Bullguard Internet Security review

Bullguard is a relative newcomer, but it's rapidly gaining market share thanks partly to a smart strategy of preinstallation on new PCs from various suppliers. That doesn't mean it can't compete on its merits, though: in our tests, it achieved an 86% overall malware detection rate courtesy of a capable antivirus module using the BitDefender engine. It was one of only five packages to identify the PEPatch virus and the KillAV trojan, although it was one of only six to miss the Nilage virus.

The user interface is mostly intuitive, but there are a few points of slight confusion: the grey-on-grey buttons look like they're ghosted out and, while we agree that "antivirus" and "antispyware" should be the same thing, Bullguard expresses this weirdly by presenting two linked buttons that both lead to the same page. We only tested the package's antivirus capabilities, but during installation we were delighted to note that the software was polite enough to ask before replacing the standard XP firewall with its own.

Email scanning was comparatively lightweight: RAM usage was average, but the CPU only flicked momentarily up to 95% or so as each message passed through. When a virus was detected, a window opened up with details, but scanning continued in the background and - a particularly nice touch - the window showed a countdown, after which it would automatically close.

£35 may seem a lot for a one-year, one-user licence, but it includes some useful extra features - automated remote backup and 24/7 online technical support aren't to be sniffed at.

Author: Arien Graham-Smith