Bitdefender Anitvirus 2009 Keeps Shutting Down

For the last week or so, my Bitdefender Antivirus 2009 keeps shutting down on its own. It usually happens at night while I'm asleep. When I come back to my computer, I have a message from Windows Security Center saying that my antivirus is turned off. When I double click on the BD icon, it says my subscription has expired (which it hasn't...I still have at least 9 months remaining). So, I restart my computer, BD loads, but I have to manually go into the settings and check the "Real-Time Proctection is Enabled" box in order to get BD to start working again. Everything will work fine all day, then when I wake up, I have to do this all over again. Any suggestions?

I have had the exactly same thing happen to me - once last night and once yesterday. Great feeling to know (believe) that system was unprotected for hours last night.

IS ANYONE FROM BITDEFENDER LOOKING AT THESE FORUMS?

IS ANYONE FROM BITDEFENDER LOOKING AT THESE FORUMS?

This posting about RRbackups, from at least two of us, has been around for weeks. Opening incidents with support seems to get even less notice.

unknown

The issue reported in this thread is due to a recent product update that was released last week - the resolution is to right click on the BitDefender icon, select "Update now", retrieve all the latest updates and restart the system. Then everything should be back on.

The issue reported in this thread is due to a recent product update that was released last week - the resolution is to right click on the BitDefender icon, select "Update now", retrieve all the latest updates and restart the system. Then everything should be back on.

Hello

Would you please describe the exact fix? After looking extensively through my log files, I have determined that this is the famous UNIX start of time bug....subtracting two identical UNIX timestamps gives zero, which is translated to December 31, 1969 (in my EST time zone). I see the identical timestamps when this occurs in the middle of the night the last three nights. This problem for me started three days ago, and I am getting quite angry that I have to manually mess with the system, with a reboot, every morning, and SOMETIME during the day, SOMETIMES my account is updated to say it is no longer invalid. I have a wealth of screen shots to prove all this. Two are attached. I would like confirmation that this fix actually addresses the real problem.

Thank you

The issue reported in this thread is due to a recent product update that was released last week - the resolution is to right click on the BitDefender icon, select "Update now", retrieve all the latest updates and restart the system. Then everything should be back on.

Good morning Diana

I did as you stated in this post and this morning I awoke to find that STILL my BitDefender has turned off in the middle of the night.

Your proposed fix did not work.

Please try again.

Same here...the "fix" did not fix anything. Please get this resolved. I hate the idea of having to shut down my computer everytime I walk away from it b/c my antivirus randomly turns itself off.

I did as you stated in this post and this morning I awoke to find that STILL my BitDefender has turned off in the middle of the night.

Same here. As I stated in this post, the issue is replicating itself on multiple PCs, so I do not think it is a machine-specific or a compatibility issue - it's a BitDefender issue.

/applications/core/interface/file/attachment.php?id=5001" data-fileid="5001" rel="">latest_event_source.doc

Same here...the "fix" did not fix anything. Please get this resolved. I hate the idea of having to shut down my computer everytime I walk away from it b/c my antivirus randomly turns itself off.

I would like to include additional screen shots. I received email feedback from one of my tickets and it told me to do the same update you suggested. I emailed ALL the info back.

The only possible difference I see this time is that the registration expired while BD was in the middle of doing an on-demand scan, perhaps because it kept trying to do updates and wanted me to stop the scan in order to let the update occur. At 3AM it wants me to get up? I schedule my scans in the middle of the night, obviously, so I am not bothered by them during the day. Not sure if this is relevant, but again, you can see identical UNIX timestamps and the famous December 31, 1969 date where the failure occurred.

And yes, I have the "Don't update if scan is in progress" box checked in "Update -> Settings." But it IGNORES this configuration setting. I also have it set to "silent updates" - I could change it to "Prompt before installing," but doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose of being completely up to date?

I have attached my history.xml for the last several days. Search for "December". Seems to be related to updates, Firewall also turned off, when my on demand scans happen (sometimes).

Please fix this.

Look for something that calculates expiration date with UNIX subtractions and doesn't add correct base date.

Thank you. I am about ready to demand a refund.

latest_event_source.doc

Same here. As I stated in this post, the issue is replicating itself on multiple PCs, so I do not think it is a machine-specific or a compatibility issue - it's a BitDefender issue.

I have another PC (not listed in the post linked above) running XP Home and BD AV 2008 which does not appear to be affected by this issue.

However, all three of the machines listed in the linked post had the "real-time protection is turned off" issue this morning, and one, "fileserver", said it had an expired license.

Right-clicking the BD tray icon and selecting "Update Now", even when followed by a reboot, is not resolving the issue on any of the affected machines.

It's now been more than 24 hours since the last response from tech support (Diana Bele). C'mon...seriously. This is unacceptable. You are hours away from losing me as a customer. I'd rather go with AVG for my antivirus protection if this is the kind of support that BitDefender is going to provide. Can't you roll back to a working version or something until this issue is resolved? I can't believe nobody from BD is giving this any attention.

http://www.lisaksimone.com/phoneonfire/

Okay folks, I have done a lot of digging on this issue, and propose the following. I looked at my last 4 failures and the sequence always starts with a scan. I've included a short table of the 4 sequence of events - many similarities. See the attached pic of these events. In the table, the last entries in BLUE indicate that these two events have the same UNIX timestamp, and also related to the registration failure via the 12/31/1969 issue.

So, I'm going to alter my starting conditions - I am turning OFF all scanning tonight. I will allow the updates to occur automatically every hour all night. Since my issues start with a scan, I'll report back tomorrow if I still have the problem.

So, I ask YOU to report back as well, but DON'T change anything with your configurations. That way we know that if I am successful and you are not, that the problem is related directly to scanning and not because they happened to fix the problem at the time we are running this test.

So, why do I care so much? I write a blog on debugging and technology, and have a series of posts called "Let's Debug it!" and the posts deal with brainstorming how to solve real life problems.

Clearly, this issue will be a complete future post. ;-)

Visit if you want.

Sounds like a plan

Sounds like a plan

oot

A few hours ago Ihad another one of those - when BD goes away and Windows telss me I am unprotected. Restarting BD produces a screen saying that I need to fix two issues.But clicking on "Fix" does nothing. So have to reboot.

So why would I leave my system open to anyone coming in if BD goes away overnight? At least the other crash (BSOD) takes the system down! Better plan, for me, is to physically switch off my wireless or just shutdown overnight or whenever I step away. Or change to another anti-virus package, which I am still loath to do (not sure why, though).

Yes, I plan on leaving my computer on, but unplugging my modem. That won't have any effect on the scheduled scan(s), and I will still be able to help invalid_key_queen with his request.

Same thing this morning...BD turned itself off, said my subscription had expired, had to restart, then go into setting and check "Real Time Protection".

NO FAILURE THIS MORNING!

So, since crc and dweb13 both had failures this morning, and I didn't, let's look at the difference.

I DISABLED all scans, and left automatic updates ON (1x/every hour). So, it seems to me that scanning at the same time downloads want to take place is a problem.

I have attached a detailed comparison of all events before and after the failures. BLUE indicates identical timestamps I still think are 1969 issues.

Issues I see

Scans either finished or aborted before the failure occurs (BAD)
Updates failed AFTER finished or aborted scans say that the scan is still in progress (REALLY BAD)
Many similarities in sequence of events

Similarities in event progression for all FAILED cases:

Scan are always first, starting the failure sequence, followed by
Many update errors
Real time protection is disabled
Several iterations of files downloaded and mostly successful updates
Registration expires
Alternating update successes/failures
Firewall enabled
Lots of update successes/failures
Registration new license key (via reboot the next morning)

If you check out the last column in the table, last night's success, it is clean. Just repeated successful downloads/updates.

Thank you for playing along. I guess we could muck around more, but quite frankly, I am getting annoyed at all this, as fun as the debugging process has been. Please keep posting and if you have suggestions for a test, throw it out there.

Yo BitDefender, what more evidence do you need, now that I have done your job for you?

NO FAILURE THIS MORNING!

So, since crc and dweb13 both had failures this morning, and I didn't, let's look at the difference.

I DISABLED all scans, and left automatic updates ON (1x/every hour). So, it seems to me that scanning at the same time downloads want to take place is a problem.

I have attached a detailed comparison of all events before and after the failures. BLUE indicates identical timestamps I still think are 1969 issues.

Issues I see

Scans either finished or aborted before the failure occurs (BAD)

Updates failed AFTER finished or aborted scans say that the scan is still in progress (REALLY BAD)

Many similarities in sequence of events

Similarities in event progression for all FAILED cases:

Scan are always first, starting the failure sequence, followed by

Many update errors

Real time protection is disabled

Several iterations of files downloaded and mostly successful updates

Registration expires

Alternating update successes/failures

Firewall enabled

Lots of update successes/failures

Registration new license key (via reboot the next morning)

If you check out the last column in the table, last night's success, it is clean. Just repeated successful downloads/updates.

Thank you for playing along. I guess we could muck around more, but quite frankly, I am getting annoyed at all this, as fun as the debugging process has been. Please keep posting and if you have suggestions for a test, throw it out there.

Yo BitDefender, what more evidence do you need, now that I have done your job for you?

thanks for all of your hardwork. I'm leaning towards going with a different service at this point. I'm very disappointed in BD's lack of urgency. This is clearly a major issue. Unfortunately I just renewed my subscription a couple months ago. The sad thing is BD is getting major props as one of the best antivirus solutions on the market, which is why I switched to them a couple years ago. I bet that changes soon. In addition to this issue, the "Fix This Issue" button has NEVER worked for me. Very frustrated at this point.

Thanks for all your work on this Invalid_key_queen. Per your request I did not alter any settings on any of my machines; they all stay on 24/7. Here's the summary from each this morning:

"fileserver"

XP Pro, SP2

BD AV 2009

this machine was rebooted yesterday, but no user was ever logged into the desktop

on user login this morning: RTFP off, BD license shows as expired, no scan scheduled last night

"gamer"

XP Pro, SP3

BD AV 2009

no issues, scan executed successfully overnight

"laptop"

XP MCE, SP2

BD AV 2009

before reboot: RTFP off, BD license shows as expired, no scan scheduled last night

after reboot: the "file zone" meter appears (despite being turned off in settings), must click the "Fix" button to re-enable RTFP

"wife"

XP Home, SP2

BD AV 2008

no issues

"work"

XP Pro, SP2

BD AV 2009

before reboot: RTFP off, BD license shows as expired, scan scheduled last night but did not execute, presumably because of the expired license issue

after reboot: must click the "Fix" button to re-enable RTFP

What I find interesting is that the only one of my machines running AV2009 not affected by this issue is running SP3.

Hopefully we'll get a response from someone at BD soon. I have many years of experience in client relations / customer service, so I think at least telling us that they are aware of this very frustrating issue and are working on it would go a long way towards keeping us as subscribers.

Let’s Debug It: My Internet Security Software HATES me, TOLERATES me, REVILES me. Evil BitDefender

Thanks folks for the feedback. I am running SP2, so that is consistent with crc's results. I don't plan to go further into computer configurations that have this issue because I am only running this one one machine, but you have that ammo to supply.

I write a blog on technology and how it can bug the crap out of this. As soon as this problem started happening, I have been trained to start taking screenshots and writing everything down. Then I publish the stories on my blog...mostly to teach technical folks how to debug problems. Not based on specific languages or hardware, but the higher level process that sometimes TAKES you into those details.

It's all based on a similar book of technical mysteries I wrote If I Only Changed the Software, Why is the Phone on Fire?

I just published a post on this experience. I'll update it when/if this mess is fixed. I suppose I will also try to scan during the day and see if it is a time-of-day issue.

Please feel free to comment over there too.

My best

Lisa

Lisa,

I just read your blog entry regarding our bitdefender issue. Great, thorough job. And just so you know where I stand, I will be uninstalling BD tonight and installing AVG's free software...at least until I have time to find something better.

aceofspades

Bitdefender = epic fail

Lisa,

I just read your blog entry regarding our bitdefender issue. Great, thorough job. And just so you know where I stand, I will be uninstalling BD tonight and installing AVG's free software...at least until I have time to find something better.

Hi dweb13

Thanks for the feedback - feel free to go vent all you want over there too. Comments welcome of any sort. ;-)

I am glad you have reached a resolution of your own over this. I will likely be trashing BD as well, but you may have determined by now that when a bug gets hold of me, I often pursue it to sometimes unreasonable depths. This one has become fun in a way, despite it being ridiculous.

I really want to see how this plays out...will BitDefender actually USE info we provide? Are they

really this clueless? (Okay, sorry DON'T ANSWER THAT!)

Good luck

Lisa

jim bowie

Thanks folks for the feedback. I am running SP2, so that is consistent with crc's results. I don't plan to go further into computer configurations that have this issue because I am only running this one one machine, but you have that ammo to supply.

I write a blog on technology and how it can bug the crap out of this. As soon as this problem started happening, I have been trained to start taking screenshots and writing everything down. Then I publish the stories on my blog...mostly to teach technical folks how to debug problems. Not based on specific languages or hardware, but the higher level process that sometimes TAKES you into those details.

It's all based on a similar book of technical mysteries I wrote If I Only Changed the Software, Why is the Phone on Fire?

I just published a post on this experience. I'll update it when/if this mess is fixed. I suppose I will also try to scan during the day and see if it is a time-of-day issue.

