Msg:bitdefender Quickscan Automatically Removed . . . Again & Again . . .

I installed Bitdefender (free) online virus scanner on 27 April 2016 in a Windows 7 laptop.

Now (2016-07-19) for about two weeks,

The alert (apparently from Chrome)

Confirm Changes

The extension "Bitdefender QuickScan" was automatically removed.

keeps appearing about one a day and it seems to make no difference whether I click "OK" or "Details" or just wait for it to be removed from the screen by an unconnected mouse-click.

It isn't clear if this action is prompted by Chrome or BitDefender or something else.

Question 1. Who is trying to remove it? Why?

Either

1. It is not being removed despite the past tense of the alert message, or

2. Something else (presumably a part of BitDefender) is automatically putting it back.

I don't mind if Bitdefender remains or is removed from my machine, but I'd really prefer it not to repeatedly give me what appears to be an incorrect and irrelevant message.

Question 2. How can I stop it repeating this message or uninstall BitDefender?

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Quickscan

info message

Quickscan removed

Comments

kodiakchris

I have the exact same issue, and it is several times a day, both at home and at work. (I use the same Chrome signin to sync my bookmarks and extensions.) "Bitdefender Quickscan was automatically removed" message, no way to track down the source. I even installed Bitdefender and uninstalled it to try and get rid of the message. No effect.

Can Bitdefender help us out with this?

Sorin G.

Hello,

Google has enforced a new set of policies regarding their browser extensions and the scanning behavior that ours has is no longer accepted.

Please ensure the extension is removed from all browsers shared on that account so it no longer tries to synchronize it on other devices/browser instances.

hedles

Hi Sorin,

Thanks for your interest and reply.

When I go to the Chrome extensions page BitDefender isn't even listed there.

Can you explain what exactly is happening, please?

Is the extension being removed and then reinstalled somehow? If so which piece of software is responsible for initiating the removal? Is it Chrome or Some part of BitDefender?

And is it then getting reinstalled and if so by what and why?

Whichever it is, what is the appropriate thing to do to get rid of this irritating and apparently meaningless popup? If it means uninstalling BitDefender and then reinstalling when I want to use it again that's fine by me, but by Chris's reported experience above it looks like something more needs to be done. Is it something that gets stuck in the scheduled processes list or something like that - maybe a rogue registry entry or something?

Although I expect all this is probably totally benign, it just *feels* uncomfortably virus-like behaviour.

Thanks again for your help.

Is the extension being removed and then reinstalled somehow

Sorin G.

Hello,

Basically you have the extension on your Google account, every time your Google account synchronizes with a Chrome install it will try to deploy the extension as thats what you had installed.

Sadly the Bitdefender extension has no power over Chrome, it will just be uninstalled automatically and the same Chrome will try to reinstall it.

You can try going to chrome://extensions tick the Developer Mode box at the top of the page and see if you can see the extension there and remove it.

Alternatively you should have npqscan.dll in your Chrome folder, simply delete it.

dman1

I tried all of these steps and none of them worked.

ych

i also tried all of these steps and none of them worked. i tried to update extensions in chrome via developer mode > update extensions now and nothing showed up. i also tried to reset my chrome settings and still my the message shows up

togo73

Since BitDefender seems to be ignoring this annoying issue, here is a workable solution (adapted from https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=327410#c69):

Create an empty folder on your disk, named "BitDefender Uninstaller".
Inside that folder, create a text file named manifest.json, with the following content:


{
  "manifest_version": 2,
  "name": "BitDefender QuickScan Uninstaller",
  "version": "1.0",
  "description": "BitDefender QuickScan Uninstaller",
  "permissions": [ "management" ],
  "browser_action": { },
  "background": { "scripts": ["background.js"] }
}

Inside that folder, create a text file named background.js, with the following content:


chrome.browserAction.onClicked.addListener(function(tab) {
  chrome.management.uninstall('pdnkcidphdcakpkheohlhocaicfamjie');
  chrome.management.uninstallSelf();
});

Open Chrome, and type "chrome://extensions" in the address bar (see below).
Select "Load unpacked extensions..." and navigate to the folder you created ("BitDefender Uninstaller"). Then click "OK".
The uninstaller will appear as shown below, as well as a new icon "" in the Chrome menu.
Click on the "" and the BitDefender extension will be uninstalled, as well as the uninstaller itself.

dman1

togo73,

I appreciate your effort, but I'm getting the following error when trying your recommendation.

Failed to load extension from: ~\Desktop\BitDefender Uninstaller

Manifest file is missing or unreadable.