Bitdefender, is there a free version for on-demand use?

[Matt_Smi]

I use NOD32 for my main AV, but I like having a few extra on-demand scanners to crosscheck with NOD and ensure my system is clean. So far I got A2, Ewido and of course Ad-aware and Spybot S&D. I would not mind adding another on-demand AV, and I think I remember reading that there is a free version of bitdefender for on-demand scans. Is there still a free version of BD available? Would it be worth adding to my setup? Thanks.

[INTOXSICKATED]

bitdefender free it's nice for on-demand. you may also want to check out avg and avast.

[squash]

Yes, there is a free version of BitDefender and yes, it would be good to include it in your setup, if you have the hard drive space and time to update another program. It is on-demand only and does not provide real-time protection.

On first update, it will take a while to download the new updates, which is a couple of megs. After that the updates will be incremental.

It's all security vs. convience. The more security the implement, the harder you will find to update every application. The more convience you want, the less security options you will have.

Link to free version: http://www.bitdefender.com/bd/site/products.php?p_id=24

I use NOD32....with Bitdefender back up
BD has been adding seems like 2-3000 definitons a day lately, and scans in
about 10 minutes less time....you may get an alarm or two from Nod when
you are scanning with BD...don't know why for sure.

[iwod]

BD Free liscense is only avalible for one year..... ( although i always doubt any body who doesn't format or recovery their computer by that time )

And the services starting ALL the time for a ON DEMAND scanner just doesn't fit my style...

[Matt_Smi]

Originally Posted by iwod

And the services starting ALL the time for a ON DEMAND scanner just doesn't fit my style...

You mean it has to run background processes/services just to run the on-demand scanner? If so I will pass, I try to keep my background processes to a minimum, currently I have 20 when you computer has no problems running. Do you know how many it needs to run? And if it will still work if you disable them? Thanks.

[no13]

Originally Posted by Matt_Smi

You mean it has to run background processes/services just to run the on-demand scanner? If so I will pass, I try to keep my background processes to a minimum, currently I have 20 when you computer has no problems running. Do you know how many it needs to run? And if it will still work if you disable them? Thanks.

I've been trying to find out the same... no luck. The upside of having all those services running I think is frequent automatic updates.

Other On Demand AV's will be...
eScan MAV toolkit
NOD32 for DOS
F-Prot for DOS
DrWeb CureIt ftp://ftp.drweb.com/pub/drweb/windows/drwebcureit.zip
And a couple more
Or you can have a free AV like Avast run On Demand only

[JerryM]

I am using eScan MWAV toolkit as a backup scanner. I use BitDefender 8.0 as my primary. The escan uses the Kaspersky engine, or at least the updates come from that site.
The older version, 4.4.7, cleans as well as scan. That is what I have. Here is a thread with the link.
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=65398

Jerry

[Matt_Smi]

I installed BD on a “test” computer and it needs to run three processes, and I didn’t even install the live update or scheduler components, it also adds four things that run at start up, defiantly not something I want on my main machine. I am running a scan in a minute to see if it finds anything after an AVG scan. So what are my other options for free on-demand only AV’s that run NO extra processes or services? The eScan MAV toolkit sounds pretty decent, maybe I will give that a try...

[Notok]

After eScan and maybe DrWeb, I would look more at trojan and other malware scanners (such as a-squared, ewido, and the spyware scanners) since those are about the only things that would be missed by the AVs.

[c0ltran3]

Originally Posted by Matt_Smi

You mean it has to run background processes/services just to run the on-demand scanner? If so I will pass, I try to keep my background processes to a minimum, currently I have 20 when you computer has no problems running. Do you know how many it needs to run? And if it will still work if you disable them? Thanks.

BD free has two services. It need about 10 MB of RAM. BitDefender dosn't work if you disable the services.

[Randy_Bell]

I don't understand the concern unless you are running an older [slower] 9X operating system. Windows XP can handle multiple processes and services just fine: assuming you have reasonable CPU speed and adequate RAM, you won't notice any difference, IMHO ..

[Mele20]

I use Bit Defender free as my only AV. I don't notice any slow down because of the 2 running processes. The two processes use a total of 25,000k on my XP Pro machine. Now NOD32 is awful on this machine. It causes a big slowdown if IMON HTTP scanner is enabled. My point is not to slam NOD32. It works great on many computers. My point is that you should not go on what others experience is with any AV. You need to try it for yourself on your machine and see how it or any AV does. Choosing an AV (even a backup one) is a very individual thing.

[bigc73542]

Mele since bitdefender free doesn't have a resident scanner, isn't that a little risky running it as your only antivirus??

[iwod]

Originally Posted by Randy_Bell

I don't understand the concern unless you are running an older [slower] 9X operating system. Windows XP can handle multiple processes and services just fine: assuming you have reasonable CPU speed and adequate RAM, you won't notice any difference, IMHO ..

Well.. it is simply the matter of memory used when not needed. I will update it when i use it on demand. And i don't have enough ram... ><

[Hyperion]

BD free has two services. It need about 10 MB of RAM. BitDefender dosn't work if you disable the services.

Yes,that's a shame.It's the reason i don't use it too.Not that i have RAM problem (i have 1 gig 333MHz CAS2 Corsair XMS dual channel),but i m a maniac on performance and keeping my pc tidy(I do registry cleaning,registry backups/restores before installing software that i know i ll uninstall soon,regular formats every 6 months max etc).So,when i have manully disabled every single windows service that i don't need,i can't stand seeing 2 processes running for a program that shouldn't be active.

[iwod]

well it would be nice if they improve this... but i suppose it is free so we can't ask for much.