Not content to tackle security issues from just one vantage point, European software maker SOFTWIN has come to market in recent months with a trio of products meant to safeguard computers from a range of threats.
Sold as BitDefender AntiVirus 10, AntiVirus Plus, and Internet Security, the products range in price from $40 to $70, with free trial evaluations available for download as well.
The BitDefender line comes with a serious pedigree, having won the European IST Prize, the #1 Best Buy ranking from PC World, the PC World "Best 100 Products of 2006," and most recently top billing in Consumer Reports' "Best Tools to Stop Viruses, Spam and Spyware" report.
What makes the BitDefender trio so great? The big sell here lies in the breadth of functionality, starting with B-HAVE (Behavioral Heuristic Analyzer in Virtual Environments). This BitDefender proprietary technology emulates a virtual computer-inside-a-computer, a place where software is run in order to check for signs of potential malware. The manufacturer touts this as a new kind of security layer, one that safeguards a system by detecting malicious pieces of code for which signatures have not yet been released.
BitDefender's Antivirus protection includes the ability to scan and disinfect infected files on access, and will allow infected documents to be recovered, rather than deleted. A new feature in BitDefender Antivirus sniffs out and remove rootkits.
An antispyware feature watches for spyware threats in real time, based on a broad database of spyware signatures. To keep things secure, BitDefender monitors numerous potential hotspots where spyware might attack a system, thus lessening the likelihood of a successful attack.
The "Plus" version of Antivirus enhances functionality by integrating antivirus and anti-spyware functions along with firewall, antispam and other features.