Let’s Debug It: My Internet Security Software HATES me, TOLERATES me, REVILES me. Evil BitDefender

Please feel free to comment over there too.

My best

Lisa

I am not sure its good to hear other people have the same problem . My bitdefender keeps shutting down and tells me I have to reboot . and I have been doing that for the last couple weeks .. but when I go away I leave my computer running and my email downloading . I need a fix before I have to go away which is next week . I have several requests into tech support for help but some machine keeps sending the same response back no matter what I say . The easy fix would seem to be get another anti-virus program .

My laptop runs on Vista which I hate but atleast bit defender works on it . Its my desk top which is still on XP that there is a problem . Both we bought and installed at the same time and have the same settings .

I am not a tecky . does anyone have a simple answer ???

I am not sure its good to hear other people have the same problem . My bitdefender keeps shutting down and tells me I have to reboot . and I have been doing that for the last couple weeks .. but when I go away I leave my computer running and my email downloading . I need a fix before I have to go away which is next week . I have several requests into tech support for help but some machine keeps sending the same response back no matter what I say . The easy fix would seem to be get another anti-virus program .

My laptop runs on Vista which I hate but atleast bit defender works on it . Its my desk top which is still on XP that there is a problem . Both we bought and installed at the same time and have the same settings .

I am not a tecky . does anyone have a simple answer ???

I don't know a simple answer other than to leave BitDefender. I heard a rumor that h this problem is supposed to be fixed the end of next week...from someone at work who reported the problem YESTERDAY and got a "real answer" from a real human the same day. He was given some sort of "patch" that might help the problem. Amazing. And we are being ignored.

More data.

Last night I reenabled a single scan in the middle of the night. Now I am back to the license error - Yo BitDefender - Scans and updates don't mix!

OnDemand scan (quick) started at 1:45 finished after 6am successfully
5 Update errors (says scanning in progress, which is not true)
Update files downloaded successfully
firewall enabled
Update success
Update error 6:45 am.
Real time protection disabled
Download files update successful
Update error
Registration product expired, 12/31/1969. Same timestamp as subsequent successful DL update.
Endless update errors
Now (for first time) there is a dialog box that wants me to reboot my machine. This is NEW. So you recognize that rebooting temporarily solves the problem? I hope that is not your final solution.

More data for you BD. More ammo this is due to scheduled scans that are reported to finish successfully but update attempts after that fail because "scan still in progress." Then the same sequence of events.

HELLO??????

I *really did* try and be nice and helpful through all of this. The courtesy of a response to all of my debugging (and to others continuing to have this problem) is quite expected at this point, especially since you are off giving advise on other threads.

Lisa

I echo Lisa's sentiments about the need for acknowledgement of the issue. Ignoring the issue for a day or two is simply poor form, but continuing to ignore the posters in this thread (read: the people who have purchased your product which in turn pays your salaries) for days on end, all of whom have all offered hard evidence to try and help YOU fix YOUR problem in a calm, pragmatic and level-headed manner, is absolutely unacceptable.

Here is today's summary:

"gamer" - no issues

"laptop" - tray icon says license is expired, RTFP off, RTFP had to be turned on using "Fix" button after reboot

"fileserver" - successful Quick System Scan, tray icon says license is expired, RTFP off, RTFP had to be turned on using "Fix" button after reboot

"wife" - no issues

"work" - tray icon says license is expired, RTFP off, RTFP had to be turned on using "Fix" button after reboot

I do not have the time to reconfigure five PCs from scratch with a new security solution, so hammering the BD people until this is resolved is my only practical option right now.

To my fellow thread posters: I suggest we open live support chats where we simply link the representatives to this thread, and continue to do so until we get acknowledgement of the issue and/or a satisfactory resolution.

To my fellow thread posters: I suggest we open live support chats where we simply link the representatives to this thread, and continue to do so until we get acknowledgement of the issue and/or a satisfactory resolution.

crc - thanks for the update. You might have gotten a CC message - I dumped all this information directly to Diana Beele or whatever her name is. I also sent all our information to another email address I was not aware of:

smb_support@bitdefender.com <--- this one got a somewhat useful response from a friend of mine.

Since April 4, I received no responses from these three addresses:

customerservice@bitdefender.com

support@bitdefender.com

invalidkey@bitdefender.com <-- dontcha think this might have elicited a response?

I will try the live chat later, but I suspect I will be booted off immediately by "Bob" again, so not sure that will help.

