Goddbye Bitdefender

I've been quite happy with BD until my licence approached renewal time. First, I think I got 5 days notice - not a lot and not enough as, for much of this time, I was interstate with no internet access. Next, I could not upgrade my V10 but had to update to BD 2008. OK but then I had trouble paying for it; contacted BD tech support re this but they obviously cannot read because they provided me with installation instructions. I downloaded, but could not install, BD 2008. Firstly, it wanted me to uninstall my BD-10, which is ridiculous but I complied. BD 2008 just stuck its finger in its ear and then zombied my computer. This was on the final day of my licence and, at this stage, I had been without AV protection for many hours. At this point, I had no choice but to grab a freebie from elsewhere.

My wife uses a second PC with Bitdefender. Because we had visitors, she had not touched her PC for days and, in particular, had not upgraded BD. Today, she started up her PC, hoping that an out of date AV package was better than nothing. Imagine her surprise, and mine, when BD kindly informed her that the licence had expired and BD was no longer working. This is absolutely outrageous. I have NEVER heard of an AV package that just dies when it is out of date.

I will never even consider buying back into BD under any circumstances.

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Comments

msmihai

Hello.

Why do you sau it's ridiculous that BD asked you to uninstall an older version ? It's perfectly normal that a software of this importance should have only one version installed . Not to mention that you computer would have run slower.

BD 2008 just stuck its finger in its ear and then zombied my computer.

Although i'm a big fan of horror movies, i have never heard of a zombie computer :rolleyes: .Be more specific please. It ate you brain or something like that ?

The program that helps you install Bitdefender 2008 is especially made to be simple and easy to use by anyone. You just have to hit the "Next" button without even reading the content for a succesful installation ( just to show you it's simplicity, it's quite important to read the information ).

This was on the final day of my licence and, at this stage, I had been without AV protection for many hours.

If , for any reasons, this happens again , don't panic. If you regularly used BD before, you computer is clean so you can't have one that is currently active. Attention ! You could infect yourself by executing suspicious programs or by simply accesing pages on the internet ( if you have a network virus, for example ) . So, in this short time when you don't have protection, don't run any programs you don't know and try entering pages you know. After you have renewed you BD license, make a full computer scan just to be sure.

The event with your wife is quite strange. BD doesn't expire just because it's out of thate. It expires when it reaches the end of the license period or if, by any means , the time on you computer changes ( like when you reset the CMOS memory ). To be true, I myself experienced this kind of problem with a trial version of BD . I just installed it on a clean copy of Windows XP and, after the first update, it notified me that it expired. Minor problems, i guess.

I'm quite sad you're willing to give up so easily because of some normal behaviours of an out-of-date program. And apart from that, BD did his job this time when you were licensed. I hope you'll think this over .

TheWatcher

Today, she started up her PC, hoping that an out of date AV package was better than nothing. Imagine her surprise, and mine, when BD kindly informed her that the licence had expired and BD was no longer working. This is absolutely outrageous. I have NEVER heard of an AV package that just dies when it is out of date.

I will never even consider buying back into BD under any circumstances.

i don't know of any AV app that doesn't restrict use once the registration has expired... what would be the point of buying or renewing it if the program still worked after expiration? :blink:

alexcrist

Hello ozziepaul,

I've been quite happy with BD until my licence approached renewal time. First, I think I got 5 days notice - not a lot and not enough as, for much of this time, I was interstate with no internet access.

Allow me to correct you. BitDefender announces it's expiration 30 days in advance. Practically, in the last 30 days of the license, BD's behavior is just the same as the trial period: everytime it starts, you are notified with the remaining period.

Now...I know this might be a problem if you don't restart BitDefender (for example if you don't shut down your computer, and you only use Hibernate, BitDefender won't show the notice). But did you really spend more than 25 days without a reboot?

Next, I could not upgrade my V10 but had to update to BD 2008.

Yes, BD2008 licenses are not backwards-compatible, so you cannot use them for BDv10 (or any other older version). Unfortunately, this is what the company decided to do (don't ask me why), so anyone who renews the license has to upgrade to BD2008.

Firstly, it wanted me to uninstall my BD-10, which is ridiculous but I complied.

BDv10 and BD2008 are totally different products. In order to prevent any incompatibilities or upgrade problems, you have to uninstall firstly the previous versions, and after that install the new version. This method was used since a long time ago (also, to be able to install BDv10 you had to remove previous versions) and the removal procedure is very simple. You only have to use the BD Uninstall Tool, which does all the work with the push of a button.

Yes, this is a little annoying, because you loose all your settings. But BD2008 has a different structure, different settings, etc... and upgrading without uninstallation would be very risky.

An advantage would be that, if you remove the older version with the Uninstall Tool, you will get 30-day free trial for the new version. So you don't even have to buy it right away (especially since you say you travel, and you don't always have internet access). In those 30 days, you can see what you can do to renew the license.

My wife uses a second PC with Bitdefender. Because we had visitors, she had not touched her PC for days and, in particular, had not upgraded BD. Today, she started up her PC, hoping that an out of date AV package was better than nothing. Imagine her surprise, and mine, when BD kindly informed her that the licence had expired and BD was no longer working. This is absolutely outrageous. I have NEVER heard of an AV package that just dies when it is out of date.

Correct me if I'm wrong: do you and your wife, by any chance, have the same license key, activated in the same period? If yes, then once YOUR license expired, it's absolutely normal that your wife's license expired. It's nothing outrageous, nothing weird about it. It's just normal behavior.

BitDefender didn't stop working because you didn't update the virus database, it expired because the license expired.

Also, the license period is the period between the installation and expiration, as a continuous period. It's NOT determined by the fact that you don't use the computer for a while. So, in the case that you don't use your computer for, let's say, 100 days, that doesn't mean that your license will last 100 days longer. The license will expire at the same date.

There are some companies which let you use the product after the license has expired (without the possibility of making updates). But those licenses are actually subscriptions to updates (product and database updates). BitDefender doesn't do this. It only sells subscription to product usage, which means that BitDefender will completely stop working after expiration. It's not outrageous, it's not illegal, and BD is not the only company that does this. It is written in the EULA, which you accepted when you installed the product (even if you read it or not, you accepted it).

I will never even consider buying back into BD under any circumstances.

As Mihai said, you are giving up BitDefender based on it's normal behavior. It's your choice and nobody can stop you, because it's a free world and a free market.

However, I would like to ask you: did you have any other problems with the product? Did it manage to keep your computer safe?

Even if what you experienced were real problems, consider that you would experience them only once a year (at most), and by the next renewal, these things might chance. I would base my renewal decision based on the overall usage of BitDefender, not based on a few minor issues (which are normal) that I experienced once. I hope you do the same.

Cris.

sheaven

Allow me to correct you. BitDefender announces it's expiration 30 days in advance. Practically, in the last 30 days of the license, BD's behavior is just the same as the trial period: everytime it starts, you are notified with the remaining period.

That is quite simply not correct. I may well have got a message 30 days prior which, if I was busy I would have ignored. I most certainly did NOT get any further warnings until 5 days out.

But did you really spend more than 25 days without a reboot?

Of course not!

Yes, BD2008 licenses are not backwards-compatible, so you cannot use them for BDv10 (or any other older version).

Not a problem but it would have been nice to be warned.

BDv10 and BD2008 are totally different products. In order to prevent any incompatibilities or upgrade problems, you have to uninstall firstly the previous versions, and after that install the new version.

So why isn't it part of the install process?

and upgrading without uninstallation would be very risky.

Not as risky as being without AV protection for many hours which is where BD left me.

There are some companies which let you use the product after the license has expired (without the possibility of making updates).

Correction - 'most companies'.

It's not outrageous, it's not illegal, and BD is not the only company that does this.

