Bit Defender has been selected as Editor’s Choice by PC Magazine

Pros
Excellent scores in antivirus lab tests and our own tests. Autopilot mode for no-hassle protection. Best antiphishing score. New ransomware protection. Enhanced password manager. Secure browser. Vulnerability scan.

Cons

Password manager's form-fill ability proved inaccurate in testing.

Bottom Line

Editors' Choice winner Bitdefender Antivirus Plus earns top scores in lab tests and our own tests, and also packs in a wealth of useful bonus features.

The line dividing a simple antivirus utility from a full security suite isn't always clear. Take Bitdefender Antivirus Plus, for example. In addition to every feature you'd expect in an antivirus, it includes a password manager, a hardened browser, a secure deletion utility, a scan for system vulnerabilities, protection against ransomware attacks, and more. However, it doesn't offer a firewall, spam filtering, or parental control, among other features you get with Bitdefender's actual suite products. It's an antivirus, with benefits, and it remains an excellent choice if you're seeking malware protection.

Installation and Appearance

As with many modern security utilities, installation of Bitdefender involves going through your online account. Log into Bitdefender Central, enter your product key, and download protection. During the installation process, it runs a quick scan for active malware.

The product's appearance hasn't changed much since the previous edition, still featuring mostly white text against a dark gray background. A left-rail menu offers access to features: Protection, Privacy, Tools, Activity, Notifications, Account, Settings, and Support. The status panel displays a red warning if your configuration settings put the system at risk. Putting the system back in Autopilot mode should solve such problems, and if you leave Autopilot on, you should always see Protected in green as your status. Autopilot has been a Bitdefender staple for quite a few years now. In this mode, the antivirus takes care of business with an absolute minimum of fuss. It quietly wipes out any malware it finds. It updates itself as needed. If it really wants to communicate with you, it displays a number on the Notifications icon.

Bitdefender Antivirus Plus Main Window

From the Protection and Privacy tabs, you can click to view feature details. Here, you'll begin to realize how this feature-rich antivirus differs from Bitdefender's security suite products. On the Protection Features page, you see that firewall and antispam protection require an upgrade. Under Privacy Features, file encryption, webcam protection, and parental advisor all require an upgrade. The Tools page, furthermore, is filled entirely with features that are only present in Bitdefender's top-of-the-line suite.

Fantastic Lab Scores

Each of the independent antivirus testing labs takes its own approach to testing and scoring antivirus products. The more labs that include a product in testing, the more complete a picture I can get by looking at all their results. I follow five labs, and all five of them include Bitdefender. That's an honor not accorded to many. Of the companies I track, the only others covered by all five labs are Avast, AVG, ESET, and Kaspersky Anti-Virus.

SE Labs attempts to emulate real-world situations as closely as possible in testing, by capturing real malicious websites and using a playback system to hit each product with the exact same attack. This lab offers certification at five levels: AAA, AA, A, B, and C. Bitdefender took the top certification, AAA, along with quite a few others.

Out of the many tests regularly performed by AV-Comparatives, I track results of four. This lab certifies a product at the Standard level provided that it achieves a passing grade. Those that do better, or much better, than the minimum can earn certification at the Advanced or Advanced+ level. Out of four tests, Bitdefender earned four Advanced+ ratings.

Most of the tests that I follow return a numeric result or a rating level. Tests by MRG-Effitas don't do that. A product either turns in a near-perfect performance or it fails, and many do fail. Bitdefender passed this lab's banking malware test. In the general malware test it received Level 2 certification, which means that while it did not completely prevent every malware attack, it did remediate all attacks within 24 hours.

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