I just completed two chat sessions. In one, the rep told me to "Please be so kind and wait for my colleague's instructions , she will be able to respond to your question in the next hours, on the forum." When I told her I hoped that was the case as we've been waiting days for a response, she said "You will soon receive an response from my colleague, as I will surely put a high priority on this issue, crc."

In the other session, the rep said "Ok, let me send you all the steps you need to take in order to solve this.", but instead just sent me the canned SYSDUMP request email.

While composing this post, BD just told me it needed a reboot to finalize an update, so I guess we'll see what happens in the morning.

par0lestan

Hello all,I just wanted to introduce myself,I am new here and I hope to have a very nice time on this forum.

Tsar

with all bitdefender issues i think you will not be able to have good time here )

go away from here

I too have been having the same problem and have finally had apparent success with a batch file sent to me by customer support with the following message:

We are sorry for the inconvenience caused by this issue. An update will be released by the end of the week that will permanently fix this.

As a workaround, until the update is released, please follow the steps below:

1. Download the attached tool on your PC and extract the contents on your desktop.

2. Run the file called restartseccenter.bat

3. Wait about one minute and then open the BitDefender console to check if the issue still occurs.

4. If the command prompt window does not disappear after you opened the BitDefender interface please close it manually.

The batch file opens the command prompt and runs the following:

@echo off

cd c:\program files\bitdefender\bitdefender 2009

vsserv stop

PING -n 1 127.0.0.1>nul

tskill bdagent

tskill seccenter

vsserv

PING -n 1 127.0.0.1>nul

bdagent start

Somehow it seems to have worked for me. Now over 12 hours with no problem and the shutdown and license expired thing was happening almost hourly.

I tried to attach the batch file here but was not allowed, so create a new, blank text file, copy and paste the batch file commands above, save it as a batch file (i.e. choosename.bat and run it. Hope this helps. You would think someone from BD could come here and provide the help but, well, they're so busy dealing with all the people having this problem.

Whoops. I take it back. This did not fix the issue. Might have to join the ranks and jump ship on this unstable product.

I too have been having the same problem and have finally had apparent success with a batch file sent to me by customer support with the following message:

We are sorry for the inconvenience caused by this issue. An update will be released by the end of the week that will permanently fix this.

As a workaround, until the update is released, please follow the steps below:

1. Download the attached tool on your PC and extract the contents on your desktop.

2. Run the file called restartseccenter.bat

3. Wait about one minute and then open the BitDefender console to check if the issue still occurs.

4. If the command prompt window does not disappear after you opened the BitDefender interface please close it manually.

The batch file opens the command prompt and runs the following:

@echo off

c:

cd c:\program files\bitdefender\bitdefender 2009

vsserv stop

PING -n 1 127.0.0.1>nul

PING -n 1 127.0.0.1>nul

PING -n 1 127.0.0.1>nul

PING -n 1 127.0.0.1>nul

tskill bdagent

tskill seccenter

vsserv

PING -n 1 127.0.0.1>nul

PING -n 1 127.0.0.1>nul

bdagent start

Somehow it seems to have worked for me. Now over 12 hours with no problem and the shutdown and license expired thing was happening almost hourly.

I tried to attach the batch file here but was not allowed, so create a new, blank text file, copy and paste the batch file commands above, save it as a batch file (i.e. choosename.bat and run it. Hope this helps. You would think someone from BD could come here and provide the help but, well, they're so busy dealing with all the people having this problem.

Interesting new info perhaps. I did a short scan to see if it would kill my registration and it didn't. It finished the scan and told me no errors. But no more updates. The history file shows the same sequence of "scan done" "can't update because scan is in progress."

Well, I know more I think.

When I go into the Virus Scan tab, it says the scan is still running. Inconsistent if it is or not.

But I see in Process Explorer that a process called uiscan.exe is running. I haven't seen that before. I read on another forum that that process ... "That mostly happens when the threat scanner has crashed."

SOOOOO, sounds logical that the scanner has a bug and hangs without terminating nicely, BD gets confused about whether the scan is actually over with or not.

But, my registration hasn't expired. I now wonder if when BD DECIDES my scan is done (via the Virus Scan) tab, that THEN my registration will expire. Time will tell.

So seems like a problem with the scanning engine. And then several things happen at the same time to trip the 1969 bug.

Ohhhh I love a good puzzle!

Attached pic shows inconsistencies of scanning.

history file shows scan done, but no updates because "scan in progress"
BitDefender shows scan still in progress in "Virus Scan" tab
I got the "scan complete" window a while ago
Update history shows the last two update errors

szo

My comp won't shut down after a failed scan attempt. I get a message 'uiscan not responding'.

