Good reasons to use Bitdefender Free

Nunzio77

Hi everyone,

I was an old user of the old free version of Bitdefender.

For a few days I have installed the new version of Bitdefender Free on my old laptop and I must say that at the moment it works fine without slowing down my laptop (4GB of RAM and Intel Core Duo 2-Windows 10).

For those who use Bitdefender Free (new version) please give me good reasons to continue using it ...

I was a user of Avast Free and honestly I am still a bit undecided between the two AV free.😅

Bitdefender Free does not have some of the protection modules that Avast Free has and for this I am still a bit undecided, especially for ransoware.😉

Thanks!

Nunzio.

Flexx

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/91667/good-reasons-to-use-bitdefender-free

I know you being an old member of the bitdefender community, at least I can recall by the name.

Diving directly into the answer, both avast free and bitdefender free offer basic protection that a normal home user needs like malicious website blocking and malware detection.

While it may seem that avast free does offer a little bit additional features as compared to bitdefender free but ultimately it comes down to the malware detection, because our main moto of installing an antivirus is to be protected from malware and malicious websites.

While we know not every vendor can detect each and every piece of malware, but if we will go with the statistics of test performed by AV-TEST, AV-Comparatives, MRG Effitas etc Bitdefender has constantly outlasted majority of the antivirus software available in the market.

Also, have a look at this below stated image offered by AV-Comparatives. It shows which antivirus vendors use bitdefender detection engine as a third party engine with their own in house engine.

FOR CONSUMER PRODUCTS:

FOR ENTERPRISE PRODUCTS:

Avast & AVG both are same company now but marketed as different brands, so they both utilize avast detection engine only.

From the image you can conclude that majority of consumer & enterprise antimalware companies are using bitdefender detection engine as their third party engine with their own in house engine.

At the end it comes down to a user, whatever they feel like is best for them, they can go with it.

Regards

Nunzio77

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/comment/309689#Comment_309689

Hi mmirrakhur,

yes it is true I am a historian of the community and I have always used the free version of Bitdefender. First of all, thank you for your reply and feedback.

Honestly, when I learned that a free version of Bitdefender had returned, I was very happy, as I have always maintained that Bitdefender's protection is of the highest level.

The only doubt I have is about zero-day and ransoware protection.

It is true that a home user only needs malware detection and web protection, but on malware detection in the event of a zero-day attack, it is necessary to rely on behavioral analysis and any additional file protection modules.

I must say that from my tests done (even the old version of Bitdefender Free) it has always behaved very well and has never infected or encrypted my files.

I visit the AV Comparative and AV Test sites and I notice that Bitedefender is always at a very high level, just like Avast. However, many of these tests are mainly based on signatures. It would be nice to have some comparisons on the result of the behavioral analysis where the malware escapes the signatures.

Another thing that I hope will be improved in Bitdefender Free is the cleaning / deleting time of the malware which I often notice is a bit long.

Thanks.😃😉

Nunzio

Flexx

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/comment/309696#Comment_309696

Behaviour based testing will be hard to find, but you can check results by MRG Effitas, they have exploit / fileless test results with respect to signature based test.

Below is the latest report

https://www.mrg-effitas.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/MRG_Effitas_360_Q1_2022.pdf

It seems like both bitdefender and avast lie on same plane but bitdefender lacks in pup/ pua detection, which I with my personal knowledge also agree that there is a little poor detection by bitdefender when it comes to detection of pup or pua.

Every vendor have their own way of classifying a software as pup or pua. And pup & pua are generally not malicious, hence it is totally dependent on user whether they want to install them or not.

Additionally, I know this PC Security Channel on youtube which I guess is created by ex employee of Emsisosft AntiMalware. He kinds of tests every antimalware with different detection methods.

You can have a look at his youtube channel : https://www.youtube.com/c/thepcsecuritychannel/videos

Regards

Nunzio77

Hello,

Does Bitdefender Free also use the cloud as well as definition updates (minimum every hour)?

Nunzio77

Hello,

Does Bitdefender Free also use the cloud?

