BitDefender Total Security 2011 provides comprehensive security solutions against viruses, spyware, and phishing attacks to steal personal information. Total Security 2011 is a package of measures including anti-virus, firewall, network management tools, file encryption, online backup, and automated hourly updates.

BitDefender 2011 product line has just launched, and the developer announces hefty improvements to the modules that maintained your PC secure in the previous edition, as well as new features to increase protection and turn handling the applications into less of a challenge for all types of users.

This module brings a new layer of security, besides the now standard protection against all sorts of malware (signature based detection and heuristics) and elimination of phishing attacks (antiphishing toolbar still gets installed automatically in Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox). Search Advisor has been introduced in this edition of the suite as a means to counterattack infections via shady websites.

Starting with this version BitDefender Total Security can scan your search results in Yahoo!, Bing and Google and mark those with compromised security integrity. Search Advisor is based on the same technology used by antiphing and anti-fraud engines and is designed to check if the links returned by the search engine are safe or not.

To ensure maximum efficiency the results are verified against a database of signatures but the code is also analyzed. However, this may affect your browsing speed, as during our tests we noticed that the safety marks would load progressively, with the first result being verified in about two seconds.

The benefits of cloud antivirus are no secret. Besides taking the load off the user??e??aos station there is also the advantage of faster scan results. In BitDefender products it is called QuickScan and it does contribute to turning down a notch the impact on system resources and the time required for a full of system scan to complete.

Testing the efficiency of the improved malware protection, showed that the standard has not been lowered in this version. We put the engine against a database of 300 of the worst threats we could find back in July and the results were pretty good as only 11 items managed to evade its vigilance.

However, we continued with a fresher database encompassing some of the worst threats we collected through August and the results were again good. Out of the 38 malicious elements 30 of them got nabbed by the engine, leaving 8 threats behind.

Parental Control:
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The same options are available in this module as in the previous version. However now you have the possibility to view and configure your kid??e??aos activity remotely, from any web access point through an online parental control management console. You need to log into your BitDefender account and you have instant access to alerts, recent activity and a settings area.

It offers the same flexibility you are accustomed to in the program, from blocking websites and applications to defining Internet access schedules. Statistics with most accessed web pages, as well as most used applications and contacts in instant messaging programs (Yahoo! Messenger and Windows Live Messenger) are available. The effects of the settings in this online console, however, are not instant. It takes a while for the information to be sent to the suite installed on your machine and enforce the restrictions.

System Tune-Up:
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This time around, the PC performance improving module in Total Security offers a new instrument to maintain the system at its best behavior. ??e??oMonitor??e??? section in the menu provides ample statistics about each application currently running on your computer and calculates its average CPU and RAM usage and labels its resource usage as Low, Medium or High.

Based on this information you can easily decide which of the apps is causing performance drag on the system and choose to close it. More than this, Total Security makes available a 30-minute CPU and RAM usage history for each of the elements displayed.

An improvement added to the module is the fact that during the PC Clean-Up process you now have the advantage of selecting the elements that should be cleaned. This basically translates into the possibility of choosing if you want IE or Firefox cache to be purged or if the list of recent and temporary documents should be cleaned up.

Home Network:
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As the number of computers in a household keeps increasing, the need for a console to manage the security of all stations also keeps growing. With BitDefender Total Security you have the possibility to administer BitDefender products installed on different stations inside the network.

The list of activities you can engage in remotely comprises of registering the product, running on-demand scan (full scan, deep scan or verifying My Documents folder), initiate a fix-all-issues routine, begin the update process, set a specific parental control profile or run a tune-up task. As soon as you add the computer to BitDefender Home Network and all the passwords verify you are good to go.

BitDefender Total Security 2011 is not exactly a suite for the weak-hearted if you choose Expert View. But it can adjust its interface to the level of computer knowledge of the user. Its learning curve is not at all difficult, especially with the introduction of the new support feature which sports flash videos thoroughly explaining the steps as plainly as possible.

The list of tutorials covers subjects from creating a BitDefender account to more complicated stuff like removing infected files from System Volume folder or adding exclusions in the Active Virus Control module. Internet connection is required to view the clips.

Apart from the improvements and the new features available in this edition, the suite maintains the high standards of the previous version. Thus the firewall will not leave you uncovered and data coming in or going out will still be filtered; Vulnerability module will still keep an eye wide open for the system to have the latest updates installed and applications on the system to be in their latest version. Also, privacy control is on guard against identity theft, Trojans trying to fit in Windows Registry, tracking cookies or scripts from gaining access to your data.

As good as all this sounds, we had our share of trouble tinkering with BitDefender Total Security and we could not test the Antispam module. We tried it in Outlook 2010 and Mozilla Thunderbird (both the portable and the desktop versions) but the result was the same: no email was filtered. The trouble may be on our end, but we also contacted BitDefender for instructions to make it work. They assured us that the issue will be investigated and come back with an answer.

The Good:
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BitDefender Total Security 2011 comes off as a reliable suite that addresses any sort of user, regardless of their computer knowledge level. Its interface can be adjusted to multiple degrees of control even in Basic and Intermediate view by customizing the number of shortcuts in the main menus.

System resource usage is kept within acceptable parameters; during our tests it required about 80MB for scan tasks while CPU usage averaged between 50%-60%.

Smart Schedule feature allows you to run scan jobs when computer is idle, and pauses as soon as it is used again. On the same note, scan times are lower thanks to QuickScan and the fact that the engine does not scan known operating system files.

The Bad:
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Search Advisor does a fine job, but it takes a while to load the safety marks for the displayed results. Also, firewall pop-ups were quite frequent and we received multiple messages about adding a rule for the same application that tried to connect to the Internet, despite the fact that each time we gave full access to the process.

Highlights the new features in BitDefender 2011 product:
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Redesigned interface and logical arrangement. You can perform the installation and configuration BitDefender 2011 without having to reboot the computer.
Search Engine Advisor warns you about unsafe websites in search results by checking each link in the online data base of BitDefender.
Wizard troubleshooting firewall (Firewall Troubleshoot Wizard) user guide and solve the most common problems related to internet, printer or conditions to the office via remote connection.
Optimal performance tools (Performance Optimizer) will show the process is slowing down the system and how to fix them.
Level of protection will be comfortable with the processing power of computers by adjusting the settings to match the memory and CPU.
Novice users can customize the dashboard by adding shortcuts to manipulate easily.
Schedule intelligent systems reach maximum performance, through the analysis of resource use requirements of the application to deliver the most reasonable, the scanning process can be paused if the resources required by a multimedia program or game played and will continue when system resources are restored.
Improved usability through selected typical or custom.
Allows you to select the most appropriate interface with security needs and your ability to use. User base, intermediate or expert can choose the interface that best suits them.

Usage:
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1. Install app
2. Disconnect internet connection during this step
3. Use the serial from "Serial.txt"