Bitdefender Total Security Review | PCMag

Sooner or later, many security-savvy users decide that antivirus protection alone isn’t enough, so they go seeking a security suite. Not all suites are created equal, though. Some include just enough added features (firewall, spam filter, and parental control) to merit the title, while others pack in more security components than you could imagine. Still others extend protection to all your devices, not just your desktop PCs. Bitdefender Total Security is Bitdefender’s top-level suite. It both enhances the security offered by Bitdefender Internet Security and extends its protection to all popular platforms. Bitdefender Total Security is our current Editors' Choice winner for security mega-suites.

What Does Bitdefender Total Security Cost?

For $89.99 per year, you can install Bitdefender on five devices. Upping that to $99.99 raises the limit to 10 devices. That same $99.99 would get you just five licenses for Kaspersky Total Security, while Symantec Norton 360 Deluxe costs $104.99 per year for five suite licenses, five VPN licenses, and 50GB of hosted online storage for your backups. Bitdefender also offers a 15-license Family Pack at a list price of $119.99 per year. Kaspersky offers a 10-license subscription to Kaspersky Security Cloud or Total Security for $149.99.

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For those who manage a ton of devices, McAfee Total Protection is a good deal, as it costs $149.99 per year for unlimited installations on Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS. Depending on the number of devices in your household, Bitdefender’s 15-license family pack may be just as suitable as McAfee’s unlimited subscription.

As befits a product that's not limited to one platform, you activate your subscription by entering a code in the Bitdefender Central online console. Once the product appears in your console, you can install it on the system you're using, or you can send an email with a link to install on other devices. The installation link automatically downloads the appropriate installer for the active operating system.

Bitdefender Total Security on Windows

Shared Antivirus Features

This product looks almost exactly like Bitdefender Internet Security, which in turn looks almost exactly like Bitdefender Antivirus Plus. Each product features a left-rail menu with icons for Dashboard, Protection, Privacy, and Utilities. The top of the main window reflects security status and offers recommendations from the AutoPilot component. And six user-configurable button panels offer quick access to your most-used features. Naturally, this top-of-the-heap suite includes everything in the standalone antivirus.

Bitdefender holds numerous perfect scores from the independent testing labs. It scores a perfect 18 points with AV-Test Institute, for starters. In three tests I follow from AV-Comparatives, Bitdefender earns three Advanced+ scores, the maximum possible rating. It passes the tough banking defense test by MRG-Effitas and earns Level 2 certification in that lab’s 360 assessment. My algorithm that pulls together these disparate scores into a single aggregate rating puts Bitdefender at 9.9 of 10 possible points. Only AVG, also tested by three labs, does better, at 10 points.

In my hands-on malware protection test, Bitdefender doesn't fare as well, scoring 9.2 of 10 possible points. However, when my results don't align with lab reports, I give the labs more weight.

I also evaluate how well each antivirus protects a test system against downloading malware, using a feed of recent finds from MRG-Effitas. Along with four other products, Bitdefender scores 99% protection. McAfee, Norton 360 Deluxe, and Sophos eke out a perfect 100% protection.

Phishing websites aim to fool naïve web surfers into giving away their login credentials, which is a lot easier than writing malware to steal those credentials. Bitdefender earned a very good 97% detection score in my hands-on antiphishing test. However, Avast One and Webroot detected 99% of the frauds, while F-Secure, McAfee, and Norton reached 100%.

The Network Threat Protection component detected and blocked many real-world exploits generated by the CORE Impact penetration tool. Bitdefender’s ransomware-specific protection components detected and protected against 10 real-world encrypting ransomware samples, with zero help from the normal real-time antivirus.

This antivirus really earns the Plus in its name. Its many other features include: Bitdefender Wallet, a complete (if basic) password manager; Safepay, which isolates sensitive online transactions; a bandwidth-limited Virtual Private Network, or VPN; an active Do Not Track system to foil online trackers; a vulnerability scanner; a file shredder for secure deletion; and Rescue Environment to remove the most resistant malware.

Shared Suite Features

When you upgrade from Antivirus Plus to Bitdefender Internet Security, all the new features turn up on the Protection and Privacy pages. Specifically, Firewall and Antispam appear on the Protection page, and the Privacy page gains Parental Advisor and Video & Audio Protection.

