It will be tough times for antivirus makers. If we had a preference for antivirus only for a few years because the Windows Firewall was good in itself, Microsoft’s own antimalware also regularly achieved the maximum score in comparative tests. And if there is a good firewall and antivirus, why pay for it separately? Bitdefender offers an answer.
Bitdefender Internet Security 2020
price
€ 59.99 for 3 PCs, 1 year updates
Language
Dutch
OS
Windows 10
Website
www.bitdefender.nl
8 Score 80 
- Pros
- Functionality
- User friendly
- Better protection for older Windows versions
- High-quality security
- Negatives
- No security macOS, Android, iOS
- Parental supervision
- VPN data limit
- Update advertising
- Little innovation
The world in which security software providers must operate is changing at a rapid pace. Although more than half of all malware is still focused on Windows, the standard security provided by Windows is increasingly not inferior to that of paid security suites. In addition, Microsoft can make maximum use of its knowledge of Windows to keep security high and system impact low. In order to have added value, antivirus makers must therefore mainly deliver the same quality as Microsoft does, measured in system impact, speed and user-friendliness, and preferably also contain more functionality without the aforementioned qualities being affected.
Specific
This is the new world in which Bitdefender releases its new 2020 products. Internet Security is the middle in the range and most specific to Windows. With the package you get for example antivirus, a firewall, spam filter, blocking of malicious websites, protection in online banking, a limited version of parental control, a VPN, a password manager and file encryption. The VPN is limited to 200 MB per day; if you want more, a supplementary subscription is needed that also offers the possibility to select the endpoint yourself.
Upgrade
The program is certainly user-friendly; annoying is that functions such as secure file removal, PC cleaning and optimization are present, but an upgrade to the more expensive Total Security is required to actually use them. A practice that is actually unworthy of a product of this quality. Bitdefender Anti-tracker is really new, which protects privacy when browsing, but is no better than all other anti-trackers, even the free products below. More relevant is the microphone monitor, a variant of last year’s webcam firewall. This monitors the microphone and alerts when a program uses it. It prevents that your conversations are listened to just like that.
Conclusion
Bitdefender offers excellent security in a handy interface with the only disadvantage of advertising the more expensive versions. The program has been performing well for years and Windows security is in good hands. The extra functionality compared to what Microsoft standard offers in Windows 10 justifies the price of the purchase for many. To be able to say this in the coming years, more innovation is needed than Bitdefender shows this year.