I already know there are minimal definition updates every hour.

Thanks. 🙂

Nunzio.

Gjoksi

@Nunzio d'Abbruzzo

Hello.

You can find all specifications for Bitdefender Free here:

Bitdefender Antivirus Free User's Guide 2022-02-22 (eng).pdf

"Quick Scan uses in-the-cloud scanning to detect threats running in your system."

So, it seems that only Quick Scan uses the in-the-cloud scanning technology.

Best regards.

Flexx

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/comment/309850#Comment_309850

Yes, both quick and full scan do make use of cloud engine since I have tested many samples against bitdefender free while running a full system scan and cloud detection do pop up for some samples.

As far as signature based updates goes, it is updated every one hour, or time between two successful update is one hour, provided if there are detection signatures released by malware researchers.

Regards

Nunzio77

So even when you run any file or in case of malware the cloud is interrogated?

In case of malware is it due to this that the cleaning / elimination activity takes a few seconds longer?

Sorry if I ask all these questions but I like to understand how it technically works in detail. 😁

Thanks.🙂

Flexx

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/comment/309925#Comment_309925

No problem mate, I understand !

Cleaning/ Elimination in terms of cloud will take longer as compared to signature based, since signatures are stored on your system and file detections are matched up with signatures whereas for cloud you need to have a good internet connection in order to get the files scanned. The files get uploaded to bitdefender cloud engine in order to get scanned.

That is why whenever a very first scan is run on a system, it takes longer duration to complete as compared to the second scan, since after first scan a cache copy is created on system which helps future scans to run at faster pace.

Regards

Nunzio77

Why does it use so much more RAM (200Mb-300Mb on average) than other AVs? During the scanning and detection / cleaning phase, the CPU also goes up quite a bit.

Flexx

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/comment/309974#Comment_309974

This is the most frequent question asked on the forum and mostly related to paid version of the bitdefender consumer products. But to be very frank, currently there is no proper resolution for this.

I would see if the admins have something to say on this @Mike_BD, @Alexandru_BD

Regards

Nunzio77

OK, thanks a lot! 😉

Unfortunately, Bitdefender Free failed in this test and some files were encrypted:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrhsnen9i-o

This test left me a little perplexed ... 😕😔

Flexx

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/comment/309976#Comment_309976

It's known that not every anti malware can detect each and every bit of malware.

Free version lacks certain detection security technologies that is only available in paid version.

Additionally, if you need to run a test comparing bitdefender with any other anti malware, you can PM me and I can share you links from where you can download millions of malware samples and test them against anti malware softwares.

Regards

Gjoksi

@Nunzio d'Abbruzzo

I can only give you 2 reasons to use Bitdefender TOTAL SECURITY, instead of Bitdefender FREE:

1. According to Bitdefender's global site, Bitdefender FREE includes only these modules: OnAccess Scan, OnDemand Scan and Web protection. On the other hand, with Bitdefender TOTAL SECURITY, you are fully protected.
2. It costs only 40 (fourty) EUR for 1-year subscription for 10 (ten) Windows, Android, macOS and iSO devices.

Regards.

Mike_BD

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/comment/309976#Comment_309976

Hi Nunzio - thanks for sharing this link, wasn't aware of this test. As always, our position as Admins (meaning Alexandru and myself) is to avoid any bad commenting on competition; we leave that to independent testing (mind you - from well recognized organizations, which conduct exhaustive tests). In this case, I would love to see put to the test all free versions of antivirus in the market.

Nunzio77

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/comment/310021#Comment_310021

Thanks for the reply. 🙂 It would be nice to upgrade Bitdefender Free (which is a great AV Free) with ransoware protection, as well as Kaspersky Security Cloud Free and Avast Free. Or at least apply stronger proactive protection against zero-day attacks. 😉

I have always liked Bitdefender and I want to continue using it in the free version. 🙂

Nunzio77

Look at this test: https://youtu.be/x6chr5CTySY

Scott

I needed a Dramamine just in watching the flying cursor :)

Does F Ally in the reply section, have a valid point?

Flexx

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/comment/310132#Comment_310132

Perfect catch !

Regards

Alexandru_BD

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/comment/310132#Comment_310132

I think I might have stretched my extraocular muscles watching this.

Alexandru_BD

@Scott you were saying? I got an e-mail notification from here, but the comment is gone.. 😂

Nunzio77

Look at this test and tell me what you think. Seems slow to remove and uses a lot of CPU.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxfETsZPWTg&t=2s

Nunzio77

I ask you a question and I ask you for confirmation, but are the signatures of the definitions for Bitdefender Free the same as the versions on pagemento?

Unfortunately, on the internet you can read various opinions and I would like an official and certain answer ... and who better than you ...😉😉

Thanks!

Nunzio.

Flexx

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/comment/310497#Comment_310497

Signature based detections for both free and paid version of consumer product are same.

When compared with business products, there is a difference between signatures, meaning there are some malware that only target business organization and do not do any harm to home users. In this case, there are some additional signatures created by malware researchers which are only provided to business product but not to consumer product.

Regards

Alexandru_BD

@mrmirakhur I couldn't have said it better 😉

Flexx

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/comment/310528#Comment_310528

I had many chats in the past with malware researchers to bring those additional detection of business product to consumer product also, but they simply say it's not required 😂

Regards

Nunzio77

Why does Bitdefender Free (but I think also the paid versions) take a little longer than some AVs (for example Avast) to quarantine a malware since it is detected?

Nunzio77

Look at this recent test, Bitdefender Free wins both online and offline:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_1JWhdm3Fw

Flexx

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/comment/310996#Comment_310996

This test is of no use, there is nothing like online and offline test. The only thing is that if you will disconnect from the internet, the bitdefender will not be able to run the cloud scanning on a file.

From the video it clearly seems that all the samples were detected by signature based detection.

The person doing the test is not capable of performing a proper test on antimalware products.

The test of antimalware are based on 2 things.

One is when the real time protection is enabled which triggers signatures based detection and behavior blocking (known as advanced threat defense in bitdefender) and the other is when you disable the real time protection and only rely on behavior blocking (known as advanced threat defense in bitdefender)

If you want to see proper testing of antimalware software, have a look at the below stated youtube channel created by ex employee of emsisosft antimalware.

https://www.youtube.com/c/thepcsecuritychannel/videos

Regards

Nunzio77

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/comment/310997#Comment_310997

Ok. Thanks! 😉

Nunzio77

Does the Bitdefender account also check for any exfiltration of the access data relating to the e-mail address with which you register? Does it offer similar functionality to Avast Free?

Nunzio77

See here what is indicated on Bitdefender Free.

What do you think?

https://avlab.pl/5-polecanych-darmowych-antywirusow-na-rok-2022/

Flexx

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/comment/311143#Comment_311143

I think going through the internet there will be millions of websites that will say for and against a particular product. You should take these advices with a grain of salt.

Bitdefender free till date has only featured malware (including ransomware) and malicious/ phishing website blocking. I guess there is nothing new on the plate for the free version and developers hardly pay any interest in improving the free version until a bug or a vulnerability is found and their main focus is on their flagship line of products.

Whether you like it or not, to be frank, at the end, it's all about the revenue that a company product is generating and the revenue comes from the flagship line of products and not from the free products. And that is why you see bitdefender flagship line of products being upgraded to new version on constant basis whereas free version hardly gets upgraded in time interval of 2-3 years.

Regards

Nunzio77

Is Thunderbird included in the e-mail programs Bitdefender Free checks?

Thansk!

Flexx

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/comment/311160#Comment_311160

It will only check for the phishing / malicious links in the email when you try to open it and for the attachment file if you download and if it is malicious it will be detected by real time protection.

Regards

Alexandru_BD

I think going through the internet there will be millions of websites that will say for and against a particular product. You should take these advices with a grain of salt. - @mrmirakhur I couldn't agree more.

