Bitdefender, Cybersecurity Programme Reviewed

When looking for an Antivirus you can get quite confronted by a large array of choices.  I have always strongly believed in “you-get-what-you-pay-for” and would normally avoid with a vengeance something that was cheap and cheerful.  So my personal starting point, money wise was mentally between €80-100 per annum.  Bitdefender came up first for me and offered a wide range of supports.

There is a free element that you can avail of as well and for those that are starting out in this area, it’s a great go-to.  It’s ideal for prevention of phishing and scamming.  However, my entire business is run from my laptop and I was looking for more security than that could offer at this time.

After looking through Bitdefenders array of protections there was a couple of things that stood out directly to the writer.  Namely the digital identity protection service monitoring of my digital footprint and if personal information was exposed on the Dark Web.  I have to say detecting, Social Media impersonators is extremely pertinent too as it seems to become a regular activity these days as well.

• Monitor your digital footprint starting with an e-mail address and phone number
• Benefit from ongoing breach monitoring for 5 email addresses
• Find your private information online, in legal and illegal collections of data
• Check if your personal information was exposed on the Dark Web
• Get instant alerts for the new breaches and privacy threats
• Detect your Social Media impersonators

Getting Advanced Protections

As my business is wholly online I was initially looking for malware protection (tick), banking protection (tick), password manager was a surprising additional and well received (tick) and it made it even easier having a dashboard that I could fathom!

There’s also secure file deletion and something called a vulnerability scanner.  This a free tool that checks your whole network and lets you know if anything on there is vulnerable to attack.

What is a VPN

There is also an add on called Antivirus Plus that gives you access to Bitdefender VPN which is free.  A VPN is a Virtual Private Network that gives, anonymity, privacy and security by creating a network connection on a Public Network.  So whilst you’re out and about it offers a further layer of security.  You don’t get a huge amount of free data available at only 200MB but enough to manage whilst you’re out.

Looking across the other antivirus providers it competes well however and makes your life easier to boot.

Protection for Kids Laptops

Major feature was the Parental Controls for me!  My children have previously been caught out on YouTube access and seen what they can’t unsee so this was of particular interest.

There is a process that was easy to understand and set up, a bit long but worth it.

There is also a very good Webcam and Microphone protection capability which I had previously not thought of (beyond buying one of those slidable covers over my camera).

The Bitdefender Consumer Support pages are excellent at helping you navigate each area and no goble-de-gook which was appreciated as well.

AntiTheft Protection

Another welcome addition is this.  They have been around a while but still nice to have as part of the overall package.  This means if your laptop is stolen you can lock, locate and send a message to your device or even wipe it if necessary.  This is highly sought after and not a common add-on.  Another bonus for Android phone users is that It has this “self-defence” mechanism and it takes a photo of the person using it and sends it by email to you.  Pretty nifty.

Clearing and Prevention

Once up and running on my laptop it didn’t take very long to setup and cleared a load of detritus from my files by using the system optimisation tool.  I was able to continue working and noticed no appreciable difference in speed and ability.

Conclusion

I found this tool covers everything a business owner and parent would be looking for and quite easy to use.  Affordability and even a 30 day money back guarantee, shows how confident they are in their products.

I found the website easy to read and follow and with the Nikolaj Coster-Waldau lookalike fairly compelling.

About Melanie Boylan

Melanie has been a Freelance Journalist on the Irish Tech News senior team for 2 years.  Her background knowledge and interest in a diverse field has allowed for some great chats with some amazing podcast guests.

Melanie also is a Social Media Trainer, Social Media Manager, Co-Founder of The Monday Morning Marketing Podcast, Mentor and Brand Ambassador for AgoraPulse UK and Ireland.

If you would like to learn more, please visit her LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melanieboylan/