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However, you can’t schedule scans to be carried out regularly, which may be a deal-breaker for some more traditional users.Īn inconspicuous promotional bar at the bottom encourages you to upgrade to a paid-for edition. Here, you can activate a full system scan or drag and drop in any file or folder to immediately check it for threats. Once installed, the Bitdefender client’s interface is refreshingly free of clutter. There’s just a single, compact status screen displaying your protection status. Up to 25 systems running Bitdefender free can be associated with a single account, which gives you some helpful remote device management features, such as the ability to check the protection status of each system and see any threats that might have been detected on them. Unlike many of its free antivirus rivals, you have to create a Bitdefender account and register Antivirus Free to activate the software. The software was not included in SE Labs’ recent tests.
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It achieved a 100% detection rating in AV-Test’s real-world and reference scanning tests, with only a single false positive and a 99.9% rating with three false positives in AV Comparatives’ most recent real-world protection test.
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The Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition engine typically performs well in tests.
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But is that enough for it to beat off the competition as the best free antivirus? Malware detection performance It provides an otherwise bare-bones experience that nonetheless benefits from being hassle-free and easy to live with. The free version of Bitdefender’s malware defence toolkit, like most free antivirus, shares its detection engine with the company’s paid-for editions.
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