Bitdefender Web Sage: Frequently Asked Questions

Bitdefender Web Sage is an agentic browser security extension that protects you from phishing, scams, malicious websites, fake online stores, and other web threats. It checks websites in real time, blocks dangerous pages before they load, and uses AI to explain potential risks in plain language.

Web Sage currently supports major Chromium-based browsers: Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge.

Yes, the standard version of Web Sage is 100% free and includes:

• Malicious Page Blocker – Checks every site you open against Bitdefender’s threat intelligence and instantly blocks dangerous pages before they load.
• Search Advisor – Displays safety ratings next to links in your search results on Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, and Yahoo. Hover over the mark next to a result to see why it was rated that way, so you can make an informed decision before clicking.
• Privacy Guard – Blocks trackers and manages the permissions websites have, including notifications, location, camera, microphone, automatic downloads, and clipboard access. If a site is found to be unsafe, Web Sage automatically revokes any permissions previously granted to it.

Web Sage Premium includes all the features in Web Sage Free, plus agentic AI that analyzes scams like a security analyst:

• AI Security Advisor – Checks your bookmarks and browsing history against known threats when you set it up, then guides you through potential threats on the pages you visit. You choose whether it asks for your approval before taking action or handles things automatically.
• In-Browser Web Scam Protection – Goes beyond known malicious URLs. When a page looks suspicious, you can request an on-demand AI analysis that explains what’s wrong in plain language and tells you what to do next.
• AI-Powered Search Advisor – Uses context-aware AI to assess the risk of individual search results.
• Safe Shopping – Checks online shops against webshop intelligence as you browse, helping flag fake stores and deals that may be too good to be true before you make a purchase.
• Ad Fraud Shield – Flags dangerous ads in Facebook and other social media feeds.
• Financial Fraud Protection – Uses AI to detect fake investment platforms and cloned banking websites.

Yes. After you install and open the extension, Web Sage asks you to sign in. You can sign in with an existing Bitdefender account or create a new one.

No. Web Sage protects you only while you are signed in to your Bitdefender account. When signed out, it is not running. Sign in again and protection resumes immediately. This applies to the free version too.

Customers with eligible subscriptions (Bitdefender Total Security, Bitdefender Premium Security, and Bitdefender Ultimate Security) automatically receive access to Web Sage Premium. Bitdefender Web Sage is not sold separately.

If you already have a qualifying subscription, premium features turn on automatically the next time you open your browser; there is nothing to activate.

• To upgrade, open the Web Sage extension, go to ⚙︎ Settings and click Upgrade to Premium for enhanced protection.

These subscriptions include Web Sage Free. AI features are included in Web Sage Premium, available with Bitdefender Total Security and higher subscriptions.

Sign out of your Bitdefender account in the extension, sign back in, then reopen your browser. Your entitlement refreshes during the next session.

Web Sage is part of Bitdefender Web Protection. It works inside your browser to block dangerous pages before they load and rate search results – things protection outside the browser cannot see. It is included with your subscription at no extra cost.

Open the Bitdefender app and go to Protection → Online Threat Prevention (Web Protection on macOS) → click Install next to your browser. You can do this at any time; skipping the step during setup does not remove the option.

• Alternatively, you can install Bitdefender Web Sage directly from your browser’s store. For instructions, see How to Install Bitdefender Web Sage in Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome

After installing from the store, switch on the extension in your browser.

The Bitdefender app shows an Enable button next to your browser. Click it and follow the short setup guide. Protection is not active until this is complete.

Chrome and Edge hide new extensions behind the puzzle-piece icon next to the address bar. Click it, find Bitdefender Web Sage in the list, then press the pin icon to keep it visible.

Protection runs whether or not the extension is pinned. Pinning simply keeps it one click away.

Bitdefender TrafficLight has evolved into Bitdefender Web Sage. Trusted browsing protection remains available alongside new capabilities designed to address modern scams and fraud attempts.

Your TrafficLight extension was renamed automatically, and nothing was removed. You do not need to reinstall anything.

The Privacy Guard feature in Web Sage now blocks both trackers and unwanted notifications through an always-active shield. You can remove the separate Anti-tracker extension from your browser.

• Automatic protection – handles threats automatically and acts when it finds one without interrupting you.
• Guided protection – checks everything and asks you before taking action.

You choose one during setup and can change it later under ⚙︎ Settings → Security Advisor → Autonomy.

The first scan checks bookmarks and browsing history, reviews permissions, compares them against known threats, and looks for risky access involving notifications, microphone, camera, and location. Web Sage displays a summary when the scan is complete.

Depending on whether Security Advisor is in automatic or guided protection mode, it either applies fixes automatically or prompts you for approval before taking action.

Privacy Guard blocks tracking scripts and manages website permissions: notifications, location, camera, microphone, automatic downloads and clipboard. When a site turns out to be unsafe, Privacy Guard revokes the permissions previously granted.

You can use the Find a website field to review that site’s permissions.

Open Web Sage and select the first icon in the bottom navigation. The page check reports known threats, granted permissions, scam findings, and tracking scripts for the page loaded in your browser.

You can add a website to the Bitdefender Web Sage whitelist to exclude it from specific checks.

1. Open Bitdefender Web Sage and click ⚙︎ Settings → Whitelist.
   
2. Choose the appropriate tab:
   • Tracking scripts – to exclude the website from anti-tracker blocking.
   • Threat scanning – to exclude the website from threat scanning. Only add a website to this whitelist if you trust it and understand that it will no longer be checked for malware.
3. Click Add website.
   
4. Enter the site in Website address, then click Save.
   

To remove a website from the Bitdefender Web Sage whitelist, open the extension → ⚙︎ Settings → Whitelist → Tracking scripts/Threat scanning → click the trash icon next to it.

Select the activity icon in the bottom navigation. You can switch between Today, Week, and Month.

The activity page shows threat intelligence, anti-tracker performance, detection counts for safe, suspicious, and malicious items, and a See activity details button. The recent-activity view retains suspicious or malicious verdicts for the past month.

Open ⚙︎ Settings → Security Advisor. You can turn the following options on or off:

• Privacy Guard
  • Block tracking scripts – Stops 3rd party advertising, analytics, social media and cookie transcripts from loading, so websites can’t profile your browsing and pages load faster.
  • Manage permissions – Tracks which sites you’ve granted camera, microphone, location, notification, clipboard and automatic-download access so you can review and revoke it in Privacy Guard.
• Search Advisor
  • Search results annotation – Adds a safety rating next to results on Google, Bing, Yahoo, and DuckDuckGo.
  • AI overview scanner – Checks the links inside the AI overview panels and flags the ones that lead to unsafe sites.
• Specialized Defense
  • Safe shopping – Warns you about fake stores and fraudulent checkout pages before you enter your payment details
  • Ad fraud shield – Flags malicious ads and sponsored results that lead to scams or malware.
  • Financial fraud protection – Detects fake banking websites and bogus investment platforms built to steal your credentials or funds,

Yes. Open the Web Sage extension and go to ⚙︎ Settings → General. Here you can:

• Set the app theme to Automatic, Light, or Dark
• Change the language
• Turn product reports on or off

1. Click your user profile icon in the bottom-right corner of the Web Sage extension or go to ⚙︎ Settings → My Account.
2. Click your browser’s name, enter a different name in Device name, then click Save.