Internet, Networking, & Security Antivirus 128 128 people found this article helpful Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition Review Install Bitdefender's free antivirus program to fend off malware by Stacy Fisher Stacy is a freelancer with over 18 years experience writing about technology and personal finance. She has published hundreds of articles and co-authored a book. our editorial process Stacy Fisher Updated on September 11, 2020 Tweet Share Email Antivirus Online Scams Social Media Scams Email Scams Phone & Texting Scams In This Article Overview Features More Features How to Use Final Thoughts Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition is one of the best free antivirus programs due mostly to the fact that it doesn’t put a toll on system resources while still managing to block dangerous threats. Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition Overview What We Like Provides on-access protection from viruses and other malware. Virus definitions are updated regularly in the background. Easy on system memory and other resources. Much easier to use than some other AV programs. What We Don't Like Can only be used at home—no business use. There aren’t custom scanning options like in similar products. Might take a while to fully download on slow connections. Requires you to make a free account to enable protection. This free virus scanner from Bitdefender is super easy to use and doesn't bombard you with a bunch of tools that most antivirus programs include. You get a clean virus scanner that everyone is capable of understanding, but it doesn't skimp on features either. Unlike on-demand virus scanners, Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition doesn't need to be "turned on" or started each time you want it to check for malware since it can run all the time. It's always checking for viruses, worms, Trojans, rootkits, and more. Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition provides constant virus protection, also called on-access or resident protection, for free. This means that Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition can completely replace antivirus software from companies like McAfee and Norton that charge for their software and for yearly access to updates. Top Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition Features Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition includes a virus shield to stop zero-day exploits, spyware, and other malware. Even though the virus scanning software scans all your files, it doesn't overwhelm the available system resources, which means your computer won't take a large performance hit when using Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition. The scanner starts as soon as critical services are loaded, which means it can check for malicious software, worms, etc. right when the operating system loads. This makes it even harder for viruses to stay on your computer. More Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition Features Broad Windows and Android Support: Windows 10, Windows 8, and Windows 7 are the operating systems that are officially supported for Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition. They also have a free antivirus app for Android. Frequent Updates: Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition updates often to stay up-to-date with new threats. Sandboxing: Programs are run through a safe environment first to ensure they behave normally, and then Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition will release it to the regular part of the computer so you can use it normally without fear that it's malicious. Link Scanner: The software includes a link scanner to protect against credit card phishing attempts. It works by scanning all the links you access through your web browser. Works With Computer Games: Gamers can benefit from using Bitdefender's software as their antivirus solution because major system scans can be paused while playing computer games. Strong Protection: Applications accessing the internet that even appear to be working in a suspicious way are blocked by Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition. How to Use Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition Scanning for viruses and changing Bitdefender's settings really couldn't be easier. The main screen is how you access everything. Press SYSTEM SCAN to start checking your computer for threats, or drag and drop a file or folder onto the program to scan just those items. If you select the progress area, you can see exactly how many files have been scanned and how many of those files are infected. The settings, accessible through the small gear/settings icon at the top right of Bitdefender, is how you customize the program and access logs. For example, the Events page lists when scans were performed and when updates were made to the program. Quarantine lists all the infected files that Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition found. Exclusions are how you tell Bitdefender not to scan a particular file, folder, or website. If know that the item is safe but Bitdefender says it isn't, you can explicitly block the program from scanning it. The last setting you can toggle in Bitdefender's free antivirus program is the overall Protection Shield, found in the Protection area of the settings. If for whatever reason you need to disable Bitdefender from keeping your computer safe, you can turn it off here. Final Thoughts on Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition is easy to install and just as easy to use. It gives you all you need to protect your computer from existing or new threats and does it while still letting you use your computer for resource-intensive things like watching movies, playing games, editing videos, etc. From the very start, you don't even feel like you need to make adjustments—just install it and let it run in the background. This is a great antivirus solution for anyone not interested in all the options you'd find in a larger program like Avast Free Antivirus. Download Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Email Address Sign up There was an error. Please try again. You're in! Thanks for signing up. There was an error. Please try again. Thank you for signing up. Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit