Turn Off Bitdefender?

morkjr

hi, i am having a serious problem with my Bitdefender service.

i want to turn off the BitDefender services on my computer when i am working offline.

i know how to "Disable" the service of BD in the advanced settings menu. i am not asking about how to do that.

i want to completely disable the BD background services in windows for times that i am working offline, because i need sometimes to squeeze every ounce of power out of my RAM and CPU and i must be able to turn off every single background program i am not using.

if this is not possible, i am going to have to get rid of BD and use something else.

does anybody know how to completely disable BD without uninstalling it?

rootkit

Yes.

Please do this:

Start->Run

msconfig

In the Startup tab uncheck BitDefender's executables.

In the Services tab, check Hide Microsoft Services(it's down) and in the list uncheck BitDefender's services.

Apply && Ok.

To restore them, just apply the settings again

morkjr

Yes.

Please do this:

Start->Run

In the Startup tab uncheck BitDefender's executables.

In the Services tab, check Hide Microsoft Services(it's down) and in the list uncheck BitDefender's services.

Apply && Ok.

To restore them, just apply the settings again

I tried that, bitdefender denies me access to turn off services in msconfig, in the services menu, and even if i invoke a command prompt with full administrative privileges and try to stop the service with the "net stop (service)" command.

something about "can't disable services as requested" or something.

and bitdefender is definitely the only service this occurs with.

i am the only user account on my computer, and i am the administrator.

you seem to be like super good at bitdefender, and i don't think you would have suggested something that can't work.

would there be some setting that would need to be changed that could be giving me this problem?

like some administrative registry key that i need to change to override this?

alexcrist

You cannot change any BitDefender services settings (including Running state) while BitDefender is running, because of BitDefender's SelfProtect.

To be able to disable BD's services, you have to reboot in SafeMode.

Cris.

morkjr

You cannot change any BitDefender services settings (including Running state) while BitDefender is running, because of BitDefender's SelfProtect.

To be able to disable BD's services, you have to reboot in SafeMode.

Cris.

hi chris. i read an article about safe mode and did what you have suggested this morning. i also tried to change the service parameters to manual from automatic, but that kinda screws things up when i actually want to use bitdender. so basically, it requires at least three restarts every time i want to turn BD off, and the main problem is that i want to be able to use it, and then turn it off without changing accounts.

i realize now that this is impossible, and the only solution to turning it off is impractical.

thanks for the response, you are the only person i got a straight answer from. after doing my own research, and failing, and going to forums, all i got was clever remarks from people who obviously just didn't know the answer to my question.

and you, only you, actually got it right.

thanks.

ps, i am assuming your answer means that it is impossible for me to circumvent the selfprotect, even using an admin account. cause that seems to be my dilemma.

morkjr

OH! One last thing...

I have another possible solution to my problem.

I thought maybe i can use another account without BD loaded at startup.

But from what i have been reading, you can only control environmental variables and language settings per user.

Does anybody know if i can have BD for one account, and not for another?

alexcrist

Hello,

No, you cannot. System services are global, and don't have per-user settings, so either BitDefender services run for all users, either they don't run at all. This is because system services don't run with any user credentials, but they run with SYSTEM credentials (so they can run even when no user is logged in).

Cris.

morkjr

Hello,

No, you cannot. System services are global, and don't have per-user settings, so either BitDefender services run for all users, either they don't run at all. This is because system services don't run with any user credentials, but they run with SYSTEM credentials (so they can run even when no user is logged in).

Cris.

Thanks again Cris. You've been a lot of help.

-brian

pgt9999

Hello,

No, you cannot. System services are global, and don't have per-user settings, so either BitDefender services run for all users, either they don't run at all. This is because system services don't run with any user credentials, but they run with SYSTEM credentials (so they can run even when no user is logged in).

Cris.

I have been searching all day for a solution or a reason to this issue. Online chat support was OFFLINE. Telephone support is taking the longest crap of his/her life. At least I can always rely on the forums...and since I have found my answer...now I must rant...