Bitdefender’s firewall stays in the background, blocking outside attacks and monitoring for programs that misuse their network connection. You can force it to display firewall pop-up queries when it detects new processes attempting to use the network, but you really should just leave it alone. I torture-tested it, trying to disable protection in ways that a malicious program could manage. I couldn’t disable it.

Most people don’t need a local spam filter these days, but for those that have the need, Bitdefender integrates with Microsoft Outlook and Mozilla Thunderbird. Those using some other email client won’t get the same level of interaction, but they can still define rules to kick spam into its own folder. Settings for this component are pleasantly minimal.

Bitdefender Total Security Privacy Page

It’s possible for a nasty program or website to turn on your PC’s camera and peek at you, without turning on the telltale light. Video and Audio Protection make sure this kind of spying doesn’t happen. If an untrusted program tries to activate the webcam or mic, Bitdefender asks what to do. It’s easy enough to enable a new video chat program, and just as easy to block a suspicious peeker.

Like spam filtering, parental control is a feature that not everyone wants or needs. Bitdefender’s parental control system offers all expected features. It blocks access to websites in inappropriate categories, lets parents schedule screen time and separately apply a daily cap, and locates your kids (by locating their devices). Other features include geofencing, application control, and blocking unwanted contacts. In testing, though, the content filter failed to block HTTPS pages in some popular browsers, which is a serious problem.

You might imagine that Bitdefender’s vast collection of features would make it a giant resource hog. Nothing could be further from the truth. I ran some simple hands-on tests to measure the impact of installing the suite. It didn’t slow the boot process at all, and two file-based tests took just a few percent longer with Bitdefender installed.

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Optimization for Windows

On the Utilities page of the Windows edition, you'll find a handy tune-up tool called OneClick Optimizer, something not found in Bitdefender Internet Security. Just click Optimize to get things started. On my test system, the scan quickly found hundreds of items in the categories Disk Cleanup, Registry Cleanup, and Privacy Cleanup. As recommended, I clicked to view details in each category.

Disk issues can include junk, temporary, and cache files. On my test system, the software found such files occupying well over half a gig of disk space. In the Registry issues category, Bitdefender reported useless or erroneous entries of several types, including help files and shared DLLs. Privacy issues turns out to refer to browser cache, cookies, and history. To be specific, it reported on Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Opera—but not Edge. That’s an odd oversight, given how vigorously Microsoft is pushing Edge. I clicked the big blue Optimize button to remediate all the issues.

Bitdefender Total Security Optimization

On completion, the suite offered a detailed report in the form of a lengthy HTML document listing every single file and Registry change. Similar components in some suites let you preview the changes and exempt specific ones, while others let you roll back some or all of the changes afterward. Most users would have no idea what to look for among the hundreds of items, so Bitdefender doesn't bother with either preview or rollback, except insofar as it lets you exempt a whole category such as Windows Junk Files or Chrome Cookies.

Anti-Theft for Windows

A desktop computer typically sits in your home or a locked office, tethered by various cables and power cords. Theft isn’t the biggest worry in that situation. However, modern laptops are so powerful that many individuals (and companies) skip the desktop altogether. It’s convenient to take your computer wherever you want, but, for a thief, it’s convenient to just take your computer.

You don't have to do anything special to enable anti-theft on a Windows laptop. To manage this feature, you log into Bitdefender Central and dig into the device you want to protect. Buttons on the Anti-Theft page let you locate, lock, or wipe the device. The option to sound a loud alarm only appears for Android devices.

When the device connects via Wi-Fi, Bitdefender gets its location using Wi-Fi triangulation, which can be quite accurate. However, on an Ethernet connection it falls back on IP address geolocation, with much coarser accuracy. You'll be lucky if it gives you the right city. In my case, it located the PC across town, about six miles away, in a city park. Fortunately, a stolen laptop will almost always connect via Wi-Fi.

Bitdefender Total Security Anti-Theft

If the thief stole your laptop while it was logged in to your account and managed to run off without letting it go into sleep mode, you could have a problem. No worries—Bitdefender can send a command to remotely lock your user account. Without your Administrator password, the thief can't get at your data. Be sure to use a strong password to protect your account. Carrying around a computer with no password protection is foolish, but, if you do, Bitdefender can still help. You get a chance to add a password during the lock process, and this will continue to be your login password.

