Question Bitdefender Antivirus Plus vs. Internet Security (moving from Norton Deluxe 360) ?

[modeonoff]

Hello, I have been using Norton 360 Deluxe for 11 months. It is time to consider whether to buy the latest version or change to another software. It is quite good but it often sends me emails and pop up messages on my screen about additional paid services. Kind of annoying. I chose it last year over Bitdefender because of unlimited VPN. However, I installed NordVPN so I don't need Norton's unlimited VPN feature. In terms of security and virus catching, is Norton or Bitdefender better?

I can get Bitdefender Antivirus Plus on sale but it lacks the "Privacy Firewall" feature that Bitdefender Internet Security includes. As I recall, Windows has a firewall built-in? If I install Bitdefender Antivirus Plus, will it disable Windows's firewall? Can both work together to perform better than Bitdefender Internet Security?

 

[geofelt]

Windows defender is excellent, free, and unobtrusive.
In the past it scored highest for detecting known viruses.

If you want to look for in the wild viruses, you will have to pay and it will consume more resources.

Regardless, have a external backup plan and don't fall for any social engineering scams.

 

[Cilantro7536]

All (or most) the forums I subscribe to now recommend using Windows Defender for antivirus because it is one of the best, unobtrusive, not bloated, and not pushing other software/services that the company has (or not any more than you have to endure from MS). Windows has its own free firewall which is more or less invisible except during software installation.

As a carry-over habit, I do use Bitdefender (free under 5 machines), along with TrafficLight + MalwareBytes Browser Guard (and uBlock origin). They seem to work together very well and are also unobstrusive. My only complaint is, Windows Security "Security at a glance" will get a flag which prompts me to open it to look; it does this regularly during update, but it also does this unexpectedly at times. My other "complaint" is that I can't pause the protection like I might be able to in other AV products, which makes it a hassle to install some problematic (not pirated, not game) software. The quotes are there because it may also beneficially drives me away from other problematic software as well.

 

[ohio_buckeye]

I concur with windows defender for home use. It’s easy to use and not intrusive.