Screens completely blank after login

I am a new user of Total Security Multidevice 2017 as of today. I registered on Central, downloaded and installed and everything seemed ok. It prompted me to remove my previous security program and restart. It then downloaded itself (again) and started the install. I then updated the software (and I presume the virus definitions) and it gave a little flag to say a restart was needed. I duly complied. After it went through the reboot, my login screen appeared as usual but when I logged in, all I got was a black screen and only a mouse pointer visible. I did a bit of a search and somewhere there was a post about delays but not in this case - nothing happened. Although TSM2017 did not complain, I remembered that there was a firewall installed. I managed to boot into safe mode (which also seems to be a bit hit and miss) but you cannot uninstall in safe mode. I have no idea what to do now, any advice? I am on Windows 10.

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Sorin G.

Hello,

What exactly are you trying to uninstall in Safe Mode ?

If youre trying to uninstall Bitdefender there, you just need to run the Bitdefender Uninstall Tool.

http://www.bitdefender.com/files/KnowledgeBase/file/Bitdefender_2016_UninstallTool.exe

Also the blank screen might not persist. Please allow it more time and see if it goes into the desktop.

I have hunch it might be because of the early boot scan. That can be disabled from Protection > View Modules > AntiVirus > On-Access Scanning - Custom > Miscellaneous = Early boot scan

neil-f

Thank you for the reply. I waited some considerable time but the screen remained blank. The uninstaller worked and got me back to some normality, but I still need to get TSM working. I will spend time tomorrow removing the previous firewall (seems like that will be a challenge) and ensure the antivirus program is completely gone. I will report back.

Sorin G.

Hello,

Please let me know if the previous firewall is Comodo. As it is known to cause such issues.

Always ensure the system is clean of any other security solutions prior to installing a new anti-virus.

neil-f

Thank you, Sorin, for your help and I apologise for the delay in replying.

Yes it was Comodo and it did a major number on my machine trying to remove it. It would be nice if the Bitdefender install had noticed its presence but I accept that I should have removed it first. Unlike Bitdefender, Comodo provide no help in removing their software and it is left to their community to outline an esoteric alchemical process to remove it - there is no uninstaller. After a variety of issues I ended up doing a clean install of Windows 10 (something overdue on my machine) and I have backups so nothing lost. TSM is happily working now.

The best advice on uninstalling Comodo is not to install it.

johnjk

I also have now got this problem after installing Anti virus plus 2017 today. Just come off of chat with Paula. My problem now is trying to get windows 10 into safe mode. How did you mange to get into safe mode. Any advice on my situation would be welcome.

neil-f

None of the 'official' options seemed to work, so I used an extreme version I discovered somewhere on the web. I started the computer and after the first 10 or 15 seconds of start up, I pushed and held the start button so it forced it to shut down. I did this a second time and at the third the OS intervenes and says something like 'it seems there is a problem.' The website said do it three times, but I only needed to do it twice. Anyway, it then takes you to the advanced start up options and you can choose safe mode from there. It could cause problems (although I did not have any) but I was desperate!

johnjk

Thanks for the advice neil-f. That did not work for me, so I started to get ready for a backup recovery. Before I started it booted into windows. Even with just Antivirus plus 2017 on the pc, web browsers took over a minute to open. Some programs like 7zip refused to open at all. So went into safe mode and used the bitdefender removal tool. Replaced bitdefender with Avira free and the pc is working fine now. May well reinstall comodo as it's the only firewall around that give you total control. If you get infected with a virus that phones home it blocks it. Others just appear to let any out bound connection take place if it looks legit. A few years ago I had free Mcafee from my internet provider and was infected on two pc's, only knew about it because of the Comodo block. Will have to see if I can get my money back ,as only had it just over 24 hours.