BitDefender Antivirus has been popular since it’s release on the Windows platform. It’s now available for Mac OS X too. Like most other third party security programs for Windows, BitDefender is definitely not the best. At least not all the time. You need to know that the efficacy of antivirus programs differ from time to time and with version to version. So is the OS X version of BitDefender good? Let’s take a look.

How good is BitDefender Antivirus for Mac?

Firstly, I’m no expert in software security. But, I do have a decent skill that helps me differentiate between a good and a bad software. This article is to share my experiences with an antivirus program, on a system that is seemingly strong enough to be on it’s own – Mac OS X. And take a note of Av-Comparatives.ORG. It is a great place to get in-depth and professional analysis on the popular anti-viruses in the market.

Here’s a PSA about any security program in general – keep away from security programs that claim 100% protection. No security program has ever existed to protect against all possible threats. 

The test drive

Considering the non-existence of any add-on security mechanism on my computer, I was curious and hoping there could be at least 1 infection. But seemingly, there wasn’t any! This could be due the goodness of OS X’s built in security, or it could be the poor detection technique of BitDefender. It’s hard to decide with no up-to-date benchmark reports available for the current version of BitDefender Mac (v 2.30.5095). And my experience isn’t enough to prove a software’s performance. But, Thomas at TheSafeMac.COM did run a test for a number of antivirus programs available for Mac. He did mention about the tests being non-comprehensive, but that doesn’t necessarily invalidate the results. His article points to poor detection rates by BitDefender for OS X (v 2.1).

Real-time protection – not so much

BitDefender for Mac has real time protection working only if the program’s running in the ‘foreground’. What this means is, if you like to normally close apps after using them, BitDefender will completely quit and you will have no real-time protection in action, which is quite strange.

Bottom line

We often hear about Mac OS X and Linux derivates being better than Windows with respect to security. Well, that’s a true fact. Mac OS X already does a very good job at keeping away infections and attacks without any need of a third party security mechanism. But, you must understand that a good job doesn’t imply a full-proof state of protection. And that’s where anti-viruses are still needed in the Macintosh world too. The answer to how good BitDefender is for Mac, lies in ambiguity for now. We need more data on tests and evaluations from authoritative websites for security programs on Mac OS X.

As an end user, do not fall for recommendations from advertisements or peers blindly. When you chose your security program, it’s wiser to educate yourself with the concept of detection rates, real-time protection and memory footprints. And concepts are simply understood if you can relate them to real life situations. For instance, detection rates could be explained as the ability of the special security forces (antivirus) to hunt down the bad guys. Good day.

Signatures are the most common form of authentication and verification. While most people are used to and comfortable with pen-and-paper signatures, electronic signatures are now becoming the norm for many business transactions.

So what exactly is an e-signature?

It’s a signature made up of an electronic symbol, sound, or code attached to a document or contract to verify that a specific party has signed the document. E-signatures are legally binding across the globe.

In 1999, The European Union Directive for Electronic Signatures was passed, and the United States followed suit and passed the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (ESIGN) in 2000. These acts ensure that a contract signed electronically has the same legal strength as a traditional paper contract.

There are numerous advantages of using e-signatures, leading to their increased popularity. In fact, many believe that this is going to become the standard way of executing business contracts in the near future.

A Greener Environment

With the use of traditional paper and ink documents, a lot of paper is used for contracts and other records. Using e-signature software makes paper unnecessary. Reduced usage helps to conserve trees and keeps the environment cleaner.

Decreased Costs

A very clear advantage of using electronic signature software is the ability to reduce the cost required for paper, printing ink, and all costs involved with the delivery of the documents to all parties. In corporations, the average authorized employee signs dozens of documents each year. Therefore, using e-signature software, a substantial amount of paper, printing, and faxing products can be eliminated from the budget, saving a considerable amount of money.

Increased Profits

With e-signatures, there’s no need to spend time printing, handling, and delivering paper contracts. This increases productivity, allowing for more time spent focusing on other deals and boosting sales productivity significantly.

