me; its very hard to pair with other security software like anti-malwares, firewalls ...should rather just run it alone or pair with OSArmor like tool / system hardeners
 

stefanos

Level 28
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
Oct 31, 2014
1,712
I tried the free version a while ago. Compared to a year ago when I had tried it again the virus signatures was very good. The last time the detection rate was very bad. I thought the problem was because of free version. And Bitdefender has not renewed the free version for years. And the well-known delay in virus signatures on Bitdefender free. But with Evjl's Rain tests I can see that Bitdefender has been downgraded overall.
 

amico81

Level 21
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
Jan 10, 2017
1,061
5 seconds with google if bitdefender free has a behavior blocker

1568032700463.png
 

roger_m

Level 41
Verified
Top Poster
Content Creator
Dec 4, 2014
3,014
I just went back to it, and it felt heavy. In my system, it took around 2 GB of disk space and 230 MB of memory.
The disk space and RAM usage have no bearing on how heavy or light an antivirus is. What actually causes slowdowns is high CPU and or high disk usage. Sometimes more RAM usage is a good thing as it allows an antivirus to keep more data in the RAM at once, rather than swapping it to the hard drive/SSD.
 

monkeylove

Level 10
Verified
Well-known
Mar 9, 2014
489
The disk space and RAM usage have no bearing on how heavy or light an antivirus is. What actually causes slowdowns is high CPU and or high disk usage. Sometimes more RAM usage is a good thing as it allows an antivirus to keep more data in the RAM at once, rather than swapping it to the hard drive/SSD.

You're right! Unfortunately, I'm not an expert, so I could only look at the task manager. Is there a study for free AVs that look at these factors?
 

roger_m

Level 41
Verified
Top Poster
Content Creator
Dec 4, 2014
3,014
You're right! Unfortunately, I'm not an expert, so I could only look at the task manager. Is there a study for free AVs that look at these factors?
Both AV Comparatives and AV Test, test the performance impact of antiviruses. However these results can't be taken too seriously, as often their results differ to what I've experienced on multiple computers. The system impact of an antivirus often can vary greatly from one computer to the next, so what is light for someone else may be heavy for you. As a result, the best way to test system impact is to install an antivirus and see if it causes noticeable slowdowns or not. So you really need to try an antivirus yourself to see how it will perform on your system. Also it's worth noting that some antivirus are usually very light and then on rare occasions will unexpectedly cause slowdowns.

The following antiviruses, will be very very light on most systems and provide very good protection. They're not free, but you can buy very cheap licenses for ESET and Norton on eBay.
ESET
F-Secure
Norton

Having said that, make sure you install a trial version and run it for a few weeks, before buying one of them, to make sure you are happy with it.

360 Total Security is a very light free antivirus, which I use myself. However the previously mentioned antiviruses provide better protection.
 

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