Sent a report in a few days ago, but the only email I've received back is a marketing blurb about how fantastic BD 09 is :huh:

So seems like a problem with the scanning engine. And then several things happen at the same time to trip the 1969 bug.

Ohhhh I love a good puzzle!

Attached pic shows inconsistencies of scanning.

history file shows scan done, but no updates because "scan in progress"

BitDefender shows scan still in progress in "Virus Scan" tab

I got the "scan complete" window a while ago

Update history shows the last two update errors

So let me report on my current status. My suspicion of yesterday still holds. BD Virus Scan tab STILL says scan in progress. I have an entire night of failed updates.

(From the history.xml file)The update process did not succeed because an on-demand scan task is in progress. To perform the update stop the running scan task and try again.

No license expiration last night because no updates occurred successfully. The license failure happens after a successful download and update...and since my computer did HAVE a successful one...no error. And uiscan.exe is still loaded and not doing anything.

The scanning engine is hung.

Lisa

Lisa,

I think BD is waiting on you to release an update yourself that fixes this issue and then claim it as their own. You clearly understand it more than they do!

Thanks again for all the hard work and updates. I still haven't dumped bitdefender in hopes that they come out with a fix. I'm losing faith though. I'll probably actually make the switch to AVG this weekend. I just haven't had time to do it yet.

I just completed two chat sessions. In one, the rep told me to "Please be so kind and wait for my colleague's instructions , she will be able to respond to your question in the next hours, on the forum." When I told her I hoped that was the case as we've been waiting days for a response, she said "You will soon receive an response from my colleague, as I will surely put a high priority on this issue, crc."

In the other session, the rep said "Ok, let me send you all the steps you need to take in order to solve this.", but instead just sent me the canned SYSDUMP request email.

While composing this post, BD just told me it needed a reboot to finalize an update, so I guess we'll see what happens in the morning.

Well, despite no reply in the forums as promised, it appears the reboot I was prompted for yesterday on all my machines running AV2009 has resolved the issue, at least temporarily. I plan to continue to monitor the issue over the weekend, since that's when most of my scheduled scans will be happening. I will report back with results.

I'll probably actually make the switch to AVG this weekend. I just haven't had time to do it yet.

After repairing several PCs for friends and colleagues plus a couple of personal unpleasant experiences, I am not a fan of AVG. I will put up with a few days of BD idiosyncrasies before I let any AVG product touch my PCs.

Woke up this morning to find my bitdefender did NOT shut down last night. I performed an update yesterday evening...not sure if that update contained a fix or not. Just thought I'd let everyone know that for the moment, it appears that the situation might be resolved.

Lisa,

I think BD is waiting on you to release an update yourself that fixes this issue and then claim it as their own. You clearly understand it more than they do!

Thanks again for all the hard work and updates. I still haven't dumped bitdefender in hopes that they come out with a fix. I'm losing faith though. I'll probably actually make the switch to AVG this weekend. I just haven't had time to do it yet.

Hi dweb13

Thanks! I am happy to consult on the side if they are interested. However, I seriously doubt they would even consider a field-destroyer like me. ;-)

I haven't reported back in a few days because things keep changing. I am able to do a short scan without it barfing out. But my log files are different - where it used to barf out, I got a "registration renewal" and a "registration extension" = both new events. But the "extension" was just to my endpoint next year. This morning Firefix crashed when I was on Facebook, and then immediately BD came up with the "Expired" message, but when I go to BD, it appears to be running happily. But my log file is full of "cannot update because scan is in progress, after my scan completes. So Same Old Behavior at this point. Based on past behavior, BD may come up in the next couple hours with the "expired" message if things are still consistent.

So no, still doesn't work right, but didn't crash. But, I STILL have to reboot my machine to get new udpates!

Isn't that just called, COVERING UP THE PROBLEM, BITDEFENDER?

The program NOW APPEARS TO BE RUNNING FINE, but NO UPDATES ARE HAPPENING!

In MY BOOK, this becomes UNETHICAL! "Gee, users are getting upset at the errors and license expirations. So, let's fix the SYMPTOM and NOT TELL THEM that ALL SUBSEQUENT UPDATES are FAILING!" For someone like me, who leaves my computer running until something like vsserv.exe ###### nearly every available but of memory, I would be unprotected from new virus for as long as my machine remained "unbooted."

I continue my "Shame on BitDefender" stance.

Lisa

Sheesh.

And now back to your regularly scheduled nightmare.

... and more updates.

Starting Sunday around 11 am EST, 2 new event sources started appearing after a new download -

event source: PTweaks "Laptop mode is enabled" followed 15 seconds later by

event source: PTweaks "Laptop mode is disabled"

Again the same thing about 6 hrs later.

