Battle Emsisoft Anti-Malware 8 vs Bitdefender Anti-Virus 2014

[Vicious]

Hey everyone, I'm new the the forums and have been lurking for about two weeks trying to come up with a decision on what I should use. However it's been difficult since everyone's situation is different. I figured the best way to find my answer was to explain what I'm dealing with and leave it to the experts.

I've used ESET for a couple of years, and even now I still have a 3 year active subscription. I've been pleased with it, however I've been hearing how their results have dropped and figured it was time for a change. Especially since I bought a new storage drive and need to do a fresh install.

Money is not an issue, I'm willing to pay for whatever I need. I also can't go by feel because my computer is too powerful for me to notice a difference without obsessing over usage. I used to use NIS before ESET when it was bloated junk and didn't notice anything till a friend pointed it out.

As of now I just want the best protection I can get without it interfering with my connection or games. I don't mind having to learn the software and I don't mind having to go through a interactive mode since I used ESET in interactive mode for the last year. I don't pirate and I have pretty safe surfing habits, but till now I've had two friends send me unsafe links by accident that have infected their computer but luckily my AV stopped it from doing the same to mine.

The two choices I came down to is Bitdefender or Emsisoft. I already own BIS 2014 and while I liked the anti-virus, I didn't like the firewall. I was also disappointed to find that Malwarebytes Pro doesn't play well with it. Not a big deal but with ESET I was able to use workarounds to get them both working together. However, a friend also gave me a copy of Emsisoft Anti-Malware and I enjoyed playing around in that too, but I'm not sure how well it works with MBAM Pro. I was looking to buy Outpost and use it along side Bitdefender, but now that I've read about Online Armor, that looks good as well.

Appreciate any thoughts and suggestions.

Relevant Specs:
i7-2600K
16GB of RAM
Samsung 840 SSD

 

[Ink]

Welcome Vicious.

"I've been hearing how their results have dropped and figured it was time for a change" - By chance were these from AV testing sites? You do realise their test environments are unrealistic to proper real world usage. Unless you're on an unsafe or high risk network(s).

Just how for the past 3 years you've been using ESET without problems, I could say stick with them. So many other vendors, including paid software now have annoying notifications, social integration and promoting their other paid products.

If I were to choose from the Poll, I would select Emsisoft Internet Security Pack, but if I were honest Emsisoft Anti-Malware can stand on it's own 2 feet without requiring additional support from other software, or OA.

But if you wish to switch, then by all means do so.

 

[Petrovic]

Emsisoft using an outdated engine BitDefender)
Bundles of protection is much worse than a full-fledged security solution internet security.(You may have problems with compatibility.)
BitDefender IS 2014 quite self-sufficient in terms of defense, he has a good firewall.

 

[Littlebits]

You should never fully trust AV testing sites because it is all about the money now days, the vendor that pays them the most will always come out on top on their tests. No AV solution will detect all known or unknown malware paid or free. User actions determines how safe you are. Almost all infections today are manually downloaded and executed by the user with a few rare exceptions like exploits in Windows or out-dated software.

Users that always download files from trusted sources, utilize UAC and pay attention to Windows digital file warnings when running executable files can safely get by with only a simple free AV. So if you are one of these users that does pay attention to your own actions and you don't ever get infections then just ignore everything you have read from AV testing sites. If you are not one of these users that does pay attention then the most expensive AV that you can buy still will not protect you.

For example, I have several novice customers that keep getting infections. They tried just about every AV possible both paid security suites and freeware and they would still end up with just as many infections. About a month ago, one customer brought their system to me because it was running extremely slow. They brought two subscription to BitDefender Internet Security 2013 and it was functioning properly and was updated to current. After I check their system over in detail, it had 49 active malware infections and BitDefender didn't detect none of them, when I opened the quarantine, it had 23 false positives but no real malware inside of it. So basically this customer just wasted their money on it and of coarse BitDefender support did nothing to help to customer remove these infections.

If you read AV testing site results, they all indicate that BitDefender is the best but in real life there is no best. Malwarebytes was able to remove most of these infections alone with some manual removal.

It is possible that other AV's wouldn't have blocked these infections either except for Malwarebytes Pro. But the main point I'm trying to make is AV testing sites gives you false information, nothing offers 100% protection.

I have other customers that just use free AV's like MSE, Avast, Avira and AVG and never get any infections. So it is all about user actions, users who are cautious are safer than users who are reckless.

If ESET is working well for you without any problems then there is no reason to change. If you do decide to change then problems can occur, ESET is pretty light compared to other solutions and doesn't have as many compatibility problems.

Enjoy!!

 

[Raul90]

Well this is a first for me to try EAM with Online Armor Premium and it's working great with me. Have not tried a combination as mentioned above with BitDefender AV. Tried OP Pro with Avast / Avira previously and it was okay too. When I tried BD earlier this year on an old P5VLM Pentium D with 4gb ram and a Palit GT520 1 gb vide card it was not acceptable and it was slow and that was with CIS 5.12 free(firewall only). Even the surfing was slow. Removed it after a week.

 

[looda]

Emsisoft Internet Security (EAM + Online Armor) is better

 

[Oxygen]

Emsisoft IMO.... As i've said many times before... BitDefender is overrated + useless.

 

[Deleted member 178]

Emsisoft using an outdated engine BitDefender)

the engine is not outdated , where do you heard this?

 

[Petrovic]

the engine is not outdated , where do you heard this?

 

[MalwareDetective]

@Petrovic what is the current core of bitdefender (the one your are claiming that emsisoft didn't updated)?