Name another one. I have been in IT for many years and have NEVER come across another AV product that stops when it is due to be renewed.

As Mihai said, you are giving up BitDefender based on it's normal behavior.

This is garbage. Are you really trying to tell me it is 'normal behaviour' to not install and just virtually stop my computer?

. a few minor issues (which are normal)

'minor'? You must be joking!

rebel300

When I bought the Antivirus 2008 package for 3 PCs for a two year license, I was immediately concerned when one of the registration screens stated I now have 700+ some odd days left on the license. I have never seen that kind of two year timer before, and began to suspect the marketing practices of BD were a little too "rigid" for actual use by a home user. I wondered if it would just -- Cut me off! Wow. That is some serious disregard for why the customer even wants to use a antivirus program in the first place.

When I immediately had repeated conflicts with drivers and now Windows Media Player immediate shut down + blasting me with repeated and very irritating WMP notice screens telling me so often such that I could no longer work on my machine, I wondered why the BD engineers didn't work with Microsoft prior to the release in the Windows upgrade agent of Service Pack 1 for Vista? So I uninstall AntiVirus 2008 to use WMP, (And unplug from the net to avoid viral infection) then reinstall BD AV 2008 when I need to go online. This past week has not been fun.

But that was just the tip of the iceberg. I tried to contact technical support, no answer, I tried to contact customer support, get connected and they hang up. Then I go to see "My Products" on the BD website and find out that BD has me in the system as a customer of the free BD version 8. Well, I certainly paid for it, and I don't consider $30 paid for the product as "free". But the BD computer has it wrong, so that is apparently why I cannot get technical support or why customer service won't talk to me.

Now I learn that even if I read every one of these complaints and fixes, and if I succeed and fix the program to work and get it working, it is never the less designed to not work when the license expires. By the way, since the BD system doesn't even know I am a registered customer, I think I know why it isn't working right now.

I believe the problem is in the BD computers and licensing restrictions system, and not in my machine at all. After all, it is designed to not work if you can't get registered with BD.

I put up with the driver conflicts with Vista, I thought I would solve it with the purchase of the 3 PC/2 year license to get the latest product. Seems to have fixed that problem.

I put up so far with the Windows Media Player heads on conflict with BD Antivirus 2008 apparently caused by the Microsoft Windows Upgrade running to implement Vista SP 1 until now because as an early adopter, I occasionally encounter conflicts from time to time and usually resolve them fairly quickly by staying in touch with some of the better forums.

I put up with and even smiled when I learned the Bit Defender computer didn't even know what I had purchased and registered in their database. The fact that it is preventing me from getting any usable assistance is not, however, funny at all.

But I cannot tolerate the ugly disregard for the safety of the customer from the virus threats demonstrated by the crass turn off of a "security" program on a timer. BD has lost sight of the fundamental customer need.

So, in summary, even though this has been a long and bumpy road, I like the program. And even though it still doesn't work right or do what it is represented to do as it is advertised and sold as working with Vista, I would keep working on it in the hopes that it could be made to function properly.

I have decided that the disregard for the customer, however, is too great to ignore. This is especially true of a company selling "security" products. Please cash me out, and give me my money back.

Bit Defender doesn't care about it's customers.

"Not as risky as being without AV protection for many hours which is where BD left me."

jorkka

My friend uses BD antivirus with XP. Works just fine and is light on resources. When installing it on XP it may cause some HDD access that might slow whole things a lot.

Why? Because its using background scanning. When its done, its just sit down there, consuming memory 20mb most. Basically, its the same than Kaspersky's i-swift technique.

Which means: "do no scan files that already are scanned, until they checks out CRC"

I think that BitDefender B-HAVE just behaves just like that.

Im not using vista and never will. Its hard to find any security suites for vista that works fine without slowing down your boot process and surfing.

Releasing vista compatible av/iss system without properly tested is a joke. Thats why all the av companys are on the race, who can bring solid working suite for vista that does not slow things down.