BullGuard is a Scandinavian company founded in 2002. BullGuard products are known for their quality and user-friendly interface. The main criterion of the company is safety and simplicity.
The products use components from the best manufacturers in the field of computer security:
– BitDefender antivirus engine
– Outpost firewall
– behavioral module NovaShield
Products:
BullGuard Antivirus is an excellent solution for providing protection against malware and viruses for those who prefer an individual approach: a high-class addition to your computer security system.
Antivirus contains a Behavioural Detection system, which allows, based on application behavior, to further increase the virus detection rate by 65%.
BullGuard Internet Security is a comprehensive computer security solution: from online threats, credit card fraud, hackers, spam, viruses, and spyware.
It includes antivirus, antispyware, firewall, spam filter, and data backup module.
BullGuard Mobile Security – complete protection of your smartphone from viruses and spyware. If you lose it, you can track your smartphone using the program and protect your data.
Users who follow the development of antivirus programs have noticed that free antiviruses have an interface that completely copies paid analogs. In this case, many options for paid versions remain free, but are marked inactive. BullGuard Antivirus is such an antivirus.
The application includes several basic protection modules, however, the free version has only two – antivirus and spam filter. Do not worry about the lack of antispyware module, as the antivirus copes with viruses, spyware and pop-up ads.
The installation of the antivirus program is performed using the installer. The installation procedure is automatic, only at the final stage will jump up the offer to create an account. This must be done.
Antivirus interface is no different from similar developments. It has a tiled look in the style of Metro, which is already quite familiar. Also, the interface is quite simple and convenient without unnecessary elements. The main window is rather small, and the tiles do not entirely fit. To view them completely, you need to scroll the window. This may seem incomplete to many; some users consider such an approach to be a developer flaw.
The full version of the utility BullGuard Antivirus has seven main modules. They have antivirus, spam filter, firewall, integrated operating system optimizer, backup, parental controls and the OS weakness search module.
In the free version you can use only the first two modules, the rest are not available for use. They need to be considered. Scanning can be performed in three modes – fast, full and selective.
Many users may have a question about the effectiveness of this antivirus. Taking into account the testing data of antivirus laboratories, this antivirus showed not the worst results. This utility has received a VB100 certificate several times. In addition, in several tests the antivirus received an ADVANCED + mark to identify threats. Antivirus has also shown good results when testing to remove identified threats.
In testing for the protection of the laboratory AV-Test, the antivirus received the highest score, in the dynamic test it received a STANDARD. As for performance testing, the results are not so good. Lab AV-Test gave antivirus antivirus 3.5 out of 6 points. In addition, a significant reduction in speed is seen when spam filter is activated in PC Magazine testing lab. When checking the antivirus for the search for malicious links, there are also some shortcomings. In any case, the antivirus was able to stop only 30% of all threats.
Among them, 10% of the antivirus stopped malicious links at the network level. 20% of the threats were blocked during the download or moved to quarantine after the malware hit the PC. Antivirus showed slightly better results in detecting and eliminating threats. The program is able to distinguish and immediately remove about 80% of existing threats, while forcing verification it can detect another 14%. It also blocks malware when running executable files.
The remaining six percent of the malware still managed to complete the installation. This led to the fact that the antivirus instead of 9.4 points could only get 8.9. These results placed her in the middle of the table. It is worth noting that the antivirus showed excellent results when blocking phishing links. In this testing, new links were used, which are not yet available in the antivirus databases.
Quite good results are shown by the integrated spam blocking module. In this case, only 4% of messages fall into the Inbox. 1% of all private messages are blocked and transferred to the Spam directory erroneously.
However, while providing such reliable protection, the anti-spam module is rather slow. During testing, 5,000 messages were checked, which took about 4 hours for the program.
In general, it can be noted that this antivirus program is quite simple and easy to use with reliable protection against spam. The antivirus module also showed good results in testing independent laboratories, but it cannot be called effective, because the program missed about 70% of malicious links that were missed or processed very late.
To use this antivirus or not, everyone should decide for himself, however, judging by the tests, it can be concluded that this is not the most potent defender, besides, he does not have many of the features that free analogs have.
BullGuard Online Backup is a remote backup system.
Support
In my view, the help and service available from Bullguard Are where this product excels.
Throughout the program, you have the ability to email service With your non-urgent questions and, even once you do, you could probably expect an answer in as little as 20 minutes if your expertise will be the same as mine.
If you have an issue that requires a quicker response, then You can begin a live chat with a Bullguard representative. With live chat like the shortage of phone support is entirely forgivable.
