Absolutely impossible to uninstall Bitdefender's leftovers - help (sorely) needed;

VitsF
edited January 2022 in Archive

Hello!

I have been using the "Bitdefender Antivirus Free", in a Win10-64bit system.

My tormenting issue started when, for 3 consecutive days, I got the "Failed to activate protection".

After restarting and rebooting the PC, this problem persisted, and I found no reason or solution to it. Malwarebytes and Windows Defender found no malware of any sort, so I gathered the issue was with Bitdefender itself and tried to reinstall it.

Even after uninstalling it, there is an unreasonable amount of content left behind by the program, which is awful. And it's even worse to consider how much of a headache it is to try deleting these leftover folders.

After suffering to delete 99% of said content, there is ONE single .dll file left behind, called "antimalware_provider64.dll" (original name in properties listed as 'antimalw.dll').

I have tried all and every procedure there is to delete the folder. I managed to beat the 'this file is being used by another program' phase, but now, it keeps insisting I don't have permission (from myself) to delete the folder. Every attempt, even through windows prompt commands - be it to seize full ownership of the file or to delete - always ends up in 'ACCESS DENIED'.

Given that this succession of errors was caused by Bitdefender, I really, really need help with removing this untouchable file from my system.

I've already lost too much time trying to solve something that shouldn't even be an issue to start with, if only the AV didn't leave so much clutter behind, almost purposefully.

Any help or input would be amazingly appreciated - I'm lost.


-> C:\Program Files\Bitdefender Antivirus Free\bdamsi\265245515735940638\antimalware_provider64.dll 😡

Comments

  • Hello!

    I have been using the "Bitdefender Antivirus Free", in a Win10-64bit system.

    My tormenting issue started when, for 3 consecutive days, I got the "Failed to activate protection".

    After restarting and rebooting the PC, this problem persisted, and I found no reason or solution to it. Malwarebytes and Windows Defender found no malware of any sort, so I gathered the issue was with Bitdefender itself and tried to reinstall it.

    Even after uninstalling it, there is an unreasonable amount of content left behind by the program, which is awful. And it's even worse to consider how much of a headache it is to try deleting these leftover folders.

    After suffering to delete 99% of said content, there is ONE single .dll file left behind, called "antimalware_provider64.dll" (original name in properties listed as 'antimalw.dll').

    I have tried all and every procedure there is to delete the folder. I managed to beat the 'this file is being used by another program' phase, but now, it keeps insisting I don't have permission (from myself) to delete the folder. Every attempt, even through windows prompt commands - be it to seize full ownership of the file or to delete - always ends up in 'ACCESS DENIED'.

    Given that this succession of errors was caused by Bitdefender, I really, really need help with removing this untouchable file from my system.

    I've already lost too much time trying to solve something that shouldn't even be an issue to start with, if only the AV didn't leave so much clutter behind, almost purposefully.

    Any help or input would be amazingly appreciated - I'm lost.


    -> C:\Program Files\Bitdefender Antivirus Free\bdamsi\265245515735940638\antimalware_provider64.dll 😡

  • Hello!

    I have been using the "Bitdefender Antivirus Free", in a Win10-64bit system.

    My tormenting issue started when, for 3 consecutive days, I got the "Failed to activate protection".

    After restarting and rebooting the PC, this problem persisted, and I found no reason or solution to it. Malwarebytes and Windows Defender found no malware of any sort, so I gathered the issue was with Bitdefender itself and tried to reinstall it.

    Even after uninstalling it, there is an unreasonable amount of content left behind by the program, which is awful. And it's even worse to consider how much of a headache it is to try deleting these leftover folders.

    After suffering to delete 99% of said content, there is ONE single .dll file left behind, called "antimalware_provider64.dll" (original name in properties listed as 'antimalw.dll').

    I have tried all and every procedure there is to delete the folder. I managed to beat the 'this file is being used by another program' phase, but now, it keeps insisting I don't have permission (from myself) to delete the folder. Every attempt, even through windows prompt commands - be it to seize full ownership of the file or to delete - always ends up in 'ACCESS DENIED'.

    Given that this succession of errors was caused by Bitdefender, I really, really need help with removing this untouchable file from my system.

    I've already lost too much time trying to solve something that shouldn't even be an issue to start with, if only the AV didn't leave so much clutter behind, almost purposefully.

    Any help or input would be amazingly appreciated - I'm lost.


    -> C:\Program Files\Bitdefender Antivirus Free\bdamsi\265245515735940638\antimalware_provider64.dll 

    😡

    

  • I hope these Instructions fix your problem:
    Go to Settings
    Click Apps
    Wait for the apps to load
    Uninstall Bitdefender Free Security and Bitdefender Agent
    If this does not fix your problem, I'm sorry. I don't know how to fix this issue.
  • I hope these Instructions fix your problem:
    Go to Settings
    Click Apps
    Wait for the apps to load
    Uninstall anything with Bitdefender in them.
    I hope this fixes your problem.
  • Bitdefender IS impossible to uninstall. I use the free version on my computer and Gravityzone on the office computer I manage. It does not even appear in Windows apps manager. It almost feels like they don't want us to use anything else than their products. You know what else behave that way? Malware...