That's it for anti-theft, but really, this is everything you need for a laptop. Yes, the option to sound an alarm is absent, but you're a lot more likely to lose an Android phone around the house than a laptop. You can locate a lost or stolen laptop and lock it to prevent misuse. If it's hopelessly unrecoverable, you can send a remote command to wipe the device, keeping your data out of unfriendly hands.

Protection for macOS

Installing this cross-platform product on a Mac, you get a full installation of Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac, as well as the free, feature-limited version of the VPN product. The password manager found in Bitdefender Antivirus Plus and the parental control system from Bitdefender’s entry-level suite also support Macs, but they’re not integrated.

Bitdefender Total Security macOS Protection

The independent antivirus labs that extend their testing to macOS love this product, and it earned a good score in our hands-on phishing protection test. It protects your files and your backups against ransomware. Its TrafficLight browser extension warns of dangerous links in search results.

Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac is an Editors' Choice in its field, sharing that honor with Kaspersky Internet Security for Mac and Norton 360 Deluxe for Mac. To learn all the details about Bitdefender's macOS product, please read my full review.

Total Protection for Android

To install Bitdefender Security on an Android device you can send yourself an email from Bitdefender Central. Click the link to download the app from Google Play, and you're ready to go. You can also download the Bitdefender Central mobile app and install it from there.

Initially, Bitdefender Security leads you through a lengthy series of important settings and actions. You need to give it Device Administrator status to enable anti-theft, as well as more mundane permissions, such as access to your photos, media, and files. It recommends a full malware scan, and it invites you to enable App Lock (more about that shortly). If you let it, Bitdefender can snap a photo of someone trying to guess your lockscreen PIN.

From the Bitdefender Central console, you can locate, lock, or wipe the device, as with Windows. You can also make it sound a loud alert, handy if you've misplaced your phone.

New since our last review, Scam Alert watches the links in incoming text messages and flags any suspicious ones. It also checks messaging apps and other notifications for signs of shady links. When it detects trouble, it advises you to refrain from clicking the link, delete the message, and block the sender, if it’s not someone you recognize.

Bitdefender Total Security Android Montage 1

That malware scan at startup runs quickly, and you can launch it again any time you feel uneasy. Bitdefender also scans new apps as you install them. It doesn't go as far as Norton's Android app, which rates apps as you look at them in the Play Store, but it won't let you install anything malicious. In an unusual touch, the malware scanner page offers an extensive list of malware types it detects, among them CoinMiner, Banker, and Obfuscated. You can tap any item for an explanation.

Account Privacy is a mobile-specific feature that checks the email address associated with your Bitdefender account against known breaches and reports any hits. On my test device, it found a couple of breaches dating back a few years. The app advises to change the account password and then mark the warnings as solved. You can add other email accounts for checking if you wish, but you can’t go snooping other people’s email for breaches. Bitdefender won’t scan until you enter a confirmation code emailed to the selected address.

Nobody can access your phone when it's locked with a PIN or, even better, a biometric lock. However, someone who picks it up unlocked while you're not looking could dig into your private email or other data. App Lock lets you put additional security on Mail, Messages, Settings, or any other apps you wish. Just tap to choose the protected apps. AVG, McAfee, Panda, and Trend Micro are among the other companies that offer a similar App Lock feature for Android.

Bitdefender Total Security Android Montage 2

With most security apps, App Lock is a simple toggle. Bitdefender gives you some unusual choices. By default, every time you open or switch to a locked app it requires unlocking via PIN or fingerprint. You can set it to keep unlocked apps open until the screen goes off, but that defeats the purpose of this feature. More usefully, you can set it so apps stay unlocked for 30 seconds after exit, making it easy to come right back. Don’t want to mess with all that when you’re at home? You can configure it to stay unlocked when you’re on a Wi-Fi network that you’ve identified as trusted.

Bitdefender also applies its powerful web protection to keep you safe from malicious and fraudulent sites, just as it does on Windows. It protects Chrome automatically and can optionally protect an unusually wide variety of other browsers, among them Brave, Dolphin, Edge, Firefox, and Opera.

While it’s not the security extravaganza that Bitdefender offers on Windows, Bitdefender Total Security on Android is a comprehensive suite of security components. It includes antivirus, anti-theft, web protection, locking for your sensitive apps, account privacy reporting, and more.

Minimal Protection for iOS

Bitdefender's iOS app is a free product, and not technically part of Total Security. When you install protection on an iPhone or iPad, it doesn't use up one of your licenses unless you enable the Web Protection feature. That's understandable, because other than Web Protection the iOS product just doesn't do a lot.

