Launched earlier this year in the USA, this go-faster pack from BitDefender goes on sale in the UK at a suggested retail price of £12.95 a copy.

This is a single license purchase including on-line virus updates for 12 months.

Distribution in the UK and Ireland will be through channel partner, Focus Multimedia, with an on-going roll-out to national and independent retail outlets during September and October.

“GameSafe is essential for anyone who plays online games,” says Craig Johnson, managing director of Focus Multimedia. ”BitDefender’s unique new security product contains powerful features that will give gamers a fast, seamless gaming experience, while keeping their computer safe from viruses and hackers.”

“We’re delighted to partner with BitDefender to make this innovative, value-for-money software available to PC gamers everywhere,” adds Johnson.

BitDefender has identified the need for a gaming solution after receiving queries from aficionados who wanted to customise their security configuration.

“Speed is a matter of life or (virtual) death for these guys, and since most conventional virus protection software can slow down processing performance, many players turn it off and play ‘naked’, explains BitDefender’s chief technical officer, Bogdan Dumitru.

“Players who do this are exposing their systems to significant risks,” says, Dumitru. adding: “And this affects not only premier league players, who use high end and very expensive computer systems, but also standard family PCs in the hands of forgetful teenagers.”

BitDefender GameSafe is a cut down security pack which defends the user’s PC with minimal impact on processing power, memory and virtual memory, allowing players to maintain 'in-game' responsiveness and eliminating any unscheduled interruptions.

When activated, GameSafe minimises processor time and memory consumption; postpones automatic updates and scans; eliminates all alerts and pop-ups; sets the scanning level to 'permissive,' so only the most important files are scanned. In addition, the GameSafe firewall protects users' Wi-Fi connection from unauthorised access.

About Focus Multimedia

Focus Multimedia is one of the UK's leading publishers of PC software. Since the company's inception in 1997, over 21 million units of Focus software have been sold at retail. Focus has built its market-leading reputation on the philosophy of Quality, Choice and Value. The Focus range consists of over 400 high quality software titles and features many of the world's best-known brands and character licences.