New malware is found and identified every day. This is why it is very important to keep Bitdefender up to date with the latest malware signatures.
If you are connected to the Internet through broadband or DSL, Bitdefender takes care of this itself. By default, it checks for updates when you turn on your computer and every hour after that.
If you open this section during an update, you can see the download status.
The automatic update can be enabled or disabled in this area by checking or un-checking the check box.
NOTE: In order to be protected against the latest threats keep the automatic update enabled.
You can get the malware signatures of your Bitdefender by clicking Show Virus List. An HTML file that contains all the available signatures will be created and opened in a web browser.
An update by user request can be performed at any time by clicking the Update Now button. In BASIC VIEW this can be achieved by selecting Update Now from the Tasks pane.
B. The Settings tab allows you to configure the update settings and manage proxies.
For more reliable and faster updates, you can configure two update locations: a Primary update location and an Alternate update location. By default, these locations are the same: http://upgrade.bitdefender.com.
To modify one of the update locations, provide the URL of the local mirror in the URL field corresponding to the location you want to change.
In case the company uses a proxy server to connect to the Internet, check Use proxy and then click the Manage proxies button to configure the proxy settings. For more information, please refer to Proxy Settings.NOTE: Configure these settings only if you are connected to a local network that stores Bitdefender malware signatures locally or if you connect to the Internet through a proxy server.
2. Automatic Update Settings
You can specify the number of hours between two consecutive checks for updates in the Time interval field. By default, the update time interval is set to 1 hour.
To specify how the automatic update process should be performed, select one of the following options:
- Silent update: Bitdefender automatically downloads and implements the update.
- Prompt before downloading updates: every time an update is available, you will be prompted before downloading it.
- Prompt before installing updates: every time an update was downloaded, you will be prompted before installing it.
3. Manual Update Settings
Used to specify how the manual update (update by user request) should be performed:
- Silent update: the manual update will be performed automatically in the background, without user intervention.
- Prompt before downloading updates: every time an update is available, you will be prompted before downloading it.
4. Advanced Settings
To prevent the Bitdefender update process from interfering with your work, configure these options:
- Wait for reboot, instead of prompting: If an update requires a reboot, the product will keep working with the old files until the system is rebooting. The user will not be prompted for rebooting, therefore the Bitdefender update process will not interfere with the user's work.
- Don't update if scan is in progress: Bitdefender will not update if a scan process is running. This way, the Bitdefender update process will not interfere with the scan tasks.
NOTE: If Bitdefender is updated while a scan is in progress, the scan process will be aborted.
- Don't update if game mode is on: Bitdefender will not update if the game mode is turned on. In this way, you can minimize the product's influence on system performance during games
5. Proxy Settings
If your company uses a proxy server to connect to the Internet, you must specify the proxy settings in order for Bitdefender to update itself. Otherwise, it will use the proxy settings of the administrator that installed the product or of the current user's default browser, if any.
NOTE: The proxy settings can be configured only by users with administrative rights on the computer or by power users (users who know the password to the product settings).
When trying to connect to the Internet, each set of proxy settings is tried at a time, until Bitdefender manages to connect.
First, the set containing your own proxy settings will be used to connect to the Internet. If it does not work, the proxy settings detected at installation time will be tried next. Finally, if those do not work either, the proxy settings of the current user will be taken from the default browser and used to connect to the Internet.
Administrator proxy settings (detected at install time):
Proxy settings detected on the administrator's account during installation and which can be configured only if you are logged on to that account. If the proxy server requires a username and a password, you must specify them in the corresponding fields.
Current user proxy settings (from default browser):
Proxy settings of the current user, extracted from the default browser. If the proxy server requires a username and a password, you must specify them in the corresponding fields.
NOTE: The supported web browsers are Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Opera. If you use another browser by default, Bitdefender will not be able to obtain the proxy settings of the current user.
Your own set of proxy settings:
Proxy settings that you can configure if you are logged in as an administrator. The following settings must be specified:
Address: type in the IP of the proxy server.
Port: type in the port Bitdefender uses to connect to the proxy server.
Username: type in a user name recognized by the proxy.
Password: type in the valid password of the previously specified user.
Click OK to save the changes and close the window.
Click Apply to save the changes or click Default to load the default settings.
NOTE: The update process is performed on the fly, meaning that the files to be updated are replaced progressively. In this way, the update process will not affect product operation and, at the same time, any vulnerability will be excluded.
Updates come in the following ways:
- Engines upgrades: for the antivirus engines, antispam engines and antispyware engines.
- Product upgrades: when a new product version is released, new features and scan techniques are introduced to the effect of improving the product's performance.