Bitdefender turn off by itself leaving me unprotected

CovidIsGone · 2025-05-20T14:52:20+00:00

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Many times per week, I get the popup message "Turn ON your virus protection" by Windows Security. When I check in my Toolbar Hidden Icons, Bitdefender is not there at that moment. And then, it reappear or I have to start it (turn it on) again from the Start button.

What good does it do if I pay a software to protect me and it disable itself, by itself, and then sometimes turn itslef ON after, when it decides to ?

How can I trust that kind of software to protect my computer ?

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Petersl

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/104163/bitdefender-turn-off-by-itself-leaving-me-unprotected

Hi @CovidIsGone

This happens when bitdefender is updating to a new version, while bitdefender is updating to a newer version windows defender temporarily takes over until bitdefender has installed the update and restarts.

You can check which version you have running by clicking with the right mouse button on the bitdefender tray icon and then click on "about".

Are you sure this happens a few times a week for you as bitdefender normally only update to a new version once or twice a month? Either way I think this is normal and you should not worry.

Alexandru_BD

Hi,

Some modules are turned off for a very short time while the patch is being applied. Bitdefender has many systems that back up each other and provide protection.
By design, the developers would not make an update system that would leave customers vulnerable in any way.

This article provides more context on some of the Windows Security Center messages regarding Bitdefender:

https://www.bitdefender.com/consumer/support/answer/9329/

I hope this brings peace of mind.

Regards

dvsls

Do you also receive a notification confirming that Bitdefender is running with the latest fixes? If not, this could indicate a problem—perhaps a crash or another issue on your system. How often does it occur? Does it happen every week?

CovidIsGone

6 times in the last month is many times per week.

It started in late september 2024.

At first I thought the same thing as what you all wrote.

Then I noticed, messages in the notification windows came more often.

then I checked and it was at 9h in the morning so I didn't do anything.

and later on during the day, BD didn't restart so I wasn't protected for the whole day.

I open a ticket many months ago, to Bitdefender support and never got an answer.

I sent them a log file and another picture for analysis.

No answer.

I know the reflex of many of you in mainly all software support system is to just throw back the situation as a problem in front on the screen but I do IT support, and have been for many years and my moto have always been to never underestimate what a consumer/user tells us as a possible problem.

Being condescendant helps the software company to lower their cost by not solving a problem, and it leave a perception that people are the problem. Easier like that. But it doesn't solve the problem.

And it is at that same moment, when you buy a 10 license for 3 years, that you switch for another software company that will listen and work with you to find out why this is happening. Becvause I don't have time to build a case foir the company who produce the software, I don't work for Bitdefender, I thought it was the other way around.

If it gonna be the way BD answer honest problem, I will try other software.

dvsls

Could you please check Windows Security (the shield icon) in the system tray when this happens? Open it, go to Virus & threat protection, and send us a screenshot. A second screenshot of the main Bitdefender interface at the same time would also be very helpful. Thanks!

Can you also provide the support ticket number ?

CovidIsGone

What I can give you is this file that they asked me to send them.

In that file, you have the whole message I sent them and the explanation of the problem.

They should have the pictures too for the Windows Virus & threat protection message because I remember giving them that picture but I don't have it anymore, casnnot find it. Sometimes I just printscreen, cut/crop and paste it in the message so I don't know.

dvsls

Thanks—we’ve received the support tool archive, so you can now remove it from your message.
When did the issue last occur—was it two days ago?
I noticed two crash dump traces from February; could you run the tool again and create a new archive? I’d like to check for any more recent dumps.
And please, send the new archive via a private message.

CovidIsGone

May 20th.

I didn't take notes everytime it happens because we are all pretty busy.

So it was easier to just manually restart the BD and rebooted every time.

CovidIsGone

I just sent you the file.

Hope it was sent by the right medium

Nunzio77

@dvsls and @camarie I take this post as a starting point to ask developers to find a way so that during Bitdefender updates no Windows notification appears that indicates that you are not protected when in reality the protection is present and you are just waiting for Bitdefender to update. Unfortunately, this can create panic and confusion among users who do not know if it is a real problem or normal during Bitdefender updates. This does not happen with other known AV.

CovidIsGone

Thanks Nunzio77.

My biggest fear is that I don't have any clue about how long I wasn't protected.

Some told me it was supposed to reactivate BD by iotself but many times, I had to go in Start, and click on BD to turn it on. So at that moment, I couldn't know if it was 1min or 3 days because I don't check everyday if the red B is in the right corner of my screen.

Next time I will do what dvsls asked me to get the Windows Virus & Threat Status.

I only printscreened the message in the notification box.

CovidIsGone

Meanwhile, I will get some trojan to put over my PC.

dvsls

When you click Bitdefender from the Start menu, it simply opens the main interface—it doesn’t trigger any other action. What’s actually happening is that a new Bitdefender update has been downloaded, and applying it requires restarting the Bitdefender services (this is expected behavior).

When you see the Windows notification about “Virus & threat protection,” that’s the moment the service restarts. It only takes a few seconds, and the other protection layers remain active throughout. You can confirm this by checking the Virus & threat protection status in Windows Security, as I mentioned earlier.

Nunzio77

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/comment/353974#Comment_353974

@dvsls wouldn't it be better to make sure that this notification never appears as long as Bitdefender services are active? Just to avoid false alarms.

Alexandru_BD

@Nunzio77 I don't think this can be done, because technically it has to do with a Windows notification that is being displayed briefly because the operating system interprets the event as an interruption of antivirus protection, which clearly isn't the case here.
So, whenever Bitdefender services restart, Windows will give the user a message that he is no longer protected in the few seconds that Bitdefender services stop and start. I mean, if they could do something about this I think they would have implemented a solution already, but I'm not sure if there's a safe way to do it, or any method at all, without "breaking" something else, of course.
Let's wait for @dvsls's take on this.

Cheers

dvsls

Exactly what Alex said.☝️

Nunzio77

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/comment/354033#Comment_354033

@dvsls At this point I wonder wouldn't it be better to wait to run the update (hot) but have it run automatically at the first reboot of the PC (cold) like other AVs do? This would avoid useless notifications from Windows.