BitDefender Antivirus 2008 is supposed to protect the operating system by providing a security layer that detects the known viruses and cleans them and does not allow the new ones. It removes Rootkit, does web scanning, filters viruses, blocks Spyware, guards your privacy with encrypting your social security number and credit card number

ICSA Labs, Virus Bulletin, Checkmark, CheckVir and TЬV have certified its scan engines as powerful. It comes on a bootable CD which makes it capable to start even a damaged system with its sequence of analysis; repair and disinfecting before making the system run again

Besides, company offers very competitive price if compared, for example, with equivalent Symantec products.

1. Installation and platform requirements

• Windows 2000 with Service Pack 4
• Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (32/64 bit)
• Windows Vista (32/64 bit)

You can install with a 32 bit Microsoft window Vista, 800 MHz processor, 512 MB Ram though 1 GB is recommended, 60 GB of hard disk. The other configuration is Microsoft Windows 98 SE, NT – SP6, Me, 2000, XP 32 bit Pentium II 350 MHz processor, 128 MB RAM. Internet Explorer required should be version 5.5 or above.

It takes less then 5 min to download software package from the website. Installation procedure itself is smooth, fast and easy accomplished task.

2. The main characteristics of a product

• Protects your PC in real time from known viruses, spyware and other malware with hourly updates

• Blocks unknown viruses using advanced proactive detection techniques

• Monitors and prevents spyware threats in real-time

• Detects and removes the newest breed of hidden threats known as rootkits

• Provides a load to a minimum

• Protects against phishing attacks by filtering all accessed web pages for fraud attempts

• Reduces the risk of identity theft by preventing personal information smooth gaming experience by reducing the system leaks via e-mail or web

Some advanced features are available as well: 

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.

This latest version of BitDefender has a new Gamer Mode feature that minimizes impact on gaming performance so you can play safe. The software still has all of the reliable features for which Bitdefender is known such as “Privacy Protection” for outgoing personal information, “Web Scanning” while you’re using the Internet and “Rootkit Detection and Removal,” which detects then removes hidden virus programs.

3. Productivity and Ease of Use

Product has an attractive, easy–to–use design that is consistent throughout the software and the manufacturer’s website. Because it is simple to use and updates itself automatically, you can install it on your system, then practically forget it’s there—an ideal solution for any user.

BitDefender Antivirus 2008 opts for a no-nonsense interface. Should there be any security issues, one of the large icons will display red. For remediation there's a large Fix This button, or you can click the specific graphic to see what's wrong. We experienced only minor issues with this approach.

You don’t need to be weary of the infected web traffic because it gets filtered before it reaches the user’s browser. Virus that spread by messaging and file sharing software also get filtered. Regardless of which email facility you use like Outlook TM, Outlook Express TM, Bat! TM, Netscape®, e-mail filtering is done because BitDefender operates at POP3-SMTP protocol level.

It also maps the places where spyware might act, and these places are immunized in time, because of a constantly updated database. It prevents applications with its configured anti-dialer which otherwise can cause the user a fat telephone bill.   It effectively guard applications those are designed with ActiveX, Java Applets or Java Scripts type codes.

However, there are some unpleasant things to say about BitDefender's operation speed. The antivirus is quite slow if compared with Nod32 or MacAfee and "eats" a lot of CPU power during system scan. plus and takes twice the space than that of ESet Nod32.

It terms of speed, it is slow compared to MacAfee virus scan plus and takes twice the space than that of ESet Nod32. This perhaps is expected because of its Behavioral Heuristic Analyzer in Virtual Environments which runs pieces of software in checking malefic software.

The live update feature checks for product and virus definition updates at either a user–defined interval, manually or default (every hour).

BitDefender provides a fairly complete package of technical support for its antivirus product. Greatly improved from last year is the built-in help file, although it would be nice if it were also context sensitive so that when we have a question about the Identity Pirvacy feature, the help file opens on that section immediately.

4. Conclusion

BitDefender Antivirus 2008 has greatly improved since last year. It is easy to use, simple to install, has a great feature set. Anyone who spends time on the Internet knows the importance of antivirus software; BitDefender will keep your computer virus–free and running smoothly.

However, antivirus disappoints with low operation speed and the way configuration settings are organized. They could be be more nuanced beyond just enable and disable and the settings that are available could be better explained.