"BitDefender shut down outgoing large emails on 2 systems. They said it was not their issue. I spent a total of 8 whole days of business time trying to define what happened. Time Warner Cable spent 8 hours with me. I kept getting bounces and statements that my mail box was 70% full. I finally reached of someone (support in Romania) who said it was a known issue. They sent tools for me to run and email results. I never heard back in the hour they promised. Next person I was able to reach said I didn't run the tar files. Sent me a new tool. Again, never heard back. Next day someone said they had corrected the issue on a down load. I uninstalled BD (emails then worked) and did download. Problem reappeared. I spent 4 hours trying to get through again, and finally gave up and got McAfee. They do not answer the phone. They answer and disconnect. They do not respond to emails. They disconnect from chats. There is no REAL tech support. The program has a design flaw. They refuse to refund any money. IF you would like days of frustration, get Bitdefender Total Security 2009. "

    "I previously had Webroot. When the subscription was up, I decided not to renew it. What a mistake! The reason I didn't is because Webroot was a little slow when loading to the desktop. I just didn't like to wait the two minutes. I did research and found Bitdefender Total Security 2009. It seemed to have good reviews. I have a brand new Dell...only months old. It is a very capable machine. I uninstalled Webroot. Then I installed Bitdefender. The installation seemed to go fine. I decided right away to do a virus scan. It moved at a crawls rate...one file per second. I figured I had some kind of conflict with another program. I called tech support. Geez!! I was on the line for hours. After a long wait I would be disconnected. This happened several times! Somehow, after a very long wait, I did get through. The person was okay, but not that courteous. He didn't even want to walk through things with me. He said just to do a few things and respond to an email. I have done those things, but the computer still crawls and no reply from tech support. I have called all hours of the day, and it is not just during peak times. This morning (6:00 am) and this afternoon (4:00 pm) I waited on the phone for hours again. I would be on hold and then the phone would ring. After ringing, it would just hang up. I would call the number again and go through the whole process over and over again. I gave up. Because I ordered this on January 3rd, I am requesting a full refund. Amazon has provided a mailing label, so it won't cost to ship it back. I really appreciated Amazon for that and will continue to do business with them. I won't do business with Bitdefender Total Security 2009 again, however. They have the worst tech support and customer service I have ever seen. Don't take a chance like I did. Choose another product like Webroot. I never had a conflict with any of the software on my Dell. Good luck to you! Mark Wilson "

    "Before I throw in how this software ran, I should put up a little about the machine I ran it on.
Windows Vista Ultimate 64-Bit, 3.0 GHz Core 2 Duo, 4 GB RAM, with all the bells and whistles turned off. In simple terms, my machine has plenty of power to spare. However, slower machines should not see too big of a performance hit, because of the way BitDefender works. Let me get into the things I like first.

When scanning viruses, and doing other tasks, BitDefender was really awesome about NOT slowing my computer down! I found this to be VERY awesome when scanning the entire machine for viruses! Definately a HUGE benefit! The whole software package runs nice and speedy, and doesn't cause slowness, or make you want to leave and come back when it is done.

I purposely found a few viruses and made sure it found them and such. Nothing too horrible, just some easy to find ones. It found them, and automatically blocked their use. Seems to be a very thorough program.

Cornucopia of features! AntiVirus, AntiSpam, Firewall, Parental controls (which lets you limit the time users on your machine can access the web, block programs, websites and more) and automatic updates/scanning! I have mine set to scan every night, and leave my computer running 24/7. I get greeted with a nice report of the results in the morning. I also really like the firewall features!

The firewall tends to recognize a program trying to access the internet, and automatically adds a rule to allow access to it if in a list of safe programs. Otherwise, it asks you if you would like to allow or bock the program's access. I would kind of like it to ask for every program, or give an option on the popup letting me know it is allowing that program, instead of having to manually go block the program later if wanted. However, I have not come across a situation where it allowed access when I would not want it to.

Speaking of firewalls, I installed it after having installed Apache web server and MySQL on my machine. I had no issues whatsoever with accessing the web pages, MySQL database, or sharing files with other computers on the network after installing BitDefender Total Security! That was surprising! It even let me connect with VNC from work, without causing issues. That was a relief! However, it also blocked other connections, and pings too! That is how I wanted it in the first place!

I did have a bit of trouble figuring out how to get it working with VMWare. I had to set the "stealth" setting to "off" for my network adapter (the "Local Area Connection" - not the ones created by VMWare) before my VMWare could access the internet at all. That was a little hard to figure out, but was a simple fix, except it does not block pings and such with stealth turned off.

I play a game called Warhammer Online. It is a full screen MMO game. The firewall caused no issues with that either, which was amazing! Didn't even bother me with whether I wanted to allow access. This program seems to be programmed with my kind of thinking in mind, and it really plays friendly with my whole system!