WHY was this program designed this way. Did your company ever stop during the planning process and think- hmmm these people may want to completely close out the application for any number of reasons? Why is such a simple function, intrinsic to virtually ALL applications, absent from Bit Defender. WHY? Or maybe you think you have the right to decide what programs get to run permantely in my system tray? Absolute BS.

dermbrian@gmail.com

WHY was this program designed this way. Did your company ever stop during the planning process and think- hmmm these people may want to completely close out the application for any number of reasons? Why is such a simple function, intrinsic to virtually ALL applications, absent from Bit Defender. WHY? Or maybe you think you have the right to decide what programs get to run permantely in my system tray? Absolute BS.

I just have to say I agree. Certainly the Administrator user should be able to easily halt any application running. Almost every online content provider has as their first troubleshooting step "Turn off your Antivirus Software" as one of their steps in isolating problems with their services. I ran into exactly that situation today. It would be nice to know exactly what that means in terms of BitDefender if there is no longer any overall "disable" command available.

Brian

Daveed

You didn't say what version of Bitdefender you're using. If it's BitDefender 2009, just run it in game mode. That should leave you all the software resources you need.

alexcrist

WHY was this program designed this way.

The answer is very simple: the protection CAN be fully disabled. Just disable the modules from the interface, and you're good to go.

Yes, BitDefender processes will still exist in the process table (and can be seen in TaskManager), but they won't be taking any realtime actions. They will simply sit and wait for the user to re-enable them.

One simple reason why the processes can't be stopped is: for security reasons. There is such thing as SelfProtect in a security solution, which assures that the security processes can't be forced to close from outside the application, therefore you cannot:

- manually stop BD services

- killing BD processes from TaskManager

If you could do that, anything could do that.

Also, even with the protection disabled, the security processes still run to assure that, even though the system is not protected, when you decide to re-enable BitDefender it will still be able to run correctly. To make sure of this, th security processes protect BitDefender's installation folder (and auxiliary paths, like the signature and engine folders) from any modifications.

Just try to change/delete a file from BD's folder, and you'll see that you are denied that. If you could completely turn off BitDefender, those folders will remain unprotected, and in case of an infection, you risk not to be able to start BD anymore.

You want to disable BitDefender? Fine, just reboot in SafeMode, and disable the services. Nobody stops you to do that.

Now...of course that a "turn off" feature is wanted by many users. And this has been discussed before on this forum, even since the BETA period. The fact is, as I said before on other topics, that this feature is somwhow planned. But there were some problems implementing it (as in "how do you make a difference between a wanted shut-down, and a forced shutdown?"). For this reason, implementing this feature has been delaied for a future release.

Cris.

pgt9999

So basically what you're saying is that it was designed this way because the Bit Defender programmers werent smart enough to figure out away to make it work. I think maybe they just dont have reason enough to care or make the extra effort to find a solution. They figure most people will accept it and the ones that question it will accept answers like the one you just gave and hope for a future release- which will never happen.

Here's a solution: A pre-installation option for ability to terminate all functions along with a warning and user agreement to the possible risks posed to the integrity of the security system, exempli gratia, "in case of an infection, you risk not to be able to start BD anymore."

Or even make available a patch to users that want the option.

The point is- I want the power to decide. Because I personally find the chances of getting an infection smart enough to cause BD not to start very unlikely and it is a risk I'm willing to take. But bit defender doesnt really care.

I am left with only one option now. Uninstall and find another anti-virus program. But thanks for the wonderful tech support.

Daveed

What happened to my suggestion of running BitDefender in game mode? You can tell BitDefender which programs you want to use game mode, and never worry about computer resources again.

alexcrist

As I said: this feature is planned for a future release.

