Bullguard Premium Protection – Usability

The backup facility provides 25GB of online storage to use between the three PCs covered by the Bullguard Premium Protection licence, so around 8GB each. This should be enough for all your documents, emails and probably photos, though not videos.

The wizard provides for scheduled backup and offers compression and encryption, so could be the only backup utility you need. It provides for backup by category like Documents and Photos, too, so you can save by specific types of file, as well as by folder.

The underlying AV engine is the same as in Bullguard Internet Security 2013 and in our tests was both thorough and intelligent. It scanned over 860,000 assorted files in under one hour and two minutes, giving it a scan rate of 232 files per second. This is one of the highest rates we’ve seen.

Repeating the scan took 19 seconds and looked at under 5,500 files, so the software had learnt which files hadn’t changed and could be safely omitted from rescanning. A file copy took just 12 per cent longer to complete with a scan running in the background than without, so the software also has a light touch.

Bullguard Premium Protection – AV Tests

This is echoed in what the German authority AV-Test (www.av-test.org) found in its most recent group test of antivirus scanners. It scored 14.5/18.0, a very respectable score, well up the field and ahead of perhaps better known names like AVG and McAfee. The program managed 5.5/6.0 in the Protection category, dropping only a couple of percent in picking up zero-day and recently found threats.

In the repair section, which looks at the ability of the software to remove malware once discovered, it scored 4.0/6.0, not quite as proficient, but still good. Under usability, which looks at the number of false positives and the resource load, it scored 5.0/6.0.

Should I buy Bullguard Premium Protection?

While the AV-Test results aren’t quite up with the leaders, they’re still pretty good and the convenience of Bullguard’s interface and the inclusion of a useful backup module could mean you don’t need separate archiving software.

Social media protection wasn’t quite what we expected and only appears to cover Facebook. If you’re very worried about your kids’ Internet use, though, it could give peace of mind. If it’s further recommendation, this reviewer is thinking of switching to Bullguard for his own IS provision.

Verdict

Bullguard Premium Protection offers useful extensions to the core features of its Internet Security 2013 suite. 25GB of online storage is very useful and the identity protection has the potential to save a lot of inconvenience and money.

Trusted Score