Integrity Of Contracts

Every step of the signing of a document with e-signature software is verified, tracked, and recorded. There is no way to manipulate or counterfeit a signature, as many security protocols ensure authenticity, more so even than with a traditional paper document. An audit trail is produced for each signature that can be readily checked if there ever is a need, and any discrepancy can be pinpointed.

Better Customer Experience

Many customers get frustrated by the amount of time it takes to get through signing and finalizing contracts, and the gap of time between when the contract is signed and when the wheels are set into motion. With electronic signature, the contract signing process can be accelerated, thus saving the customers’ time and increasing their satisfaction. The gap time can also be completely eliminated, allowing for a smooth transition between agreement and execution of a contract.

Electronic signatures have very significant advantages over traditional paper contracts, leading to an ever increasing number of businesses adopting this technology. There’s no reason not to follow suit, as it is the standard of the future.

Get ahead of your competition, and start to increase productivity and company revenue today with electronic signature technology!

This article covers on How To Stay Completely Safe from Malware Infections when Offline.

Previously, I had written and shared a tutorial for you on how to use the Sandboxing technique to easily and safely avoid being infected on the internet. I had revised the tutorials several times to make them clear, precise and simple enough to allow each and every reader grasp the concept and it’s implementation process. This being the second part of the “main idea”, take your time to read this article on how you can avoid and even ‘safely’ play around/ test malware infected programs. Malware includes computer viruses, worms, trojan horses, spyware, dishonest adware, crimeware, most rootkits, and other malicious and unwanted software.|Wiki|

We all know that malware can intrude our computer from USB drives and disks. You insert your colleague’s pen drive not knowing that it’s infected and you soon realize that your computer is no longer working as it should. Or you want to try out a software/ game that you aren’t sure if it is infected or not. These two scenarios is usually encountered by almost every Windows user.

Downland and install these freeware tools in order to make the entire concept work:

• Sandboxie
• Malwarebytes (this anti-malware program does not run as a background process and is very useful to check and confirm the safety of your computer after you have done using the infected program in the sandbox)

Points to Remember before we start:

• Use this method for experimental purpose. If you are not comfortable implementing it then stop using this method right away and use an anti-virus program to stay safe.
• Take responsibility for websites you visit, links you click on and things you download, if you wish to stay safe.
• No virus can harm your system unless it is executed and running.
• This article has nothing to do with using a firewall. If your computer is connected to any network like the internet itself, then it is 100% important to use a firewall.
• Smarter techniques always require some effort for implementation.
• Use Malwarebytes freeware as it does not run in the background thus saving your resources and use it to scan new media like USB drives, CDs, DVDs, e.t.c
• Skills required to understand and implement this guide: Intermediate to Experienced user.
• This tutorial is suitable only for Windows Operating Systems: Windows XP and later.
• This tutorial will teach you to set up your computer to “not use anti-virus protection is background” and in such a way that you run applications, whether infected or not, in a safe and fake environment and whenever your end up executing a infected program, you can easily stop and reverse the actions of the program with just closing it.

Benefits of implementing this method:

• You won’t have to buy anti-virus, anti-malware programs.
• Your computer would be much safer than what you would get with the anti-malware programs.
• Your computer will run faster as more RAM will be available without the anti-virus running in the background.

The Tutorial:

• Select and run any suspicious file/ program by using the right click option as shown in the illustration,

• Sandboxie will run the selected program in a safe and “isolated” environment,
• When you are done using the concerned program, right click on the program name in the Sandboxed list and click ‘terminate’,

• This will terminate the program and remove all the files and infections (if any) that the program had created from the ‘isolated’ environment.
• Using program like paint/ photoshop requires project files to be saved after the work is done. Using these programs sandboxed will give you a message asking to ‘recover’ the saved file from the sandbox or to ‘keep’ them inside the sandbox. Recovering will get your project work safely out of the sandbox and thus avoid getting deleted. Keeping it inside will of course, get deleted once the program is terminated.

• If you want to make sure if your computer is really safe after all this, you should scan your computer with Malwatebytes program or any anti-virus program you prefer. I suggest you to use Malwarebytes since as said before, does not run as a background process thus reducing the possibility of your computer getting slowed down.

This technique will require patience and practice initially. But, it is a nice experiment to try out. 😀

So, what are your thoughts on this?