Really, really tired of the "Unsafe Wifi" popup

PoppySarah

I've been happy with Bitdefender since installing it some 8 months ago. With one major exception. I'm really tired of having the Bitdefender VPN pushed on me practically every time I log in. I don't want the Bitdefender VPN, I have a product with which I'm very pleased and I have no desire or intention to change. Most specifically, whenever I log into a Wifi network that doesn't match the Bitdefender password best-practices (must contain a capital letter and a number, which any number of weak passwords can manage..) I get the annoying popup announcing that I've logged into an unsafe wifi network and should really consider using the Bitdefender VPN. 

I had to do a LOT of poking around online, and spent god knows how much time turning off and on various features in the app, until I finally learned that this notification cannot be turned off. Bitdefender touts it as a security feature. Yeah, right. Password1 has a capital letter and a number, and therefore would meet the requirements, but the network I'm currently using, which is very carefully protected, has a long passphrase without capital letters or numbers, and therefore every. single. time. I log into my computer, I get to turn off the popup informing me of my desperate need for the Bitdefender VPN. 

I know it's a minor issue, but I'm paying for this service specifically so that I do NOT have to deal with popups, and after 8 months, it's turning into a more-than-minor issue. I travel a lot, and I log into a lot of different wifi networks. I cannot change the passwords of wifi networks not belonging to me. Therefore, I purchased a strongly-recommended, well-reviewed VPN with a three-year subscription, and use it every day. I do not need to be warned every single time I sign into a network that it's "unsafe." At this point, I have no desire to have two VPN services, and my current subscription still has two years remaining. I wouldn't even be particularly adverse to using the Bitdefender product, but the endless, aggressive marketing under the guise of protection is really turning me off. I mean, I just looked at my settings, and my system hasn't been scanned for 68 days, because somehow my auto-scan function had been turned off... but Bitdefender didn't think that was worthy of a popup warning?

This is a rant, because now that I've learned I literally cannot turn off this "feature" I'm really annoyed. It's likely enough to mean that I'll switch to another antivirus program when my subscription expires in four months. While doing my research on how to turn off this feature, it was clear to me that I'm far from alone in my annoyance. Perhaps the programming team can consider giving users the option of taking the calculated risk of using these "unsafe" networks without the constant popup alert. 

I truly do like a lot about Bitdefender, but it's not the only game out there, and this has gotten really annoying. Perhaps it's not such a big deal to many, but as I said, I travel a lot. I'm on any number of different networks any given week, and most of them -- MOST OF THEM -- do not meet the capital-letter-and-number "Strong Password" requirement. I know this. I have taken my own steps to take care of the issues. I do not need to be reminded by popups, as a paying customer, that a VPN product is available through Bitdefender. 

I know this isn't something that can be fixed by whomever is responsible for reading and responding to these messages, but if that someone would be so kind as to submit my message to whomever can make these changes, adding my voice to the no-doubt other complaints received about this issue on a regular basis, hopefully someone will take steps to make this otherwise-excellent product into something I would like to renew at the end of my current subscription. 

My issue seems to be universal across the Bitdefender product line, but for what it's worth: 

I'm running a subscription to Bitdefender Total Security. I can't find the version information anywhere, but given that I just reinstalled the entire program so that I'd have the 2020 version, it's up-to-date. My system is Microsoft Windows 10 pro

The error message reads something like "bitdefender has detected that you are connected to an unsafe wifi network." 

 

Look , the last forum post I read about this, the Bitdefender employee took the customer through an incredibly long series of version checking, turning off and on options and then, finally, revealed that this message cannot be turned off unless the wifi password matches Bitdefender security protocol. I don't know if this means the employee was unaware of the fact that the message is not optional, but I want to be really clear that unless something has been changed in the last few months, when that topic was closed, this isn't a programming error, it's a "feature." I'm submitting this as a request that the feature be made optional, I'm aware that it's not simply a matter of turning off a switch in the "vulnerabilities" dashboard. 

Thank you. I don't often post to forums, it's one of my least favorite means of communication, but it took me forever to find out that I couldn't turn this off, so I'm hoping I might at the very least help another frustrated consumer save some time. 

Alex_A

Street

 Virus signatures are updated very often ... fullscreen, check the notification screen if it was using some of the protected folders along) ... Your novice friends; Users tired of using advanced witchcraft configs; Parents for their kids ... Wifi Advisor details.png Wifi Advisor categories.png Unsafe WiFi advisor.png. My Great Lakes

NLouis_1

Hiya @poppysarah. Did you get a resolution for this. I have just purchased the Bitdefender today and struggling to get the VPN connection for protection. With that said, I really don't want a load of popups. It sounds like you're getting pop-ups because you don't have it installed, right?

Otherwise, is it all good? Thanks, Nik

Charyb

I had this problem and went to Protection -> Vulnerability -> Settings and turned off Wi-Fi Security Advisor and I also turned off User passwords.

I just received a toaster pop-up which had a link to Bitdefender Digital Identity Protection after previously turning off Special Offers and Recommendation Notifications at Settings -> General. Just as annoying.