Maybe it was delayed because it was considered to be of "low priority", as it's somehow a redundant feature. As Daveed already said, Game Mode is one of the many methods to lower resource consumption. Other methods are:

- using scan exceptions (to exclude from scanning any files with low-infection risk)

- disabling modules that are not needed (like mail scanning and Antispam, which are useless if you use web-based mails like free Yahoo accounts, or if you have an mail account which runs on non-standard ports)

- lowering security levels

- even completely disabling all modules (which is the same thing as killing the processes)

Cris.

pgt9999

Why dont you stop trivializing this issue. Do not tell me a feature to shut-down is redundant or that it's the same as disabling all modules, because it isnt- Not for every purpose. For example, what Brian D mentioned above: Almost every online content provider has as their first troubleshooting step "Turn off your Antivirus Software" as one of their steps in isolating problems with their services.

And as for your suggestions for lowering resource consumption by "lowering security levels" and "even completely disabling all modules"...

This is probably helpful at mitigating the issue, but one would have to do this everytime they wanted to play a game or needed all the power they could get and it is a LOT more time consuming disabling and renabling all those things than it would be to just use a master shut-down of the entire app.

Furthermore, I dont believe the suggestions you've provided have the same effect that killing all processes would- because I've tried it. There is still a noticeable difference in gameplay video performance. And I cant imagine how bad it would be for those that just barely meet the basic or recommended system requirements.

It is wonderful that they are planning to fix this in the future, but it probably wont be anytime before my subscription expires. So, it doesnt really help me right now and now I have to try to get a refund or I'm stuck with a product I wont use.

dude174

The answer is very simple: the protection CAN be fully disabled. Just disable the modules from the interface, and you're good to go.

Yes, BitDefender processes will still exist in the process table (and can be seen in TaskManager), but they won't be taking any realtime actions. They will simply sit and wait for the user to re-enable them.

One simple reason why the processes can't be stopped is: for security reasons. There is such thing as SelfProtect in a security solution, which assures that the security processes can't be forced to close from outside the application, therefore you cannot:

- manually stop BD services

- killing BD processes from TaskManager

If you could do that, anything could do that.

just a thought, since the idea is protection and if a user could turn off bitdefender, what would prevent a virus from doing the same, what about human authentication? I mean to sign up to this forum I have to make out the squiggly words and enter them as a verification that I'm not some machine trying to spam the board, so use a similar idea for the ability to allow users to turn off bitdefender.

It may be my own ignorance, but I believe you would be hardpressed to find a type of virus that would have such an intelligence to check for such a thing as human verification. Granted there are probably ways around such verifications and issues inherent with trying to implement such an idea, but figured it was just a suggestion.

I also agree that it would allow the possibility of the issue that bitdefender could be inoperable after getting an infection while the processes were off. On the other hand, I believe this to be an issue that should be up to the customer and not the program. I personally despise programs that do not allow me such full control and stop using them because of all the added processes. Yes, this program may only have 3 processes that take up minimal space, but what about other programs that may have similar philosophies, if the user deems it unnecessary, it should be easy to stop. Yes, restarting in safemode to disable may work, but would you use software that everytime you wanted to enable or disable FULL control of it you had to restart your computer twice at the bare minium?

The customers may not be the wisest for their decisions in what they consider secure, but it is they who provide the money. So it comes down a managerial decision on your (bitdefender team) part.

alexcrist

I agree. Also, as I said, this matter has previously been discussed on this forum, and different suggestions have been made by users (including password protection, user verification, and some other ideas that skip my mind right now).

I know that some of the users want to completely shut down the software, but most of the users just don't care. And, as monkdude174 said, it's a managerial decision. What the Product Manager decided is what it has been done. I have no power of decision, I have no word to say about this... I'm just a volunteer on this forum trying to give you alternatives and suggestions and to try to pass your suggestions to the dev team. If they will be taken into consideration, I have no idea, but I do hope so.

As I said, this feature is planned, so some ideas of implementing it must exist somewhere.

Cris.

stranger

Trojans can automatically turn the bitdefender services to off or stop working and so can bitdefender updates as well . Unfortunatlly can't get my refund back since I purchased it retail and the store won't accept it back due to it being open so stuck with it somewhat (Bitdefender Internet Security 2009). Still hate it after some updates, the services stop and the scan engines fail.