BitDefender Total Security 2009

One of the best security packages you can buy



SINCE WE REVIEWED last year's version of its software, BitDefender has improved Total Security in ways both obvious and subtle. The 2009 edition is among the leading personal security packages on the market and one of the best we've tested.

Although the program's main Security Center screen provides little useful information about your system's protection state, we continue to be impressed with the depth and breadth of BitDefender's security measures. For example, the firewall builds a whitelist containing your currently installed applications, saving you from having to approve each application's network communications the next time you launch it. (In case you think that's dangerous, it's configurable.)

Similar automated scanning is deployed on all plug-in devices in real time. Antivirus remains excellent, and the antispam module continues to use Bayesian filters in addition to whitelists and blacklists. Used in conjunction with an e-mail reader that contains heuristics filters— such as PocoMail—you can be virtually spam-free in a relatively short time.

New to Total Security 2009 are file vaults, password- protected files residing on physical drives that are virtually unbreakable. Although the RAM footprint is lighter and virus scans are quicker than before, real-time scans of files being moved or loaded into memory can put a drag on your system with the 2009 edition.



We found this was true even when operating under the new Game Mode, which supposedly resets real-time protection to Permissive and the firewall to Allow All, along with disabling all pop-ups. BitDefender's hard drive utilities are also uneven, and there's no context-sensitive help, even though the overall help options—which include a toll- free support line—are thorough. —B.B.

Computer Shopper March 2009