Bitdefender Internet Security 2020 — a revisit to the autopilot

Product name
Bitdefender Internet Security 2020 (b20.0.16.95)
Installation (rating)
5.00 star(s)
User interface (rating)
5.00 star(s)
Accessibility notes
+ Clean. Beginner-friendly
+ Comprehensive organization of modules
+ Ideal set of color contrasts for focus on the essential elements
Performance (rating)
5.00 star(s)
Core Protection (rating)
5.00 star(s)
Proactive protection (rating)
5.00 star(s)
Additional Protection notes
+ Consistently ranked high in independent tests (take it with a pinch of salt)
+ Engine is borrowed by a number of other AVs
+ Fairly powerful protection for everyday use
https://www.av-comparatives.org/tests/enhanced-real-world-test-2019-consumer/
https://www.av-comparatives.org/tests/real-world-protection-test-july-october-2019/
https://www.av-test.org/en/antivirus/home-windows/windows-10/february-2020/bitdefender-internet-security-24.0-200506/
- Dynamic protection including anti-ransomware seems slightly on the weaker side, unless manually fortified
Browser protection (rating)
5.00 star(s)
Positives
    • Many features
    • Minimal setup required
    • Low impact on system resources
    • Simple and non-intrusive
    • Ransomware protection
    • Strong and reliable protection
    • Detects or blocks in the wild malware
    • Virus signatures are updated daily
    • Excellent scores in independent tests
    • Well designed, clear and easy to use interface
    • Multi-layer protection approach
Negatives
    • Advanced users may want more control
    • Not as many features as some competitors
    • Can be complex in some situations
Time spent using product
Reviewed over a 30-day period
Computer specs
Intel i5 4th Gen (upto 2.3Ghz Turbo) | 8GB DDR3 | 1TB HDD | AMD Radeon 8670M Graphics (2GB)
Overall rating
5.00 star(s)

Divine_Barakah

Level 29
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
May 10, 2019
1,854
Yeah well said. I hope no one gets discouraged by the issue that I mentioned. If someone has no problem with these very specific things then great. It's a great product with very good all around performance.
In my experience, if you want to use BD without any issues, you need to install it on a clean Windows installation (or clean system image). But I must be honest that BD does not always work flawlessly on every device. Some friends of mind were never lucky with BD. One more thing, if you have 4 GBs of RAM, it is better to use sth else.
 

Wraith2020

Level 2
Mar 19, 2020
89
I installed BD on the system that had McAfee. Let's see how it goes. If anyone's interested here's the link for the 90 days trial. You'll have to sign up using a new email.

BD.JPG


 

Divine_Barakah

Level 29
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
May 10, 2019
1,854
Extremely slow update speed and often end up giving update error 1012/1011. But I haven't seen anyone in the forum talking about this so I think you won't have this issue. So no problem.
My friend, it seems that all companies have issue nowadays. I tried to install Eset and it took more than 10 mins to download 4 Mbs out of 157!
 

fabiobr

Level 12
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
Mar 28, 2019
561
Update: I was able to reproduce this without doing all that I mentioned here. Just enabled show hidden folders and extract multiple samples from a zip file and after Bitdefender finished removing the threats couldn't see my hidden folders anymore. This is a 10 year old thing so they surely have no plans to change this. Sigh!
Found a bug related to Virtual Box. Bitdefender don't like Virtual Box's network driver it seems and causes BSOD on the host machine. So, Virtual Box users should stay away from Bitdefender.
I had update issue once again. I thought I'm the only one but after searching I found out this issue is more common than I initially thought.
First time I tried install Bitdefender was under a VM, maybe that's why it didn't work.

And this bug of showing hidden files mainly affects advanced users, home users don't even know what is hidden files.
 

fabiobr

Level 12
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
Mar 28, 2019
561
I thought you were testing it in a VM. BD does not like VMs. Anyway it seems that BD needs some work to refine their product. You're unlucky that it did not work for you. BD is a great product.

I think that 2020 version already was to only improve stability, since protection by itself is already top, design too. They have to continue fixing bugs and improving their product like they made this year.
 

fabiobr

Level 12
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
Mar 28, 2019
561
Other thing that I Noticed: BD is so much faster than Norton doing things, at detection and scanning. Maybe that's the result of RAM consumption.

I'm almost sure that Norton forced Windows to use swap file/paging file to reduces RAM consumption which slows down Norton product, even with SSD.

And Bitdefender RAM consumption reduces when days gone by using the product, it seems that it "learn" how your system works and when you need more RAM avaible.

Bitdefender system tray icon and interface is shown later at Windows start up, but services of BD is already started up, I think that's a way they found to not slow down the system at start up and give time to other apps initiate.
 
Last edited:

blackice

Level 38
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
Apr 1, 2019
2,731
Thanks to the discussion here I’m giving BD a trial. Firstly, I didn’t realize the AV Plus was just the free edition with scheduled scanning, a vpn, and protected folders/ransomware remediation. Free is probably fine for most MT users. It uses more ram than ESET, but seems just as light. We’ll give it a couple days.
 

Durden

Level 3
Verified
Well-known
Dec 21, 2013
132
Again I can't state this enough ! Bitdefender seems to have really, REALLY polished their products !
As someone who used it a lot, on and off for years, I can really see and feel that !
I have already installed it on numerous devices, it's really smooth, the android app had an overhaul , and the Bitdefender central app is great !

The only thing I noticed is that the initial update (only) sometimes "seems" to be stuck at 33%. Subsequent updates are lightening fast and light.

I hope someone would retest it in the HUB with modified settings.
 

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