I have just moved across from Kaspersky Internet Security (subscribed for ~10 years) to Bitdefender (free trial), motivated by the invasion of Ukraine.
I share with you some feedback on my initial experience with installing Bitdefender.
- To install the product the user needs to download & run a small (~14 MB) "installer", which then downloads ~500 MB of files to actually install Bitdefender. I like to actually download the standalone installer, but I don't see this offered by Bitdefender; I understand that it is also useful for IT administrators managing numerous computers over a network.
- The installation dialogue seems to lack a few standard features: initial confirmation to proceed; "Back" button to return to previous screens; options for the user to choose the path where the application should be installed; and options for the user to specify other details.
- The installer asks the user to accept various terms. The link pops open https://www.bitdefender.com/site/view/subscription-agreement-and-terms-of-services-for-home-user-solutions.html . However, the site was unreadable (without any warning/error) in Internet Explorer. Also, although IE was already open, the above-mentioned site was opened in a new window of IE (rather than a new tab).
- The installer forces the user to uninstall any existing AV applications. I had KIS installed, and also Malwarebytes. KIS had been set to run at startup, and I was willing to uninstall that. Malwarebytes had been set to not run at startup (not at all, not in the background, not anywhere), but only run on demand. I don't think the user should be forced to uninstall other AV software: a strong warning/recommendation should be sufficient, perhaps even with a follow-up "Are you sure?!" confirmation.
- When running the initial Device Assessment Scan there is no indication of percentage progress; there is no indication of the total number of files that are to be scanned, nor an estimate of time remaining.
—DIVERSE