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VIPRE vs. BitDefender As per PC Antivirus reviews 2010 & 2011 Antivirus Firewall Software Report.
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Which Has the Best Real-time Protection?
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VIPRE
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BitDefender
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Real-time monitoring with Active Protection, email, file, and web scanning.
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Real-time e-mail, file and web scanning.
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Independent tests show that VIPRE antivirus actively stopped two thirds of malware before it had a chance to do any damage, and the remaining third was caught and labeled as potentially dangerous for you to decide.
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With a high, independent testing rate of 96% success, BitDefender antivirus stopped the majority of incoming virus and malware attacks.
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A process monitor also allows you to see what real-time threats may be running.
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Only a small percentage got by, but that's to be expected. No antivirus is 100% accurate.
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RESULT : Advantage VIPRE
Bit Defender also provide excellent coverage, but we give the nod to VIPRE here.
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Which is Most Effective Against Spyware?
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VIPRE
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BitDefender
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With antispyware built in to VIPRE, spyware is treated with the same caution as all viruses and malware. We think this is smart.
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Effective real-time spyware protection also is an automatic feature with BitDefender.
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Real-time scanning is integrated by default.
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Like VIPRE, BitDefender's hourly updates keep newly created spyware away from your PC.
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Independent tests show VIPRE as good at defeating spyware as it is with all viruses and malware.
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Testing showed BitDefender good at finding and preventing spyware.
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RESULT: Tie.
Both products offer hourly updates. Both companies release definition as needed.
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Which Has the Lowest Resource Usage?
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VIPRE
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BitDefender
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VIPRE antivirus does exceptionally well in this area: memory used during a manual scan was half that of BitDefender.
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BitDefender performed above when it came to resource usage, but not as well as VIPRE.
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CPU used during a scan was about one third less than BitDefender.
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Compared to VIPRE, BitDefender used:
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Overall, testing showed VIPRE to be one of the lightest antivirus software applications on the market.
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While BitDefender is still lightweight compared to most antivirus software, it's nowhere near as light as VIPRE.
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Memory used during real-time protection was about 0.5%.
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RESULT: Advantage VIPRE.
Sunbelt did a stellar job with VIPRE in this arena.
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Which Has the Best User Interface?
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VIPRE
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BitDefender
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VIPRE has a clean, simple UI.
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The UI for BitDefender antivirus is fairly easy to navigate.
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The overview screen quickly and easily shows you things like:
- active features
- last scan time
- last update time
- your current risk level
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Instead of one easy to view screen, BitDefender displays tabs for each function.
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The scan results page is also easy to read and understand.
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While still easy to use, BitDefender could take a cue from VIPRE by displaying all the major functions and alerts on one screen instead of splitting them up.
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Everything is clearly labeled and easy to navigate.
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However, BitDefender still does a good job at simplifying the screens.
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RESULT: Advantage VIPRE.
User interfaces are personal preference to some extent; we found it easier to get the information we wanted from VIPRE with less digging than in BitDefender.
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Which Has the Best Customer Support?
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VIPRE
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BitDefender
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Sunbelt, makers of VIPRE Antivirus, offers free support via phone, email, user guide, and knowledge base.
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Practically speaking BitDefender offers just knowledge base, chat, and email support.
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All support is US based and responded quickly and effectively to our inquiries.
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Phone support is also available; however, we've gotten numerous complaints about how difficult it is to find the support number.
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The user guide and knowledge base are interactive and comprehensive.
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Additionally, their online knowledge base support system requires considerably more digging to get answers.
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Support phone numbers and contact info are all easy to find and plainly labeled.
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Their "Free Customer Support" link requires 12 clicks just to get to the point where you can create an account to ask a question!
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While the FAQ, chat, and virtual technician are useful, a real person on the phone is invaluable. You can get it, but be prepared to pay for it.
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Whether you want to use the knowledge base or get email support, prepare for a lot of clicking
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Definitely too many hoops to jump through for our liking.
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RESULT: Advantage VIPRE.
Clearly, Sunbelt is proud to stand behind and support VIPRE.
BitDefender supports their products, too, but really makes you work to get in contact with someone.
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Which is Easiest to Install?
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VIPRE
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BitDefender
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The VIPRE antivirus install is fast and easy.
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BitDefender antivirus installs easily, too.
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It guides you through some easy setup steps, then that's it.
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There's a standard wizard-based install as with nearly all software that guides you through the setup.
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There's a bit of a lag-time after the install as VIPRE update your virus definitions from Sunbelt's database, which can take 10-15 min.
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Minimal PC resources are used, and definition updates are quickly installed.
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After that, all future updates are much, much faster.
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RESULT: Advantage BitDefender.
Both applications installed easily; BitDefender definitions updated more quickly.
For most users this shouldn't be significant because ongoing antivirus updates are equally fast in both.
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What's the Best Antivirus Software?
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VIPRE
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BitDefender
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Considering all the major points listed above, VIPRE comes out ahead in this comparison.
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BitDefender Antivirus may not be the "best antivirus software" reviewed for 2009, but it was our top pick last year for good reason.
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VIPRE Antivirus + Antispyware is light, easy to install, and powerful against viruses, spyware, and malware of all kind.
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Even though VIPRE beats BitDefender on speed, low system resource usage, and user interface, BitDefender is still a solid and powerful antivirus program.
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With excellent customer support, and a low sticker-price, VIPRE is hard to beat this year.
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And, aside from VIPRE, it easily out-performs most other antivirus applications on the market today.
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| We can confidently say VIPRE is the "best antivirus software" of 2009. |
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And the price is still reasonable for the overall antivirus package.
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RESULT: Winner VIPRE.
Both VIPRE and BitDefender are among the best antivirus applications for Microsoft Windows PCs. Aside from running lighter, it also comes with better support from the manufacturer.
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Which Has the Best Email Virus Protection?
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VIPRE
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BitDefender
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VIPRE's email protection is strong for an antivirus application.
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In BitDefender email scanning isn't enabled by default; you'll need to go into the Advanced View settings to activate it.
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VIPRE's email scan supports all the big names including:
- Microsoft Outlook
- Outlook Express
- Windows Mail
- Other POP3 and SMTP mail clients (Thunderbird, IncrediMail, Eudora, etc.)
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It's unclear why Bitdefender chose to disable the email protection in the default settings given the history of viruses being transmitted via email.
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Once activated, BitDefender scans incoming and outgoing email with the same speed as it scans files on the rest of your filesystem.
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RESULT: Advantage VIPRE.
While both products protect you from email-borne viruses, VIPRE does so by default.
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