During the last day or so, I ran no scheduled scans, so I have had no errors. But I will reschedule some scans tonight now that the system appears to be stable WITHOUT scans running.

(I've also noticed that "flow control" has been applied to these threads to prevent us from updating both threads within a few minutes of one another. Hmmm)

... and more updates.

Starting Sunday around 11 am EST, 2 new event sources started appearing after a new download -

event source: PTweaks "Laptop mode is enabled" followed 15 seconds later by

event source: PTweaks "Laptop mode is disabled"

Again the same thing about 6 hrs later.

During the last day or so, I ran no scheduled scans, so I have had no errors. But I will reschedule some scans tonight now that the system appears to be stable WITHOUT scans running.

(I've also noticed that "flow control" has been applied to these threads to prevent us from updating both threads within a few minutes of one another. Hmmm)

Oh, so now they're playing the role of Big Brother! Great...makes me want to dump BD all the more!

Oh, so now they're playing the role of Big Brother! Great...makes me want to dump BD all the more!

I have no idea, but someone from BD contacted me yesterday with another fix to try, and I told them I wanted to do another experiment last night. So, PRE-BD request:

I was finally able to complete an on-demand scan. But it had update failures for 5 hours until a new download. So, kinda working.

BUT - AND THIS NEW THING ###### ME OFF!!!!

One of their downloads was to CLEAR ALL MY LOGS!!!! They cleared my history file for all my logs - every virus scan, all the registration failures and license expirations! I was USING THAT FOR MY OWN USE!!!!

The erasure was about 9:30 am April 13th - they erased everything.

BD has NO RIGHT TO ERASE MY HISTORY LOG FILES!!!

You know, I was just starting to get some better feelings about BD, but yes, you are right.

THEY ARE NOW BIG BROTHER!

This has truly gone on too long. For a supposedly reputable product dutifully paid for by the end user, and one that is intended to be a rock solid dependable protection against attack to prove completely unable to do so (reminds one of the Bush admin. on a certain September morn, doesn't it?), and to keep shutting down and locking the user out is unacceptable. The fallibility of this program, the ineffectual updates and otiose response from BitDefender's so-called "support" with their apparent disregard of the fine, intelligent and "above and beyond the call" help of posters such as Lisa and others here, leads me to believe that they know not what they do. The ship is foundering and attempts by the able-bodied to keep it on course are being ignored. Surely the captain is mad.

I recommend we all seek refuge in a more secure vessel.

Here is my message to BD in response to their ineptness (they even had the audacity to send me an email encouraging me to purchase another one of their products this morning!). I encourage you to do the same:

This update has not solved the issue with BD shutting down. I am still regularly (several times a day) being shut out of the program with the “license expired” message with only a reboot clearing the problem. In other words, the problem is still exactly the same.

It is now almost a month with this issue and no resolution. This coupled with my other issues with the program, and the fact that this is a wide spread problem as evinced by the numerous entries in your online forum is simply unacceptable in a paid for, commercial product of this nature.

I am sorry to say that my patience has reached an end and that I must demand a full refund of my purchase of this unstable product. Please respond with a confirmation of this and remit payment or put me in touch with someone who can.

Sigh. The saga continues. Still updates fail after a scan.

New info - previously happily updating BD starts immediately failing on updates after hibernating.

I grow weary of this.

Another post on my blog is in the works.

Woke up this morning to find my bitdefender did NOT shut down last night. I performed an update yesterday evening...not sure if that update contained a fix or not. Just thought I'd let everyone know that for the moment, it appears that the situation might be resolved.

Well, that is good news! Lemmee ask a couple questions because I lost track of your testing conditions. Please clarify - when you say "shut down" what do you mean? Did you run any scans after the update? Do you have automatic updates on? If so, would you look in your history.xml and see if the updates are successful? That is still where I see the failures with these conditions.

For me, I did a manual update before bed. Automatic updates were working fine too. I had 3 different scans scheduled in the night. As soon as the first one started, the updates started failing because "scan in progress." That's fine.

The last scan finished at 4am. Updates continued to fail for "scan in progress" until 6:44 am. After that time (until now) all updates are failing for just the "update failure" reason.

So, the same behavior continues with all my scans running. I figured it would still fail because it did with only one scan (and this time was 3 scans) but I thought it was possible that they had fixed the problem. I will continue testing with you!

The issue remains unresolved on my machine with BD's update still not ceasing the "license expired" shutdown. However after several volleys with customer support in which I outlined the continuing problem, referred them to the forum here and asked for some kind of acknowledgment of their part in this and received nothing but an apparently automated reply telling me to uninstall, download the latest update and reboot (all of which i have done now, multiple times with no successful result), I have finally received some satisfaction (of sorts) in being told by BD (also an automated reply) that I am being issued a refund for my purchase of the product.

Though disappointed, I feel this is the only just outcome for a situation that has bordered on unethical and incompetent on the part of a "reputable" company selling supposed security to the masses, a company that continues to enjoy the reputation as one of the best AV solutions with superior customer support! Surely that reputation has been bought and paid for by BD themselves and not been earned through the scrutiny of unbiased third party investigation for it is surely not the experience of the myriad users whose problems and customer service dead ends virtually fill this forum.

The only thing, no doubt, that will reach the ears of those behind all this is the sound of our money going away from them.

If you agree that there behaviour has been unacceptable, then let them know by a vote of no-confidence and demand a refund. Let them then rebuild a reputation through honest work.

kungfu

The issue remains unresolved on my machine with BD's update still not ceasing the "license expired" shutdown. However after several volleys with customer support in which I outlined the continuing problem, referred them to the forum here and asked for some kind of acknowledgment of their part in this and received nothing but an apparently automated reply telling me to uninstall, download the latest update and reboot (all of which i have done now, multiple times with no successful result), I have finally received some satisfaction (of sorts) in being told by BD (also an automated reply) that I am being issued a refund for my purchase of the product.

Though disappointed, I feel this is the only just outcome for a situation that has bordered on unethical and incompetent on the part of a "reputable" company selling supposed security to the masses, a company that continues to enjoy the reputation as one of the best AV solutions with superior customer support! Surely that reputation has been bought and paid for by BD themselves and not been earned through the scrutiny of unbiased third party investigation for it is surely not the experience of the myriad users whose problems and customer service dead ends virtually fill this forum.

The only thing, no doubt, that will reach the ears of those behind all this is the sound of our money going away from them.

If you agree that there behaviour has been unacceptable, then let them know by a vote of no-confidence and demand a refund. Let them then rebuild a reputation through honest work.

Well said !, Its a point that the "big" Stores overhere dont even sell Bitdefender anymore

I have used BDefender for Years but since 2008/2009 They lost it ,

Why ?, Dont know ,maybe change in personal ......

Well said !, Its a point that the "big" Stores overhere dont even sell Bitdefender anymore

I have used BDefender for Years but since 2008/2009 They lost it ,

Why ?, Dont know ,maybe change in personal ......

Good news and bad news for me. (SP2, Lenovo T60)

1. Good news. I have the BSoD issue that always happened when a scheduled scan began but never happened when I did my own scan. BD support gave me a fix that involved a change to my registry made on a Safe Boot.

This seems to have worked - no more BSoD during scheduled scans

2. Good news, hopefully. Many rootkits showing for Lenovo's c:\\RRBackups and not being able to get BD to stop scanning them. These have now vanished from my scan logs - hopefully the registry change (in 1.) did not just bypass all rootkit scans

3. Bad news. BD failed during an update this morning, while I was away, leaving me a screen pop-up that "services have been temporarily switched off for an update". But the "temporarily" was an hour long. The "Fix Issues" button for "The update has never been performed" did not work. My Windows Event Viewer log and the BidDefender update log shows the sequence:

7:30:44 am (Bit Defender log) "The update files were successfully downloaded"

7:31:56 am (Event viewer log) "The BitDefender Virus Shield service entered the stopped state."

7:31:57 am (Event viewer log) "The BitDefender Desktop Update Service service entered the stopped state."

7:31:57 am (Event viewer log) "The BitDefender Virus Shield service was successfully sent a start control."

7:31:57 am (Event viewer log) "The BitDefender Virus Shield service entered the running state"

7:32:01 am (Event viewer log) "The BitDefender Desktop Update Service service was successfully sent a start control."

7:32:01 am (Event viewer log) "The BitDefender Desktop Update Service service entered the running state."

about 8:30 am I find BitDefender (apparently) down with the two pop-ups mentioned above

8:33:27am (Bit Defender log) "The engines and signatures were successfully updated"

8:36:06 am (Event viewer log) "The Event log service was stopped (that is, due to manual rebooted)

8:37:09 am (Event viewer log) "The Event log service was started (that is, due to manual rebooted)

So,am I to assume that BitDefender was not really stopped? And I was really undefended for 60 or less minutes?

But the evidence seems to indicate that an update was sent down but never installed and that BitDefender just hung