BitDefender Internet Security 2009

I have been testing out a lot of the various security suites on the market the last couple weeks and have not found one that I thought I would really stick with using I liked a lot of various things about the suites I've tested but no one suite had everything I wanted or liked.

Today I tested BitDefender Internet Security 2009

http://www.bitdefender.com/PRODUCT-2217-en--BitDefender-Internet-Security-2009.html#more_features

Product Description

BitDefender Internet Security 2009 keeps your Internet-connected family safe, without slowing down their PCs. It locks out viruses, hackers & spam, while providing parental control and firewall protection.

Confidently download, share and open files from friends, family, co-workers - and even total strangers!
Improved: Scans all web, e-mail and instant messaging traffic for viruses and spyware, in real-time
Proactively protects against new virus outbreaks using advanced heuristics


Protect your identity: shop, bank, listen, watch privately and securely
Blocks attempted identity theft (phishing)
Improved: Prevents personal information from leaking via e-mail, web or instant messaging


Guard your conversations with top-of-the line encryption
NEWInstant Messaging Encryption
NEWFile Vault securely stores personal information or sensitive files


Connect securely to any network at home, in the office or away
Automatically modifies firewall protection settings to suit location
Wi-Fi monitor helps prevent unauthorized access to your Wi-Fi network


Protect your family and their computers!
Blocks access to inappropriate websites and e-mail
Schedules and limits kids’ access to Internet and to applications
Play safe, play seamlessly!
Improved: Reduces the system load and avoids requesting user interaction during games


Get fine-tuned performance from your computer !
Uses few system resources
NEWLaptop mode prolongs battery life
Features and Benefits
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NEWFamily network protection
Manage the security of your home network from a single location. BitDefender software from other computers in the network can be remotely configured, while tasks such as scans, backups tune-ups and updates can be run on-demand or scheduled to run during off-hours.

Hassle – Free Hourly Updates
Hourly updates ensure that you are protected against the latest threats without pushing a button. Lost program files are not a problem either. In the rare event of file damage due to PC problems, BitDefender automatically repairs and updates itself.

FREE 24/7 Support
Got a question? Our security experts are available to help you 24/7 via phone, email or chat at no additional cost.
System Requirements
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Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (32/64 bit) or higher
800 MHz or higher processor
256 MB of RAM Memory (1GB recommended)
170 MB available hard disk space (200 recommended)

Windows Vista (32/64 bit) and Windows Vista SP1
800 MHz or higher processor
512 MB of RAM Memory (1 GB recommended)
170 MB available hard disk space (200 recommended)

Windows Home Server
800 MHz or higher processor
512 MB of RAM Memory (1 GB recommended)
170 MB available hard disk space (200 recommended)


Supported IM Software (for IM encryption)
Yahoo! Messenger v8
Windows Live Messenger v8

I was very impressed With BitDefender right from the start the installer is a very nice guided step by step process and you are doing a lot of the basic setup as you go it's one of the nicer ones I've seen.

The user interface has a "Basic View" for users who just want the basic controls or an "Advanced View" for the power users both UI's are very appealing.

Going through some of the more advanced features and trust me there are plenty is very intuitive for such an advanced set of tools and if your not sure about what a setting is or what it does there is a nice mouse over feature at the bottom of the UI that gives you helpfull info on what it's for.

The scan times were very fast on the test machine and there was no noticable performance hit.

I ran the leak test at grc.com http://www.grc.com/lt/leaktest.htm my setup passed with flying colors that always makes me happy! as for detection and removal abilities my test machine was clean but I will post back with more on that as I do other test in the future and unlike with some of the other suites I've looked at lately there was no issues with the Opera web browser which also makes me happy!

So at least for now I think I will be using this suite a whole lot more and untill I find something bad to say about it this get thumbs up from me I even like the fancy orb icon I hate programs that use a shield icon when you remove malware for a living the last thing you want to see on legit software is a shield that's what a lot of the rouge programs put in the taskbar

This is just an added observation to BD upon insertion of removable media it automaticly gives you the option to scan the drive in case your suspicious of it's contents.

This is the only suite I have tested which did this unless it was an option on one of them in which case it was not activated by default but I was unaware of this with BD and did not activate this feature that I'm aware of.

Also I manually tried to end the main bdagent.exe service and it can not be disabled via task manager or services.msc so it is pretty well protected from being deactivated via infection.

Just more stuff to love about BD Security Suite!

I really love BitDefender Internet Security 2009 it's awsome it offers the highest level of protection of any security suite i've seen.

When I first installed everything was working great but after several days and many updates it is getting so buggy i am about ready to remove it untill I find a solution.

Every morning when I come in the previous nights scan has crashed BD and I get an error about BD could not process some temp file and a random program everyday different temp file and different program not to mention that I seem to be having several other programs freezing or crashing all together.

On another machine it gives warnings about not being able to scan several passworded files usually having to do with spybot search and destroy and superantispyware this is driving me crazy.

I did a little research over at the Bitdefender forums and it seems BD has some issues running along side of other security softwares one which was mentioned was Spybot Search & Destroy which I have installed on all three machine I have well that might explain things lol..

So anyway I uninstalled Spybot and did a complete cleaning and it seemed to help with the issues I was having
so good news hope this helps someone else I am going to go back and see if I can find the post at the BD forums and I will post a link in this article.

Ok here is a link to the page on BD forums that helped me:

http://forum.bitdefender.com/index.php?showtopic=11167&hl=spybot