Expert rating
Benefits
- It’s easy to whitelist safe/protected files and folders in macOS.
- Robust Total Defense Shield and Safe Files features enable an impressive level of protection against malware and ransomware efforts.
- Good user interface and layout.
The inconvenients
- Left pieces of known malware in place during testing.
- TrafficLight anti-phishing add-ons appear almost ineffective for Safari users, allowing access to very questionable websites.
- Excessively long initial scan time.
Our Verdict
Unfortunately, Total Defense has a few issues, including a lengthy initial scan and failure to remove some malware. With some bug fixes it could be better.
Best prices today: Total Defense Antivirus for Mac
Sometimes there’s a great utility that’s entirely useful for your Mac, but it’s buried under an assortment of problems that need to be fixed by an update somewhere down the road.
Above all, Total Defense Antivirus for Mac, developed by Total Defense, is based on BitDefender thanks to a license between the two companies. It works well for both parties, and the software itself is easy to download and install after creating a free 30-day trial account without the need to enter a credit or debit card, which is a nice surprise given recent trends in the sector.
The software itself, at the time of writing, costs $39.99 (around £31.54) to cover three Macs for a year, with plans and tiers adjusting accordingly. From there, it’s easy to assign full hard drive access to the application for its initial full scan to get an idea of what’s on your Mac and what it’s going to do face.
We have a roundup of the best antivirus software for Mac.
Total Defense installation and performance
Foundry
Foundry
Foundry
This is where the trouble starts. After completing the installation, I began my initial scan, sat back and watched the progress bar and elapsed time come into action. The initial scan took no less than 41 hours, 42 minutes and 42 seconds, and although the application allows you to minimize all of Defense Antivirus and continue to use your Mac as you wish, it took lasted the better part of two full scans. days. To its credit, the initial scan found a small remnant of the Genieo malware I’d used for testing, but that number seemed terrible, even for a 2023 M2 13-inch MacBook Pro with 908GB of used space on the SSD. to drive.
Throughout testing, some features shined, while others needed improvement. After the initial scan and its surprising runtime of over 41 hours, follow-up scan times returned to normal, including just under six minutes for a quick scan and three hours for a full scan , and the Total Defense Shield feature of Total Defense Antivirus was able to detect and remove a remarkable amount of malware during testing, even preventing its installation after finding it on the hard drive. Still, the app allowed both the OSX.DazzleSpy malware and the controversial Wave web browser to sneak in during scans, which should then be removed by a free copy of Malwarebytes that I keep on hand as a handy backup.
Foundry
Foundry
Foundry
Total Defense Features
Total Defense Antivirus markets itself largely around its TrafficLight feature to help prevent phishing-based attacks, which work as cross-browser add-ons that can be installed for Safari, Chrome, and Firefox. After installation, I tested them on dozens of spam and phishing emails that endlessly arrive in my Gmail’s spam folder to find that TrafficLight works fine on Chrome and Firefox, but allows Safari to visit questionable websites without much warning or effort to stop it. he. This isn’t exactly encouraging if Safari is your web browser of choice and you feel like Safari was pretty low on Total Defense’s priority list.
Similar to other utilities, Total Defense Antivirus offers a secure file whitelist feature that allows you to create a list of files and folders that are secure or that the application can bypass. Following recent ransomware attacks, Total Defense has also added a layer of protection for Time Machine backups, which is robust and appreciated, especially since third parties sometimes attempt to encrypt backup files during their attacks.
Foundry
Foundry
Foundry
Verdict
While Total Defense Antivirus has its strengths, it’s the little things that hold it back. The extremely long initial scan time defied belief, TrafficLight seemed to allow Safari to access every UPS and USPS page, claiming you had a package waiting to be picked up only to be visited without warning, and pieces of Malware that should have been detected and removed remained in place. These are not insurmountable problems, and a few days spent testing and fixing a bug could easily resolve most of the issues found.
These are points of contention and could be a deal breaker for some users. This app has its strengths, its weaknesses need to be fixed and improved, and until its parent company gives it the fixes it deserves, your money might be better spent on another utility.
Table of Contents
