Bitdefender includes a firewall, a password manager, disk encryption and a built-in VPN, so it already provides more protection than free, standalone antivirus programs or the built-in Windows Defender. On the whole, you appear to be at a relatively low level of risk from malware, and the two products you mention should provide an adequate level of protection. First, there’s the threat level: how at risk are you? Second, there’s provenance: how much do you know about your devices? Third, how can you mitigate any risks revealed by the answers to the first two questions? There are at least three things to think about. I have a five-machine Bitdefender licence but I’d be prepared to use another protection system, and I’ve looked at Sophos Intercept X.
I work professionally with video, photography and coding, so all of this data is vital.
What steps can I take to prevent any possible infections from being passed on from previous machines on SD cards and external hard drives? Some of the external hard drives go back to machines from 2004 but I have never plugged any of them into any computers other than my own previous Macs and PCs. I’ve just bought a high-end Windows laptop for video editing while travelling around Europe.
