How to stop the extremely annoying notification "Threat detected"

david63

OK so I installed BitDefender last Friday as I refused to pay a well known Russian company any of my money for a similar product.

I wish that I had seen this topic before purchase as I would not have have paid for this product.

I cannot believe that this issue has been on going for almost 12 months.

I cannot understand why there are so many of these popups for the same file - I am getting them for emails and yesterday I had to dismiss around 500 times for about 20 emails and that was after deleting them from "Notifications". Yes I want to know about threats, but not at the expense of actually working with my computer.

Whilst the number of "alerts" is annoying the change of focus is even more so.

I, and I suspect everyone else, want one notification for each event, no change of focus and the option to dismiss ALL events with one click (if I need to know the details then I will look at the notifications) - I do not feel that the ability to turn off these notifications is the right way to go.

If there are no signs that the "engineers" can fix this then I will be requesting my money back as this product is not fit for purpose

Alexandru_BD

Hello @david63,

There is an ongoing investigation regarding this behaviour.

But the issue has not been present for almost 12 months, as the "Threat detected" pop-up is a legitimate security notification. However, the security researchers and developers have learned that on some occassions, after accessing a website or even emails, the “Threat detected” popup may appear when a threat is found, as this is the expected behaviour, but if you close it, in some cases it reappears immediately a few times and the frequence may vary. This is the actual issue and the behaviour has been observed with different threats encountered, so it's not necessary tied to a particular type of threat, as the notification itself can have various triggers.

Going forward, as our engineers continue to receive such reports and we have plenty of comments in this thread as well, I am looking forward to a swift resolution and a fix for this behaviour and I know that it can be extremely frustrating to get so may notifications consecutively. To address this on the spot, you may get in touch with our engineers, as they can help eliminate the threat that is triggering the notification and supress the pop-ups.

https://www.bitdefender.com/consumer/support/help/

Later edit:

As a temporary workaround, you can also enable the Game Profile and see how the pop-ups behave afterwards. The following product settings are applied when the Game Profile is activated:

• All Bitdefender alerts and pop-ups are disabled
• Automatic Update is postponed
• Scheduled scans are postponed
• Search Advisor is disabled
• Special offers notifications are disabled

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Regards

Borcha

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/comment/318841#Comment_318841

Hi @Alexandru_BD ,

indeed, we have already had the call with an engineer on the 9th of Dec who was really kind and did his best to solve the problem, but unfortunately, despite all the effort, he could not stop the popups from showing each second. The only thing he could do was to open a high priority ticket to the developers and said a product update would solve the issue.

Unfortunately, in my case, your suggestion to turn on the Game Profile does not help, either, the popups will keep flooding... Just how long will it take to solve this issue for good???

Alexandru_BD

Hello @Borcha,

I am sorry to hear this. Yes, the Support engineers are making continuous efforts to help each affected user and the tickets are collected for the development teams as standard procedure, whenever there's an open technical investigation. This way, they can measure the impact and get insights that may help them find a permanent fix.

We don't have an ETA now, but this is a high priority task for all the teams involved.

Regards

cpk19

@Alexandru_BD

Holy ****! How is this still a problem?! ALL WE ARE ASKING FOR IS THE ABILITY TO TURN OFF ALL NOTIFICATIONS! IT'S SUCH A SIMPLE SOLUTION AND IT WOULD FIX THOUSANDS OF HEADACHES. Your replies to literally every thread I have seen on this topic are infuriating because you completely gloss over this feature that EVERYONE IS ASKING FOR.

LET.

US.

TURN.

OFF.

THE.

NOTIFICATIONS.

This is quite literally the only program/platform/service/application I use that lacks this BASIC feature.

Tell your "engineers" to get on it.

Alexandru_BD

Hello @cpk19 and thanks for joining the conversation.

Please read my comment here:

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/comment/319070#Comment_319070

In addition to my above comment, the "threat detected" pop-up represents a legitimate security notification that cannot be disabled entirely. The antivirus does provide options to disable most notifications that are non-essential to device security. The product developers and security researchers always take into account all possible vulnerabilities and scenarios of usage when designing new features or improving existing ones.

Having an option to completely disable the security notifications can pose certain risks for less tech savvy users, so I invite you to think of the mass of users here. While an option to silent the antivirus may sound convenient to you, it may leave others vulnerable. Not all antivirus users have advanced technical skills or insights on how to protect themselves online and the antivirus does just that, by letting you know what's happening on the device.

I am not "glossing" over this feature, but our position regarding this request has not changed. Please understand that the motivation behind this decision has been explained in detail, as the topic has been discussed multiple times on this forum, as you have probably noticed. The development teams are focused on innovation and security features that can bring true value to the users and they will not take a step back nor any risks, when it comes to possible vulnerabilities and the high security standards of the Bitdefender solution.

Regards

Yorgi

@Alexandru_BD

I understand your reasoning behind not adding a setting to disable pop-ups, even if I disagree with the reasoning. I am not a fan of the ‘we know better than you’ attitude.

But the critical issue here, what I find hard to believe you guys are not understanding, is the stealing of focus when pop-ups occur.  When getting multiple pop-ups they basically make your computer unusable.  There is no excuse for this, it’s plain bad design. The least you need to do here is stop switching focus when a pop-up is triggered.