Pricing
You can protect your computer with Bullguard Antivirus for The next costs —
1 year defense: $24.95
2 year defense: $39.95
3 year security: $59.5
BullGuard Mobile Security 10 Review: Solid Mobile Antivirus with Parental Control
BullGuard offers a free anti-virus and protection application for Android, Symbian, Windows Mobile and BlackBerry devices called BullGuard Mobile Security. For $ 29.95 a year, he protects you and your mobile device from viruses, spyware, identity theft, and online fraud. The application also offers antispam, parental controls and data backup — all of which can be obtained via the BullGuard web control panel (which calls Mobile Security Manager).
For this review, I installed BullGuard Mobile Security 10 on an Android smartphone. Setting up the application is simple: enter your license key, email address and create a password to use on the BullGuard online control panel. After you install the app, it will automatically begin to update its virus definitions and bring you to the main screen.
The main screen of the application is straightforward and straightforward. Here you can view the main three components of the app (Anti-Virus, Parental Control, and Basic Backup), and clicking on one of these components will give you access to their functions and settings. The main screen, of course, is quite simple, but it would be nice if you could use your checkboxes (at least for Anti-Virus and Basic Backup) to enable or disable features quickly.
On the Anti-Virus screen, you can start scanning your device, as well as manually update the virus definitions of the application to the latest version. When scanning viruses, you can choose whether to scan the entire phone or individual folders and files. You can also view the scan log and the list of detected threats.
When I did a full device scan, it took a lot of time compared to most other mobile anti-virus applications that I scanned, but BullGuard scans all files, not just installed apps, like other anti-virus applications. It took about 25 minutes to scan 3,813 records and 58 applications, which amounted to about 2 GB of data. After you begin studying, you can still use your phone and view the status of the scan through the Android notification menu.
On the Parental Control screen, you can view the current parental control in place, but if you want to make any changes to it, you will need to do this through the web control panel. There you can turn on SMS, MMS and voice monitoring so that you can view and view the history of SMS and MMS messages (including actual text or images) and the log of incoming and outgoing voice calls. You can enable image monitoring to capture and register any photos taken by the camera and any images downloaded from the Internet. You can even turn on the GPS update so you can track and see your phone’s location on the map. If you are using the web control panel, you can also view a list of installed applications and remotely remove the ones you want to remove.
One of the most useful features of Parental Control is the ability to alert you if certain words or phrases are used in text messages or letters. Using the online control panel, you can specify which words or phrases you want to track, and the service will notify you by email if your selected words or phrases are detected. Ideally, so that your children (or employees) do not say what they do not need.
I have not encountered any serious problems when testing parental controls, but I would like to have a way to view a separate log of email messages as you can, using SMS and MMS messages.
On the Basic Backup screen, you can enable or disable the backup of your contacts and calendars. You can manually create backups in the app or via the web control panel, but there is no automatic backup feature. The application does not have a recovery option, but you can also initiate restorations through the web control panel. When I completed the backup of my contacts and calendar, it took about 12 seconds — rather quickly.
BullGuard fog can only be activated from the online control panel. You can find your device on the map via GPS, remotely lock it so that others cannot use it or change its settings, and make it scream so you can find it when you are in the general area. You will also find settings that allow you to automatically block and erase your device if someone changes your SIM card.
When testing the remote anti-truck functions, I did not find any serious problems. The map could not get my exact location, but it was only a small amount. The remote lock worked as advertised, and the scream function worked even when the phone was silent.
Overall, BullGuard Mobile Security 10 and the web interface were easy to use. Although annual subscriptions are required, it includes some neat features for free, and even other paid apps usually do not include: for example, remote monitoring, parental control, and support for a wide variety of mobile platforms, if you or your family are not all on android. However, I think the application lacks some key features, such as the ability to initiate and schedule backups in the app — this would help people sell the hefty BullGuard price tag.
BullGuard Premium Protection full review
BullGuard Premium Protection is designed to enhance home network security. Heuristic detection of unknown malware, active identity protection, and a home network scanner, the coverage looks good, but there are flaws and some notable omissions.
How much does BullGuard Premium Protection cost?
BullGuard Premium Protection 2019 usually costs £ 69.95 / $ 99.95 per year for a whopping ten devices, which should be enough even for the largest family. But at the time of this writing, the discount is 60%, which leads to a reduction in price to £ 27.98 / $ 39.95.
