BitDefender Total Security 2009 review

BitDefender Total Security offers all the usual components, plus online backup with 2GB of storage, parental controls, file encryption, identity protection and even a duplicate file finder. There's a more basic Internet Security package too, but this fully-loaded edition costs no more than many simpler competing suites.

Thankfully, the key features haven't been neglected. BitDefender's 92% score in our malware detection test was this month's second highest overall, and in the web threats test its score of 57% put it a respectable fourth.

We did have a few reservations: BitDefender left our machine more exposed to direct network attacks than we'd like, with six high- and medium-risk vulnerabilities accessible as well as two TCP ports used by worms.

And while it was far from the worst offender, its RAM footprint was rather large, and it kept grinding after the test machine had booted.

There are some presentational niggles too. At one point the firewall complained about a process called "signcheck": this turned out to be a component of BitDefender itself. One database update ticked all the way up to 276% before finishing.

Still, it's easy to get at all the basic controls, and there are numerous thoughtful features. In laptop mode, it will optionally postpone scans and skip backups when running on battery. Plus, an extendable list of known games tells the firewall when to go into silent mode.

Total Security 2009's do-everything approach won't suit everyone, but if you're not precious about memory or boot time, it has a lot to recommend it.

Author: Darien Graham-Smith