Bullguard Internet Security Suite

[MidnightCowboy]

An article will be appearing here shortly

[MidnightCowboy]

This week Gizmo's latest 'Greatest Giveaway' will be a free one year license for the excellent Bullguard Internet Security Suite. This program will suit a lot of people, especially those with doubts about managing and coping with this type of software.

http://www.techsupportalert.com/view/hot

Please note that if you attempt to follow the link from the Hot Finds page before the start date and outside of the times listed you will only end up with a trial copy and not a free one year license


Readers of my previous rantings will already know that I'm not a great fan of security suites. Why?, well until Comodo got their act together there was nothing outstanding available for free and many of the commercial alternatives gave users more problems than they solved (a lot still do). This is not altogether the fault of the vendors as compressing different technologies into a single package is always a challenge and the resulting issues not just confined to security software. Over the last few months though vendors like Kaspersky and Norton have made a lot of changes to produce a more usable product although many people still have considerable problems getting to grips with the things this software “finds” on their systems. This fact has not been lost on Bullguard who make support a top priority. You can access their support team directly from the program's GUI and response times are very fast, usually within an hour for emails. There's also live chat and I've used this service myself so I can vouch for the content. Email and chat content is saved in folders within your GUI making issues easy to track and refer back to if necessary.

The previous version of Bullguard although competent enough had a real weakness with the firewall but this was addressed with the introduction of new code from Agnitum into V8.5. The new firewall component also offers easy or advanced settings plus the ability to customize rules depending on your needs and level of ability.

Bullguard also scores well for me because unlike some of the other suites it falls into my “do no harm” category. During my trials it caused no system errors, handled my peculiar Internet connection with ease and uninstalled without taking my drivers, photos and the dog's dinner with it! The GUI is well laid out, easy to navigate, and doesn't get too involved unless you venture into the advanced settings.

I still maintain that there is no need to pay for PC security as there are ample software combinations available which will do the job equal to or better than most commercial alternatives. That said I appreciate that many users prefer to have their solutions lumped into one package and/or hold the belief that unless you pay for something it can't be any good. If you fall into one of these categories then getting something of Bullguard's quality for free is an early Christmas bonus!

For those who like to read reviews, here's your homework for the next hour or so. As ever, please appreciate that these are only opinions, just like my own. Because something is published in a recognized media doesn't necessarily make the content either reliable or impartial.

http://www.computeractive.co.uk/comp...urity-software
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/softw...t-security-8-5
http://internet-security-suite-revie...rd-review.html
http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-...-485315/review
http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/reviews/i...eviewid=107887

Bullguard Internet Security also received a “Best Buy” award from the (really) independent Which? consumer group test lab in the UK. There is a PDF report available but you must be a member (or take a trial membership) to read it.

http://www.which.co.uk/about-which/w...line/index.jsp


Resource use for Bullguard can be towards the higher end depending on your system but this should not be a problem for most modern computers. It is possible to reduce consumption by switching off the spam filter if you don't need it and/or tweaking the scan settings, but far too much emphasis these days is placed on chasing the Holy Grail of system “lightness” instead of staying safe. Free ram doesn't block worms and Trojans.

In conclusion you can always point to something else offering just that bit more theoretical protection than Bullguard but 95% of the people using the alternatives won't know what to do with the results. Maybe another application will have a slightly better detection rate but what if you don't understand the scan results or know how to remove something which refuses to go? Answer, you're stuffed unless you have hours to spend in Google or trolling the forums. Update frequency is also a vital component these days and Bullguard push these out are every two hours. So, If you want an easy to understand all-in-one package to secure your PC and don't want to feel alone during this process then Bullguard is a worthy contender. For free it's a steal, and in terms of overall usefulness it's one of the best offers we've been able to secure.

I'm now running Bullguard on my Windows partition which is x64 Vista Ultimate without a single negative issue to report. There is some lag with certain things like the speed at which data appears in my download windows and the verification of .exe files on external drives but these aren't real issues for me. Bullguard of course won't suit everyone but you can try it with confidence knowing that it won't hose your system on the way out if you don't like it.

A new version (V9) is planned for the first quarter of next year. I'm led to believe that further usability improvements will remove the need for custom rule settings in the firewall. I just hope that the options left are good enough to satisfy those of us who don't want “trusted vendors” wandering all over the net without permission.

We will attempt to answer any general queries here about configuration and other issues but please use the contact options in the program's GUI for support requests regarding malware or program malfunctions as the Bullguard technical staff are better placed to deal with these.

[gazs1]

hi ive just joined the forum and what a great place it is, quick question can we download the 60 day trial of bullguard then when the offer starts rpresume we will get a code and carry on with our 12 months subscription after that, hope this makes sense.

[MidnightCowboy]

To be safe I'll say no because from my contact with Bullguard recognition for the offer depends on accessing the download only from the link which will appear here in the Hot Finds section next week. Even if this link is copied by pirates to another site you'll still end up with a trial version so I would wait for the real thing

[gazs1]

oh well i installed and am well impressed with it, guess ill have to reinstall next week no biggie really

[ePost]

Thank you for the Bullguard program. I have a problem, however. I ran Bullguard as an ordinary trial in the beginning of the year. After installing your offer I used my old account. This triggered the message:

Your Bullguard subscription has expired. You are not protected.

What do I do?

[krish]

Is this offer applicable for 64 bit also ?

[ePost]

Yes, most likely. BullGuard is. There's a seperate 64-bit download link on their webite.

[ePost]

Please, you nice guys: how do I solve my problem? Quoting myself:

Originally Posted by ePost

Thank you for the Bullguard program. I have a problem, however. I ran Bullguard as an ordinary trial in the beginning of the year. After installing your offer I used my old account. This triggered the message:

Your Bullguard subscription has expired. You are not protected.

What do I do?

[kendall]

My understanding is that the offer has not been made yet?! It is supposed to happen later this week. Midnight can confirm. I would wait until the offer is posted in the Hot Finds! section and then download it. I think you are a little bit too early.

See Midnight's post above:

Next week Gizmo's latest 'Greatest Giveaway' will be a free one year license for the excellent Bullguard Internet Security Suite. This program will suit a lot of people, especially those with doubts about managing and coping with this type of software.

The offer will only be available for 48 hours so keep checking the “Hot Finds!” section for the start date.

http://www.techsupportalert.com/view/hot