BITDEFENDER FAILS AFTER WINDOWS 10 UPDATE ON 11/14/2024

Reg Curry

Bitdefender will not work or reinstall after yesterday's Windows 10 update.  This has been escalated because the instructions from Lori P. failed.  The uninstall tool worked; however, every attempt to reinstall failed with an error message that indicated all related directories could not be cleared.

Therefore, I have canceled my automatic renewal for all Bitdefender products.  There are a few remaining files/folders that I cannot delete manually from my computer, even though I try to change administrator privileges.  How to I delete the following folder in my program files. I don't want anything related to Bitdefender on my computer.

This is all unfortunate because prior to this Windows 10 update, Bitdefender worked okay, not perfectly. Over the past year, I had numerous issues with Bitdefender that I could work around; that is not the case with this since I can no longer install Bitdefender on my PC.

Any help is appreciated.

Flexx

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/102178/bitdefender-fails-after-windows-10-update-on-11-14-2024

Kindly perform the following steps and see if they help you in any way:

1) Uninstall the Bitdefender product on Windows: https://www.bitdefender.com/consumer/support/answer/2791/

2) To remove any remaining files, download and run the Bitdefender product uninstaller from this link: https://www.bitdefender.com/files/KnowledgeBase/file/Bitdefender_2023_Uninstall_Tool.exe

3) Restart your PC in safe mode. You can follow this guide: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/start-your-pc-in-safe-mode-in-windows-92c27cff-db89-8644-1ce4-b3e5e56fe234

4) As soon as the desktop opens, assuming your Windows drive is 'C,' open the following locations in the 'Run' command (Windows icon + R) one by one:

C:\Program Files (delete any folder with the name bitdefender)

C:\Program Files (x86) (delete any folder with the name bitdefender)

C:\ProgramData (delete any folder with the name bitdefender)

C:\Users{your PC name}\AppData\Local (delete any folder with the name bitdefender)

5) Open the Run command and execute the following commands one by one:

temp - delete all the files in the folder

%temp% - delete all the files in the folder

prefetch - delete all the files in the folder

6) Run Disk Cleanup using this guide: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/disk-cleanup-in-windows-8a96ff42-5751-39ad-23d6-434b4d5b9a68

7) Open the registry editor through the 'Run' command (Windows icon + R) and then type 'regedit.' Once the registry editor opens, click on 'Edit' -> 'Find,' and make sure to checkmark 'Match whole strings only.' Type 'bitdefender' in the search box and click 'Find Next.' If any file or folder with the name 'bitdefender' is found, delete it. Continue searching the registry and deleting until the search reports no registry keys found.

8) Restart your PC in normal mode by deselecting the option you selected while running the system in Safe Mode, then click 'Apply.'

9) Remove devices from your online Bitdefender Central: https://www.bitdefender.com/consumer/support/answer/2795/

10) Install the Bitdefender product: https://www.bitdefender.com/consumer/support/answer/2844/

If the issue persists, kindly contact Bitdefender support by visiting https://www.bitdefender.com/consumer/support/help

Select, How to's & Troubleshooting Bitdefender products→Troubleshooting→I don't know→Contact Support→ You will get the option of chat, call or email.

Regards

dvsls

Can you clarify the exact issue you're experiencing? Which functionality is being impacted? Do you have a screenshot to share as well? Also, could you confirm the Bitdefender version you're using? Thanks

Reg Curry

I don’t have time to debug your software. I got BITDEFENDER totally removed from my PC. I have canceled my automatic renewal and I will look elsewhere for a different product. You want me to go through 10 steps to fix an incompatibility in your software. Give me a break. 😡

dvsls

I asked you a few straightforward questions that should take less than a minute to verify. Simply stating "Bitdefender will not work" is too vague to diagnose the issue effectively. This could be an isolated case, as there have been no other reports regarding the November Windows update release.

Alexandru_BD

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/comment/346474#Comment_346474

I will have to side with @dvsls on this one. Since there's no general problem/known bug at the moment, I tend to think that the situation you encountered is an isolated one, so until proven otherwise, we need some information that can help us understand what's going on there..
The simple fact that "it doesn't work" anymore after that update is not enough. So, if you reconsider reinstalling this antivirus and need help, you'll need to give us a bit more than what you wrote above. Furthermore, there are ways to get help from the Support teams as well, and they can schedule a remote session, if necessary, and gather some logs that would help them help you.
It can be frustrating when something doesn't work as expected and I totally understand that, but you need to work with us here if you want to find a solution.