2 new posts on Technically Easy

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Bitdefender Total Security 2013 Review Posted: 06 Aug 2012 10:00 AM PDT I enjoyed using and reviewing Bitdefender Internet Security 2012 earlier this year, and a few months later I had the same opportunity at reviewing Bitdefender Total Security 2013. I was excited to be given the chance at looking at the newest version since I enjoyed using the previous one, and haven’t had any issues with it running on my computer. After about a month of using the software I did notice that it was still a great security suite for a computer, and not just for desktops, but for notebooks and laptops as well. For those that are interesting in installing Bitdefender Total Security 2013 on a laptop, there is a nice new feature you may be interested in. Features of Bitdefender Total Security 2013 Bitdefender Total Security 2013 is a suite of security applications that can help keep you and your computer safe from malware. As it was with the 2012 version of Bitdefender, the latest version includes many familiar applications, as well as new added features. While the amount of options and applications included with Bitdefender Total Security 2013 is long and beyond what I could write in this post, Total Security 2013 does include the following applications: AutoPilot This feature makes it very easy to protect your computer without having to go through the task of specifying all the settings. Bitdefender will automatically make all the security decisions to keep your computer protected. For those that like to make the decisions, this option can be turned off. Anti-virus The standard anti-virus that is found in many security suites. This anti-virus is usually rated as one of the best anti-viruses on many occasions, so it is a well tested and proven application. Firewall This firewall automatically replaces the built-in Windows firewall to stop people from accessing your computer from the Internet. It allows you control which applications are allowed to connect to the Internet, as well as keeps a log of the Internet traffic to and from your computer. Safepay – NEW This feature will open a new, secure browser window for online banking and online shopping websites. This will help protect your personal information from hackers. Anti-Theft – NEW For those with netbooks or laptops, this feature will be of interest to you. This application can help you by locating, locking, and wiping your netbook or laptop if it becomes stolen. USB Immunizer – NEW A lot of malware can be installed on your computer by a simple USB flash drive that was plugged into your computer. This application will immunize a USB flash drive from viruses when it is connected to your computer. Parental Control For those with children, protecting your kids while they are online is very important. Total Security includes parental controls that block your children from inappropriate content, restricts Web access, and allows you to monitor their online activity – even on Facebook. Antivirus Performance In terms of performance, I usually like my anti-virus to use as little CPU and memory as possible – as I’m sure most people would like as well. I was impressed with the performance of Bitdefender Internet Security 2012, so I had high hopes for this version. I ran the anti-virus on my 2.5 year old desktop, which has the following specs: Intel i7 Core 920 2.66 GHz @ 3.66 GHz. 12 GB DDR3 RAMM 2×500 GB Western Digital 7200 RPM Hard Drives in RAID 0. When running a full system scan, the CPU usage never went over 20%, in fact the highest it went was about 16%, as you can see in the following image. Overall, it averaged about 13% throughout the entire scan, which is reasonable, and allowed me to work on other applications. As for the memory usage, I am once again surprised with how little memory was consumed during the scan. The anti-virus scanner is a separate process that didn’t use more than 100 MB of total RAM. With 12 GB in my system, the 100 MB is nothing and most computers sold in the past 5-10 years won’t have any memory issues. Once the scan is complete, the scanner process is removed and the memory is reclaimed by the system. The one thing I did notice, however, was that the USB flash drive anti-virus scan did take some time to complete, especially for drives with a lot of files. There were times when I connected a drive but Windows had trouble reading the drive until the scan was complete. An icon appears in the system tray when a USB device is being scanned, so you are notified what is happening. Just keep this in mind when using Bitdefender Total Security and connecting a USB drive. A Few Issues While trying out Bitdefender Total Security 2013 for several weeks, as I try to do with all the software I review, I did have a few issues that I would like to mention. The issues, however, really didn’t have an impact on using my computer, but it did take some knowledge to solve the issue. The first issue was related to FTP. When I attempted to connect to my blog via FTP from my desktop, the FTP software (Filezilla) had trouble finding my host. I didn’t have this issue with Bitdefender Internet Security 2012, so I found it odd that I did with the newer version. I checked the firewall and it indicated that Filezilla had access to both send and receive data from the Internet. Confused, I logged in as an administrator (I always used a standard user account on Windows 7), and then removed the Filezilla application from the firewall rules. When I relogged in as the standard user, I opened Filezilla and was able to reconnect to my blog. I’m not sure what happened, but once a new rule for Filezilla was added back into the firewall, Filezilla continued to work properly. A second issue appeared when using Firefix version 14. Whenever I connected to Google, or Gmail, I Firefox displayed a missing certificate error message. Other Web browsers didn’t have any certificate issue, so I figured the issue was related to Firefox. Upon closer inspection of the certificate that was missing, Bitdefender came up in the details. After examining the Bitdender Total Security 2013 privacy options I disabled the “Scan SSL” setting and Firefox stoppped showing the certificate message. I’ll write a follow-up post on the steps I took to solve the Firefox issue. Another Great Security Suite With the above issues aside, I found that the Bitdefender Total Security 2013 suite of applications to be a great set of tools that can definitely help keep you and your computer safe. I am currently using this software as the main security software on my desktop. While there were a few issues, they still don’t take away from the powerful features included with the suite of tools, and the additional Safepay and Anti-theft features just add to the great selection. About Paul Salmon Paul Salmon is the founder of Technically Easy. He is a an experienced PC user, and enjoys solving computer-related problems that he encounters on a regular basis. Facebook | Twitter | Google+ Related Posts Bitdefender Internet Security 2012 License Giveaway Bitdefender Internet Security 2012 Review Review: The Path To Total Financial Freedom W3 Total Cache Prevented FeedBurner Feed from Updating Protect your data with secure and unlimited back from Backblaze. 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Planet of the Apps [Infographic] Posted: 06 Aug 2012 05:00 AM PDT These days people like to have access to a whole world of information at the push of a button. Many of us would feel lost without the comfort of knowing they can turn on their phone or tablet and find somewhere on a map, go shopping, or browse through an online encyclopaedia. The mobile app has experienced an explosion of popularity over the last 4 years and all the signs suggest that their popularity will continue to grow. At first it was Apple who led the way in the design and innovation but recently Android have really prioritized the development of apps and now looking to be closing the gap. The apps that seem to get the most downloads are the ones which will occupy us and keep us entertained. Angry Birds has now been downloaded over a billion times and the users of Draw Something will create 1 billion drawings per week. Moneysupermarket.com have researched this subject and stepped into the Planet of the Apps… About Paul Salmon Paul Salmon is the founder of Technically Easy. He is a an experienced PC user, and enjoys solving computer-related problems that he encounters on a regular basis. Facebook | Twitter | Google+ Related Posts Print On The Go – Five Awesome Printing Apps How Social Networking Becomes Easier with iPhone Apps Mobile Weight Loss Technology – Latest Fitness Apps Best Mobile Apps for Truck Drivers Protect your data with secure and unlimited back from Backblaze. Follow Technically Easy on Twitter | Technically Easy on Facebook | Follow Technically Easy on Google+ | Join Paul Salmon on Facebook Planet of the Apps [Infographic] is a post from: Technically Easy This feed is for personal, non-commercial use only. (Digital Fingerprint: 1a03dc4332cf9dca0bc3737c1cc3095c)

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