The next level is BullGuard Internet Security for 49.95 pounds / 59.95 dollars (3 devices). This excludes the modules of the home network scanner and the protection of personal data but provides everything else. At the bottom of the heap is also BullGuard Antivirus for £ 24.95 / $ 23.96 (1 device), which additionally lacks PC settings and backup modules.
The premium version is well combined with other AV-solutions for the price and functions provided. The closest competitor is probably AVG Ultimate, which also contains a trial version of VPN and comes with an unlimited number of installations.
For advice on purchasing antivirus, visit our list of top antiviruses.
Features and interface
Like last year’s offer, the BullGuard Premium Protection user interface has a slightly industrial feel. In the drop-down lists for each category, select the required functions. For example, in the Anti-Virus section, you can choose three types of checks, check what is in quarantine, and access the settings.
Along with an antivirus module that provides advanced heuristic detection of unknown malware (including ransomware), there is a useful vulnerability scanner. This warns you about missing security updates, unsafe connections, and incorrect digital signatures contained in downloaded packages. The names prove that a piece of software is what it says, so checking them is vital.
Its distinct disadvantage is the absence of a specific module for protection against extortionists. As mentioned above, such protection is built into the antivirus module, but it would be useful to see the ability to assign folders that should be explicitly protected from changes.
Clicking on the protection of the individual, you will be taken to your BullGuard account. Here you can enter data such as your name, email address, bank details, and credit card details, etc. Then BullGuard will search these details on the Internet so that you know if your data has been leaked. You will receive advice on what to do next if there is a problem, which is a handy feature.
The Parental Control module allows you to monitor the use of mobile devices with your children. You can view all phone calls, messages and images sent and received on a secure method, as well as track its location. At a time when children have more digital freedom than ever, this should calm their parental mind.
For gamers, there is nothing worse than pop-ups at a critical moment. Game Booster blocks them and optimizes processor performance. While working on a new gaming laptop, you may not notice any difference while playing demanding games on a PC equipped with a powerful graphics processor, but older machines can get a noticeable increase in performance.
There is also a beneficial PC setup program that defragments your registry, cleans the browser’s cache, cleans up temporary files and allows your computer to start and run as quickly as possible. Unlike some other products, it also does not delete your browser’s cookies and leaves all your accounts.
From the end user’s point of view, the real star of the show is the home network scanner. At the same time, connected devices (including connected thermostats, baby monitors and other IoT devices) are checked for vulnerabilities.
The last time we checked BullGuard, we reported that the BullGuard firewall received an alarming pop-up window about an intrusion attempt from a local IP address. The intruder’s IP address was the computer where we installed BullGuard. We found that we can, at our discretion, trigger an intrusion alert by merely performing a full network scan. We are pleased to announce that this issue seems to be fixed.
The secure links in the search results are indicated by a green tick logo next to them. Here, like last time, there is a nuance: if the mouse pointer cleans the logo, when you try to click on the result, a BullGuard pop-up window appears that hides the search result just like you try to click on it, so you actually click the BullGuard pop-up window that posts you to the BullGuard website. Maybe it’s just us, but we continued to do it.
The BullGuard website says that the product received a 100% useful rating from AV-Comparatives and AV-Test, but says nothing about another major testing body AV, SE Labs. BullGuard is not featured in the latest report from SE Labs.
In general, compared with contemporaries, the BullGuard Premium Protection 2019 looks a bit scarce in its capabilities. A heuristic scanner may cover ransomware detection, but something obvious, for example, Kaspersky Total Security’s data storage or Folder Shield from Trend Micro, will give it a particular advantage, given a large number of allowed settings.
A VPN with a little daily data transfer permission will also be a beautiful addition.
Mobile application BullGuard
The BullGuard app runs on Android and iOS. The Android version is not a meaningless offer, and it is as easy to set up as installing it and signing in to your account. It has all the usual tools: antivirus, parental control, protection against theft and cloud backup.
The anti-theft module allows you to find the device, perform a remote backup of all data, erase it and even make it “shout” that it is stolen. The call manager is still enabled, but when you click it, a message appears indicating that Android has changed, meaning that non-system applications cannot control the call features
Conclusion
On the whole, I liked BullGuard Antivirus but was not Blown away by it. However, where this antivirus program comes to an end, is when it comes to the service that Bullguard provide.
With the above in mind I probably would not recommend this. For experienced computer users who feel comfortable installing and using a fresh Antivirus program but, for people that are new to computer protection software, Or who are a little nervous about configuring such a program, BullGuard Antivirus is your best alternative I’ve seen so far this season, and I can not recommend it highly enough.