In my case I am scanning a URL using IDM ‘site grabber’ and getting non-stop pop-ups that are only warnings of ‘Suspicious website detected. Although the page is not blocked, it is not recommended to continue browsing this page’. A low-level warning is making my laptop unusable. To top it off, the URL causing the warning is reinvent.awsevents.com, which to me is a false positive.

BitDefenderIsAnnoying

I'm getting sick of these stupid popups. Just do your job, silently!

First, I had to disable "Encrypted web scan" because I was fed up with its SSL-related pop-ups, but now I have to disable "Web attack prevention" altogether to stop these idiotic pop-ups?

I've seen threads talking about this going to 2020, and there's still no solution? Why on earth can't we have a way to turn-off these damn pop-ups? Let BD log them, but silently. I. DO. NOT. CARE!

I regret paying for BitDefender, and now I'm SERIOUSLY considering switching to a FREE alternative because of this nonsense.

Also, I tried that so called "Game Profile", it does nothing. In fact, that piece of crap insists on messing with my power settings even though I unchecked that specific box dozens of items, but it just keep re-checking it again.

The logic of "think of the less tech savvy" users is genuinely idiotic. It's called an OPTION for a reason! Also, the average user wouldn't even know what to do with these damn popups in the first place. Some applications have an "Advanced Mode" which allows power users more options, have you ever thought of that? Even though, I do not consider a "Silent Mode" to be an advanced feature. In fact, it's a very BASIC feature in most modern antivirus out there.

Flexx

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/comment/319019#Comment_319019

Generate bitdefender BDsysLog: https://www.bitdefender.com/consumer/support/answer/1922/

Generate bitdefender support tool logs: https://www.bitdefender.com/consumer/support/answer/1733/

Generate bitdefender connectivity logs: https://www.bitdefender.com/consumer/support/answer/9689/

Share the logs & your query with bitdefender support team by dropping them an email at bitsy@bitdefender.com

The support team will reply back to your query within next 24-48 hours excluding weekends.

Regards

BlueMond

It seems the bitdefender team is completely missing the point, and just working around the issue. Yes, we can try to get rid of the source of the notifications, yes, you can implement throttling to not make it happen so often. Why don't you just allow people to have control over their own computer and applications though. If we don't want to see the notifications then let us not see the notifications. Bitdefender blocked a threat, great, but do I have to do anything about it? I'm also not sure why it was deemed necessary to add literal FOCUS STEALING to the notifications. If I'm in the middle of something I don't need a notification taking me out of an application.

Stop beating around the bush, Bitdefender team, and just fix the problem. Options to mute types of notifications or at least prevent them from stealing focus.

gkek

I created an account just to chime in on this topic. I will not be renewing with Bitdefender if the ability to COMPLETELY DISABLE ALL DESKTOP NOTIFICATIONS is not added.

I do not care if it is an intended feature or a bug.

I do not care about the priority of the alert.

I do not care if disabling them is advisable or not.

Give me the ability to control the behavior of my own licensed software on my own PC or I will no longer be your customer.

Thanks.

Amin Husni

Wow even after years later they are still saying that Bitdefender customers are stupid so we can't let them control their own computer 😂

Amazing. I'm glad that I've decided not to renew my license since it had expired a few years ago.

Flexx

@camarie can you take a look here.

Regards

camarie

Just fired a shot into the team direction to see directly what everyone thinks.

But consider there are multiple notification types:

• static/informative, as in "already happened", such a threat detected (but with a quirk): this has already happened, so the user can read what happened later. The quirk is what if the user must take a decision right now? Consider two types of notification: New mail and Battery Low. New mail can be read at any time, but Battery Low can (and will) affect the immediate functioning of the computer.
• one time: The user connects to a new Wi-Fi network. The categorisation and scan should be done right now, because in few moments you may be disconnected and the scan will not succeed (at least not completely), the connection might be weak or open and malware or malware packet listen could already happens: while this might not be critical, the moment of taking an action is more or less now, not later
• decision/flow, such as a bank detection inviting to open Safepay or connect to VPN: this decision has to be right now because the product cannot take the decision for the user (the software can analyze a file or URL if it's bad or not, but we cannot say if a bank URL is your bank or not): in this case, the decision must be now (even if delayed), otherwise it serves no purpose to open safepay or open VPN after the sensitive operation (banking, purchasing etc.) already happened

And that's only one categorisation type.

But I heard this. As soon as I have feedback from the others more involved (I am not in the threat scan area) I think we can work out at least a compromise of some sort. Feel free to ping here at any time about evolution of this proposal.

gkek

This is all well and good, but the fact that the option to disable these does not exist is simply insulting.

By all means offer explanations, warnings, and recommendations for alerts. However, the simple fact that I MUST get focus stealing alerts even when I have an app running in full screen mode is not acceptable.

If you expect me to pay for a premium service then I expect to have control over the way I am alerted to both minor and critical issues. Bitdefender's current solution is intrusive, annoying, incessant, and completely out of my control.

With respect, I simply do not care about the intended function or reason for the alerts. I do not want them anymore.

If I cannot remove the alerts I will simply remove Bitdefender.

camarie

Like I said, I proposed this to the team. I understand your points, and they look right to me (minus the part with insulting - for sure this was not the intention).

Will get back as soon as I have news.

gkek

Thank you. I really do enjoy Bitdefender overall, but this one annoying point is causing enough inconvenience to become a deal-breaker in my case, unfortunately.