Bitdefender Internet Security 2014

I have BitDefender Anti Virus Plus 2012 installed in one of my laptops. It has performed very well for the past 1yr so I upgraded it this time to BitDefender Internet Security 2014. If your current license has not expired (which is my case) then the upgrade will be free. Alternately you can purchase licenses from 1 to 3 years and upto 3 devices. 

The installation file is about 400mb and the installation takes about 5-10mins. Minimum input required during the installation process.

The latest edition of the software which comes post 2011, 2012 and 2013 editions do not have 2014 tagged on its name. Instead it just goes as BitDefender Internet Security. Probably the reason for dropping the year from its product name is to make sure they dont release products too much ahead of its years! (ie. releasing a 2014 tag while we are still only half way down 2013!) Thats my assumption only. 

Running windows 7 on a HP dv6 my laptop takes less than a minute to boot and the new BitDefender Internet Security didnt seem to have slowed it down. However it had added 4 startup entries to autostart when booting the computer. I used Tuneup Utilities 2013 to detect and remove the startup entries except BitDefender Agent which is the icon which sits by the system clock to quickly access the program functions if required. A desktop widget is also enabled by default which I turned off. 

Before going into the software functional details let me quickly mention that there are 3 variants of BitDefender - Antivirus, Internet Security and Total security. Each one a little pricier with more features than the other. Antivirus has all the basic features. Internet security in addition to the basic features has online privacy protection,  2 way firewall, parental controls and cloud antispam. Total Security goes a bit further and adds secure online storage, device anti theft protection and a set of tune up tools. So I chose BitDefender Internet Security as the ideal choice for me since I preferred to have the firewall feature along with the basic antivirus and anti spyware features.

Virus detection performance
My laptop has been protected by BitDefender (different versions) until now so its as clean as any laptop can get. So I cannot vouch personally for its detection rates but leading test benchmarks done by industry experts have consistently rated BitDefender as the top dog in the business (source:TopTenReviews and PC Mag). The fact that BitDefender has kept my computer safe is also testimony to the fact its an awesome software doing its core job to perfection. 

Virus Scans
There are options for quick scan, system scan, vulnerability scan, manage scans, and rescue mode. 
Manage scan - You can add custom scans and schedule quick, system or custom scans here. 
Rescue mode - the software will auto restart the computer to scan and delete viruses at boot time. It might come in handy to defeat stubborn viruses. 
System scan - Took about 40 minutes to scan my used capacity of 100GB hard disk...I thought it was slow. A summary is shown at the end of the scan. However a major flaw for me was that I could not change the scan locations in the system scan as the software seems to have auto decided where it will be scanning. Its the same scenario in both Auto Pilot mode and User Modes which I'll describe later.  
Quick scan - Again choose scan locations is auto selected and I couldn't change anything. So the user will not know where and what is scanned during the quick scan. Its terribly annoying to me who likes to fiddle with my software. The quick scan completed in less than a minute. 

Let me tell you I tried hard to find a way to change settings for the system scan and quick scan and couldn't figure it out. So if anyone knows how to do it feel free to leave a comment :)

User interface
The interface looks similar to 2012 version. one of the annoying things about the interface is that there are places you think are clickable but they dont do anything. For example the Tools icon right in the top center covered by a green circle makes one to believe you can click there and get to the full settings page. But its just a stationary icon. To the right of that icon are the actual links to events, settings and auto pilot/manual settings pages. 
Update - That Tools icon gets activated when there are issues to fix. So its not just stationary.

Occupying a bigger portion of the interface are 4 modules - Anti virus, privacy, firewall and update. A scroll bar and grid beneath it lets yo know there are more options if you drag the scroll bar. Anti spam, safego, parental control and wallet appears if you move the slider. Alternately you can use the arrows on the left and right side of the 4 modules to navigate to the desired module. The small grid near the scroll bar shows you all the modules mentioned above in a single page. 

Another misleading feature is when you move the cursor over each module the relevant icon lights up making you to believe you can click them (possibly bringing up an advanced menu). Not so. It just glows and remains stationary.

The individual settings for each feature can be accessed by clicking on the tiny configuration wheel icon on the right top corner of each module. Alternately to see all settings you can click on the settings button next to the auto pilot button on the top left of the main GUI. 

On the left top of the main GUI is a box indicating the system status. It every things fine it will be Green and if there's any attention required (antivirus definitions not updated, virus guard or firewall turned off etc.) then it will turn a bright red.  

Other features I use
Auto Pilot vs User mode - Well this is a easy one to understand isnt it. Auto pilot when turned on will set default settings and manage your computer in an optimal non intrusive manner. User mode allows you to change a few settings and features. 

Firewall - Its turned on and silently monitors the Internet connection (LAN and wifi). Nothing much I can add here. 

New Features in BitDefender Internet Security 2014
Photon technology - Sounds cool doesnt it? As per manufacturer description its an "innovative, exclusive technology that visibly improves speed and performance in a matter of hours by gradually molding to your PC". Sounds really interesting too. God only knows how it performs since there's not much a user can do to monitor it. 
Security Report - As per manufacturer this "new feature presents your overall security status for the past week, including scans and disinfections, pending issues if any and ways to fix them, as well as feature recommendations and notifications of unused modules".
Wallet - Let me give my description to this. This is a password manager of sorts which can be found in most internet browsers these days. It safely stores your personal info, usernames, passwords and automatically logs you in to websites. 
A very similar feature is Safepay which claims to safeguard your payments while filling out account information for you. More like a paypal in your virus guard!

So that wraps it up. A lot of features available within an antivirus software. Not sure however how many users will be actually using all of the features. I would be happy to have a stripped down version of BitDefender with Antivirus, Antispyware and firewall although Im still happy that this software since it wont buckle down the system by using a lot of resources. Scanning power/time could be improved. 

Recommend this product? Yes