Bitdefender Total Security 2015

Bitdefender wants to keep you safe, and does..,

DETAILS
• Price: £60 (one-year, three PCs)
• Manufacturer Bitdefender
• Website: goo.gl/TW8gQI
• Required Spec: XP+, 1.6GHz CPU. 1GB RAM, internet connection for MyBrtdef ender and remote access

Bitdefender has a long history of keeping our computers and the information stored within them safe from the nefarious attempts of others who would rather see havoc reign supreme.

Its anti-virus engine is superb, and its anti-malware, anti-phishing and anti-everything else, to my mind, without a doubt the best in the world. So how can the company improve on this?

Bitdefender Total Security 2015 is the answer to that question and, where TS2014 left off, this version takes the baton and sprints ahead of the competition by several lengths. It still offers the highest levels of protection via Bitdefender*s Anti-virus Control, its proactive, dynamic detection technology, a two-way firewall and cloud technology based anti-spam, and offers safer online banking via the Safepay function and MyBitdefender cloud access areas. What's more there are also enhanced levels of privacy, with better parental control, including Facebook restrictions, device anti-theft, personal data filter, file encryption and file shredding, and of course anti-phishing measures.

However, where other AV technologies offer the same suite of security Bitdefender does so with an impressive list of added incentives. For example, there's a much improved level of social media protection that filters messages and posts to scan for fraud and e-threats. There's also a higher level of PC optimisation dubbed Bitdefender Photon that greatly improves the speed of the security engine so there's less visible signs of resource consumption or system slowdowns. The One Click Optimiser will tune your system with a disk, registry and privacy clean up, and the new Startup Optimiser can noticeably enhance system boot time by managing startup.

Other new features of note include Bitdefender Profiles, where an Autopilot mode will recognise the task you're performing on the PC and change the profile to prevent other programs or apps from interrupting you or causing the system to slow down. There's also the Quick Vulnerability Scanner, which automatically warns of any outdated software, missing Windows security patches and unsafe system settings.

TS2015 provides you with a simple animated circular desktop widget, with a green band and tick for a system that check out fine, and red with a warning should the engine detect something untoward. A smaller section at the bottom of the widget informs you of any system messages, and clicking on the widget will launch the newly designed dashboard, which again is simple but allows access to all of TS2015's features with a single click.

It's all blindingly fast, and thanks to the new optimising technologies you can safely leave it to keep an ever-watchful eye on your system without fear of it getting in the way. You no longer have to worry about forgetting to set it Game mode prior to launching steam, or the annoying pop up regarding some recently updated software mid-way through a movie, or presentation.

Clearly there are many benefits to having Bitdefender Total Security 2015, but the most obvious and the one that really deserves attention is the near perfect anti-virus protection. With TS2015 there's a peace of mind that you simply won't get from any free security product.