And even though the focus is indeed on the core line portfolio, Bitdefender did address the free tools as well and came up with a very decent alternative to a paid product, in my opinion. I mean, they could have discontinued the version and never resurrect it again. But they didn't do this, as everyone should benefit from cybersecurity in one form or another, regardless of their budget and preferences. And yes, you can choose the upgrade route if you wish and it makes sense for a provider to display this option in their free offerings as well.

As mentioned above, revenue plays a big part and we wouldn't be here without all the customers that trusted us with the security of their devices. For this I am grateful and will always cherish this community.

Regards

Nunzio77

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/comment/311191#Comment_311191

I fully agree on everything.

However in my opinion Bitdefender Free is a more than decent product, it is a great product as a free AV.

But if it had second-line protection (even light) against ransoware and data exfiltration control in the email entered into the account, it would be excellent (fixing a few small bugs I reported).

I stay with Bitdefender Free because it is giving me great satisfaction and in the PC you do not feel at all about performance.

Nunzio77

https://www.av-test.org/en/antivirus/home-windows/windows-10/april-2022/

Flexx

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/comment/311730#Comment_311730

Malware researchers are already aware of all the testing companies result that happen. Not only AV-TEST but MRG-Effitas, AV-Comparatives, Virus Bulletin etc.

Regards

Gjoksi

@Nunzio d'Abbruzzo

Check this test:

https://www.av-comparatives.org/tests/real-world-protection-test-february-may-2022/

Regards.

Alexandru_BD

Gjoksi

@Alexandru_BD

Like i once said, the only thing that has to be improved is less incorrect detection, known as false positives.

Regards.

Gjoksi

@Nunzio d'Abbruzzo

Dude, you already asked the same question:

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/92147/bitdefender-free-several-seconds-to-eliminate-the-malware

Regards.

Nunzio77

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/comment/312124#Comment_312124

Sorry I didn't remember. I got rid of it.🙂

Nunzio77

Look at this very interesting and comprehensive test of a Russian channel that I follow.

Bitdefender Free, from this test in Russia it is necessary to use a VPN to connect it to the servers, it does not react when malware is unzipped. The scan eliminates most malware and blocks almost all of them when run (but does not delete them).

In conclusion, however, Bitdefender Free behaved very well despite having passed some minor malware which, however, after restarting the machine was not executed automatically and the PC remains functional and stable. I would say that Bitdefender Free came out the winner even if with some improvements that can be applied for future versions.

What do you think?

Here is the video link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XN9GXtgjn8s

Alexandru_BD

The Bitdefender interface in cyrillic takes some time getting used to.

Nunzio77

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/comment/313335#Comment_313335

I didn't understand, can you explain me better?

Alexandru_BD

The UI in cyrillic alphabet :

Nunzio77

I honestly don't know whether to continue using Bitdefender Free and also the paid one (Plus) as by testing and using the free versions of Avast and Kaspersky I realized that they provide all the protection components that Bitdefender Plus provides, but at no cost and the free version of Bitdefender has less protection (ransoware specific protection and email protection for IMAP4) than the free ones of Avast and Kaspersky.

The level of protection especially with Kaspersky and more or less at the same level, looking at the various tests on YouTube and also the official tests...

So why use Bitdefender Free?

I hope that some more features will be implemented to make it competitive especially in the free version.

I like it a lot...

Alexandru_BD

Hi @Nunzio d'Abbruzzo

I've missed this one. Well, many free antivirus solutions might be a bit intrusive and resource-heavy. The latest Bitdefender Antivirus Free is designed from the ground up to keep you safe without disrupting your workflow and focus. It can learn and monitor the unique pattern of daily activity on your PC and it has the ability to instantly detect and isolate suspicious changes in real-time, no matter the source. It's a tough nut to crack and by design it is a 'detuned' version of the paid solution, so it's purpose built and provides high standards of protection at no cost for the end user. Although it's a top-tier free security solution, it cannot have all the bells and whistles found in the paid antivirus.. and there's one more reason, in my opinion it looks far better than the others, but this is of course a matter of taste.

Ciao