Now for the troubles I experienced ... which was not too horrible, however sometimes annoying. When BitDefender performs updates in the background, it will steal focus from whatever program I am using. In browsers, or other windows, the window just becomes inactive. When in a game, it gets really annoying when you no longer have control. I caught BitDefender in my alt+tab list, so I knew it was to blame, being the only other thing running. I could not find any resolution for this online, but it is not a constant ongoing issue, so it is just an occasional nuisance.

The other thing I found a little lacking was a more detailed firewall system. I was hoping for a little more editing and options. It automatically detects your network adapter IP's, but does not let you add others manually. That would have been a more optimal resolution for the VMWare (add it's IP too). I do not see any specific port blocking, it all seems to be program based. I would have liked to see a section for auto allowing/blocking all communications on specific ports. Not too much of a deal, but I just would feel in better control with it.

The CD comes with a RootKit removal tool, however, it only works on 32-bit machines apparently. I tried to run it on my 64-bit system, and it told me it was not compatible, and was a 32-bit only program. Oh well. I would like to see a RootKit removal tool for 64-bit systems, as 64-bit is what everyone is moving to.

Otherwise, with the online backup (which is a little small for trying to backup your whole PC, but great for backing up your important documents and pictures) and the local backup, defragmenting, registry cleaner, duplicate file finder, and the option for linking multiple computers on a network for managing the whole thing from one interface, this is really an awesome suite! And for the price, Bitdefender Total Security 2009 is really great! "

    "I had BitDefender AV 10 for a couple of years and ran it with Spyware Doctor and Zone Alarm free firewall. This combination worked well for me. I started having problems with the spyware doctor new versions. Found it ran heavy on my system.
I decided to go with a suite to avoid compatibility issues. I tried BitDefender Internet Security 2008 for awhile but I had a hard time configuring the firewall. My ISP uses a denial of service modem and the IP address changes each time I sign on. The permissions in the BD firewall would not stay. Must say the tech support was excellent. They were relentless in trying to find a solution to my problem. In the meantime the BitDefender Total Security 2009 came out of beta and I gave it a shot. The techs at BD thought the changes made to the firewall would correct my problems which it did. They gave me a deal to allow me to upgrade from BDIS 2008 to BDTS 2009 and I could not be happier. Making sure I had no trace of other security apps on my PC I downloaded and installed without a hitch.
Bitdefender Total Security 2009 I like about BD is they have a pretty basic display for people who want to go with the defaults, set it up and forget it. Then they have an advanced view that allows you to tinker a bit which I like. This company is known for good heuristics and real time protection. Their ratings have always been high and you cannot beat the price.
I like the Tune Up features also. I run the registry cleaner a couple of times using ERUNDT application which is a great freebie that backs up your registry every time you boot up. Just as a side note I would not run without ERUNDT. I used to use a separate utility to monitor my registry for changes but I can now opt to have BD do this. I am particularly bad at backing up my documents so wanted the total security just to make it easier so I would be more apt to do it.
I highly recommend BitDefender products.
Use the 30 day trial first to make sure it does not conflict with your PC configutation and setup. What works well on one PC does not always work well on another. There are still a couple of bugs because BDTS 2009 is relatively new but to me they are minor and I have full confidence that this company will fix bugs and stand behind their product. I ended up with a 1 PC 3 year license. "

    "I do love BitDefender; the malware detection engine is top notch, and 2009 comes with a few useful new features in addition to the ones I liked in the 2008 version. The user interface has again been revamped, and can be alternated between advanced mode, which gives the user full access to all settings, and a more basic view that provides the layman with just the essentials.

Indeed, BitDefender 2009 is easily a four star piece of software, and maybe even a five ...when it works. Herein lies the problem. BitDefender has earned a reputation for releasing its new software versions when they ought to be, by most standards, still in beta. I had some issues with 2008 early on, and the company never quite worked out all the kinks. 2009 has taken these problems to a new level. Current bugs include certain settings reverting to defaults after every update, failed updates, interface display problems, and, perhaps most annoyingly, a tendency to deselect the window in which one is working, periodically causing the cursor to disappear from the text field when one is typing.

These problems may be more or less severe depending on the specific type and configuration of your computer, but the general fact is that though the underlying defense capabilities of BitDefender 2009 are excellent, the program itself is littered with bugs and can even become unstable. For advanced users it's a nuisance. For beginners it can be practically unmanagable. I have no doubt that matters will improve in the future, but at the time I write this review I cannot recommend BitDefender 2009.

If you want to take advantage of most of BitDefender 2009's capabilities and have a much more functional product, I suggest BitDefender 2008. Unfortunately, my trial period has expired, so I will not be able to update my review in the future to report on which problems are fixed and which persist, but if you'd like to see for yourself whether Bitdefender Total Security 2009 is right for you, I encourage you to download the 30 day trial for free on the company's website before making a purchase. "