Guide to Online Antivirus Solutions Part 5: BitDefender Online Scanner

Internet connections are getting faster every day, so online antivirus solutions transformed from proof of concepts into actual quality security services. Lately I have been playing with some leading online antivirus products and here are my thoughts.

After Panda Security NanoScan and TotalScan, Trend Micro’s HouseCall,   Kaspersky Online Scanner and Norman SandBox Malware Analyzer  this week we are taking a look at Bitdefender’s online AV solution.

BitDefender Online Scanner (www.bitdefender.com/scan8) is a fully functional antivirus product. It features all required elements for thorough antivirus scanning and effective cleaning: it scans your system’s memory, all files, folders and drives’ boot sectors, providing you with the option to automatically clean the infected files. That’s it – you read it right, finally an online solution that can actually clean the malware from your computer without you paying for the service.

This Internet Explorer only antivirus scanner, installs via a typical ActiveX control and I must say that I really liked the user interface. As you can see from the screenshots, the application doesn’t run from a typical web browser window – it sports a native Windows application GUI.

By default, your entire computer will be checked for viruses and other threats. To scan specific folders, just enter the settings menu and chose them.

I mentioned earlier that by default, BitDefender will try to clean the infected files it finds. If in any case the disinfection fails, the infected files will be deleted without prompt. Good thing is that you can change this behaviour via the settings menu.