Problems installing Bitdefender Total Security

Question

Hi, I'm trying to install bitdefender total security but the process seems so badly flawed I can only assume I'm doing something wrong.

Running Windows 11, browser is Brave and I'm currently using AVG antivirus.

I go through the install process, however as part of the install I'm required to sign into bitdefender via my browser - however I seem to get some form of network error which means I can't login. If I change my default browser to firefox I can get past that. However while trying to work out what was wrong with brave I tried to get to a bitdefender page which may have helped, however while trying to access this I receive Secure Connection Failed along with An error occurred during a connection to bitdefender.com PR_END_OF_FILE_ERROR  on both Brave and Firefox.

I find it hard to believe bitdefender is blocking me from accessing the bitdefender website so something more must be wrong.

Alexandru_BD · Accepted Answer

Hello,

That PR_END_OF_FILE_ERROR and secure connection failed combo most likely means the TLS handshake is being interrupted on your side, not that Bitdefender is blocking you. Since you’re running AVG right now, the main suspect is AVG’s HTTPS/Encrypted traffic scanning. As far as I know, this acts like a "man-in-the-middle" for TLS and can break certain sites or logins. Anyway, it's not recommended to run two security suites at once. Having multiple antivirus programs running at the same time will not make your computer more secure, it may degrade performance and even prevent proper malware detection. And you can encounter the issues you have described in your post.

First, disconnect from VPN if you are using it. Secondly, uninstall AVG from settings → apps, just like any other program, or look for the dedicated uninstall tool that should be available on their website. Reboot, then run the Bitdefender installer again with a fresh download from Bitdefender Central. That should normally do it.

Bitdefender’s own install also calls out removing other security software before retrying.

Let me know if this helped.

Regards and thanks for joining us here.