
However, this feature can be turned off by going to the app’s preferences dialog. Nonetheless, after a conversation between BitDefender and MacWorld, it seems the feature is meant to advertise renewal offers (closer to expiration) and sales based on what kind of subscription a user has purchased (which still seems like an adware). Just like them, we were equally bewildered by an adware presence in an antivirus software. This perk, although interesting, seems more like a gimmick.Īpart from that, MacWorld noted that there’s an adware-like feature that sends pop-up notifications about “special offers” and deals to users that are subscribed for it. The browser extension also enlists the trackers a website maybe using, however, it seems not all the trackers were actually blocked. The app adds graphics to Google search results (which is anyway driven by icons and smaller graphics), which sometimes makes the experience confusing. However, it should be noted that the Safe Files feature is not turned on by default after installing Bitdefender.īitdefender also offers browser extensions for Safari and Chrome that enable users to identify whether a website is safe or not. This feature adds the most common apps like Google Chrome or Microsoft Office apps to the whitelist by default. However, you can still move an app you trust to whitelist so that the antivirus doesn’t bug you with continuous notices.įurthermore, Safe Files protects any files from getting corrupted or locked by ransomware. If any such app makes an attempt to access or make changes to a protected file on your computer, you will be informed with a pop-up warning where you can choose whether to allow the app to do so or no. disallowing any unauthorized third party app to access it behind your back or without your permission. This gives the Bitdefender a 100% score for removing the malware.īitdefender also offers a Safe Files feature, which secures and encrypts all your files and folders including your Desktop, Downloads, Pictures, Videos etc. However, on the third try, the USB was detected and also unmounted due to the presence of the malware. However, the USB somehow failed to detect for the first two times – we are unsure whether this was due to the antivirus or the misconfiguration of the virtual machine (which tried our best to ensure was configured correctly). the antivirus app also stopped the infected websites from downloading the threats and viruses and in background. To our surprise Bitdefender not only detected and removed all the viruses and malware from the Mac, but also managed to unmount the disk image. We also visited malware infected websites to check the vulnerability of the software.

Furthermore, a USB stick and a disk image (DMG) were placed in the same field with malware on them.

This group of malware contained over 20+ different types of infected files and threats for the antivirus to detect.

We gathered some of the most common malware and let them loose onto a virtual Mac machine we set up to test the software.
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On an average, we noticed that the antivirus takes about 40 minutes to as much as 2 hours 45 minutes to if after file changes are made, depending on the hardware of your Mac or the MacOS version you run. Whilst we lack any comparison, our free version of Avira antivirus for Mac took about an hour to 1 hour and 40 minutes maximum.īitdefender Threat Detection NotificationĪpart from the scan times, we wanted to make sure the scans are performed effectively.
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However, at TrueTech we wanted to test how long does it take on an average, so we ran multiple fresh tests to identify how long the software usually takes to finish a full scan. It seems Bitdefender seems to identify files that were safe before and weren’t changed in any manner whatsoever, therefore, it avoids scanning them again. If you run another full scan consequently, you can expect it to finish within 5 to 10 minutes. The initial full scan lasted for 2 hours. Nonetheless, to test the effectiveness, a full scan was also performed. Which is a little concerning, given it makes the first “you are safe” declaration a little deceiving. This declaration was of course the result of the first quick scan the software performs during the installation process, however, the software also says you should run a full scan to “ensure” whether the computer is totally safe or “threat-free”. Bitdefender Threats Detection (Main Device, Not Virtual Machine)īitdefender’s antivirus for Mac greets you with a user-friendly, minimal software screen, which reads “you are safe” once the installation finishes.