You can install protection on an iOS device by sending an email link from Bitdefender Central or by first installing the Bitdefender Central app. Installing the Bitdefender Central app is smart, as it gives you access to most of the same information and actions you get by logging in to the online console.

Bitdefender Total Security Bitdefender Central App

The Web Protection system uses VPN technology that lets it filter all web traffic. When it encounters a dangerous domain, it cuts the connection and slides in a warning. This is a totally local use of VPN technology—no servers involved. Web Protection is not the same kind of protection you get on other platforms, though. The iOS version blocks connections at the domain level, not at the web page level. So, for example, it won’t catch the AMTSO phishing test page because the amtso.org domain is not in itself dangerous.

My Bitdefender contacts confirmed that this VPN-based technology doesn't interfere with your use of the actual VPN. Note that while the VPN is currently integrated with the mobile security app, it will transition to a new, separate app over the next few months. Adventurous souls can download the new app right now. But new or old, the VPN imposes a bandwidth cap of 200MB per device per day and doesn’t give you a choice of servers.

Bitdefender Total Security VPN Will Move

Bitdefender's mobile security for iOS is seriously limited. But again, this is not precisely a feature of Total Security. Unless you turn on Web Protection, it doesn't use one of your licenses.

The Power of Bitdefender Central

I’ve mentioned several times that Bitdefender Central is the location for extending protection to new devices. As you've seen, it's also the go-to for locating lost devices and activating anti-theft features. But there's more to this console. Just how much more depends on the device.

Select a Windows device in the console and you’ll see four buttons: Malware Scan, OneClick Optimizer, Anti-Theft, and Vulnerability Scan. I’ve already covered the Anti-Theft features. The other three buttons let you remotely trigger the corresponding scans or view the latest scan results. Clicking Device information visibly flips the main device panel over to reveal details such as the vendor, MAC Address, and operating system version. Scroll down for a list of installed Bitdefender programs and a log of recent device activity.

Bitdefender Total Security Bitdefender Central

When you choose an Android device, the console offers Malware Scan and Anti-Theft buttons. There’s no equivalent to the optimizer or vulnerability scan on Android, so those buttons don’t show up. By the same token, the page for a Mac just has a Malware Scan button. For an iOS device, there are no buttons at all.

Webroot SecureAnywhere Internet Security Complete offers a similar dashboard, with the ability to remotely review scan results and recent malware detections, as well as a set of remote commands. You can remotely launch a malware, cleanup, or system-optimization scan; and you can lock, restart, or shut down the device remotely. However, Webroot's anti-theft component is strictly for mobile devices.

The My Kaspersky dashboard associated with Kaspersky Security Cloud lets you manage licenses and devices, log into password manager data, and configure parental control, but it doesn't include the remote scan options that Bitdefender offers.

Sophos Home Premium goes a bit farther, with all configuration and logging activities handled by the online dashboard. A small, local agent on each device takes orders from the dashboard. Like Bitdefender, its ability to remotely monitor and control security on your devices is outstanding.

Truly Total Security

Bitdefender Total Security builds on the impressive security protection found in Bitdefender’s other security products. Bitdefender Antivirus Plus wins awards from independent labs and aces our web-based tests. It includes a raft of features, among them effective ransomware protection, banking protection, and a password manager. Bitdefender Internet Security expands Windows protection with a firewall, a spam filter, and a fully functional cross-platform parental control system. At the top of the heap sits Bitdefender Total Security, with additional features for Windows systems and protection that extends to macOS, Android, and (to an extent) iOS devices.

With its massive collection of security features, all of them top notch, Bitdefender Total Security is our Editors' Choice for security mega-suites. If your real aim is full protection for many devices on different platforms, consider Norton 360 Deluxe or Kaspersky Security Cloud, our Editors' Choice picks for cross-platform, multi-device security.

Bitdefender Total Security

Pros

  • Award-winning antivirus

  • Protects Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS devices

  • Online management and remote control

  • Many bonus features, including VPN and ransomware protection

View More

Cons

  • Parental content filter can’t handle HTTPS in many popular browsers

  • Full VPN access requires separate subscription

  • Support for iOS extremely limited

The Bottom Line

Bitdefender's Total Security mega-suite combines a bonanza of security components and bonus features in a single integrated package. It offers protection for macOS, Android, and iOS devices.

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