The Internet is a spectacular place. At our fingertips we have the breadth of human knowledge, the ability to talk to people around the globe in an instant and a seemingly endless amount of videos where people do stupid things. Truly, it’s one of the greatest technological innovations we, as a species, have ever made. And yet it can also be a dangerous place, full of nasty infections that can get into your computer and people looking to get their grubby mitts on your private information. More than ever, it’s important to arm your computer with powerful software designed to protect it from the worst parts of the Internet. And I’m not just talking about Tik Tok.

That’s where Bitdefender comes into the picture. They offer a suite of tools to keep you safe and generally make life easier. A few years ago I spent hours browsing the web to find the best package to keep my computer safe and eventually settled on Bitdefender, which is why I felt comfortable accepting their request to talk about their products here, because I know they actually work.

It’s not like protecting yourself from digital viruses is the only thing they can help with, though. Every website these days feels like it needs you to create an account and login in, and that can mean having about a billion different passwords because you should never just reuse the same one. After all, if someone figures that password out, they now have access to everything. Keeping track of all those passwords is a pain in the ass, though, which is why a password manager is one of the most useful things you can get as it will keep track of all your passwords across all the different sites you use. Never again will you have to spend 15-minutes racking your brain to remember a password you used a year ago, only to try to reset it and be told the new password can’t be the same as the old one. What? HOW!?

And as an added bonus, it’ll autofill other information such as payment details and your address which makes online shopping a lot quicker and smoother. Click the autofill and bam, the form is filled out and you are ready to order that My Little Pony you’ve had your eye on. Think of all the time you’ll save! Time that can be spent on the Brony forums!

As for streaming services, it’s pretty awesome that we can access thousands of hours of TV programs and movies at the click of a button. It’s less awesome that these services still adhere to the concept of geo-restricting content, meaning that while our American friends can watch a show on Netflix, we poor saps here in the UK can’t. A VPN, or Virtual Private Network, is the perfect solution because it lets you tell those sites that you’re actually accessing them from anywhere you want! The software simply sends your data through an end-to-end encrypted tunnel to the VPN’s servers, bypassing your own internet service provider in the process. The best VPN providers have thousands of servers around the globe that traffic can be sent to, and you can choose between any of them. That means you can watch shows and movies from across the world, opening up a whole new realm of content. So if you live outside of the UK and want to watch Archer on Netflix (and you really should, it’s amazing) then you can set your VPN to tell Netflix you’re browsing from Britain and voila, you have access to one of the funniest animated shows around.

A VPN is also useful for keeping you safer online by hiding your IP, and securing your traffic when you are using public networks in cafes, hotels and the like. These places are often used by nefarious individuals to let them steal private information that can include credit card details and other sensitive details. By using a VPN your date is encrypted, making it far, far harder for anyone to steal.

Another neat trick is that a VPN can let you bypass any throttling your ISP is inflicting on your line. Internet providers will frequently throttle your speeds for a variety of reasons which can be frustrating when you’re in the middle of work, trying to download a big file, watch a movie or if you just feel frustrated at paying good money and not getting the most out of your connection. Bypassing your ISP servers means bypassing that restriction and getting all the speed you’re paying for. Now you can watch cat videos at 4k!

So stay safe out there on the Internet and make the most of your time and money by arming yourself with a strong suite of security tools and time-saving software.