Because new threats appear every day, Bitdefender antivirus must be updated periodically. The updates can be:

• Virus signatures: databases of virus prints to be compared with the scanned files. Shown as Virus Definitions Update. These updates require restarting Bitdefender. The restart occurs automatically.
• Spam signatures: rules for the heuristic and URL filters increasing the effectiveness of the antispam engine. Shown as AntiSpam Update.
• Product upgrades: new product features, scan techniques and hotfixes. Shown as Product Update. Occasionally, installing these updates requires restarting the computer.

To configure the automatic update do the following:

1. Open Bitdefender and click Update.
2. Click Settings.
3. Configure the Update location settings.

   Bitdefender 8.0.200 and later includes two update locations, allowing one of them to point to a local mirror.

4. Configure the Automatic update options.

   Select Automatic check for updates to find out when updates are available without downloading and installing them. Select Automatic update to enable the automatic update as well.

   Bitdefender checks for updates every 3 hours. Click Verify every <3> hours to modify the number of hours after which a check for updates is performed.

   Select Ask for confirmation before updating if you want to be prompted every time a new update is available.

5. Configure the Interface options.

   To prevent prompts asking for reboot, select Wait for reboot, instead of prompting.

6. Click Apply to save the settings.
7. Click Default to restore the default settings.

Occasional updates can be perfomed at any time, even when the product is set to update automaticaly:

1. Open Bitdefender and click Update.
2. Click Update if the current screen displays the Settings.
3. Click Check to get a list of available updates.

   When an update is available, its name and size is displayed.

4. To see which files are updated, select the update and click Details.
5. Click Update to download and install the new files.
6. Verify the date and time of the last update.

Operating Systems: Windows 2000, Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows NT, Windows XP