Bitdefender Antivirus Plus forcing to uninstall Comodo firewall

xt3a

Hello,

I bought Bitdefender Antivirus Plus for one of my machines, since I always wanted to try it, but I'm having serious doubts about the product now.

I downloaded the installer from my bitdefender central, ran the installation and it always stops, complaining about my Comodo firewall and forcing me to uninstall it. It was complaining about Malwarebytes too, although no resident part of it was running on my system, but I could uninstall that for the installation. I even tried to download an installer for bitdefender Antivirus free, with the same result.

There is no reason any Antivirus sw should tamper with a firewall, those are two different products and Comodo firewall was the reason I bought just antivirus, not Internet security or some of the higher security packages including firewall.

My doubt about the bitdefender Antivirus Plus is based on this behavior, since there are 3 possible results and I don't like any:

1, Bitdefender Antivirus Plus contains a firewall (although Bitdefender claims it doesn't) and forces me to use it (unlikely)

2, Bitdefender Antivirus Plus does not contain firewall while forces me to uninstall mine during installation, and therefore making my computer very vulnerable

3, Bitdefender Antivirus Plus contains/installs a firewall, which is not part of my Antivirus Plus subscription and will throw me some ransom notes to pay additional $ for it, while making my computer very vulnerable if I don't

Was anybody able to install Antivirus Plus with some third party firewall? Any suggestions?

thanks

installer error:

subscription:

Scott

Hi @xt3a

Bitdefender doesn't like any competition on a PC during an install, other than Windows default firewall. It wants to install cleanly, thus the notifications to uninstall a competing product and the reason why, on that notification.

1) And no, as you suggested, Bifefender AV+ does not include a firewall. So that's off the table.

2) Windows firewall is competent to keep your system protected during the short install period of AV+, no worries there.

3) Nope, that's not going to happen. It's a flat-out AV+ (bonus AV features, but no secret firewall install). I've been using AV+ on and off for a little over a decade, and it's never done anything like that.

What you would have to do is uninstall COMODO. Then, look for and delete any remnant COMODO files and folders in the usual places (you sound PC savvy), clean out the temp folder. Then from Central, install Bitdefender, let it run through its paces and confirm it installed properly. Run a quick scan. Then, you can install the COMODO firewall only. I installed it on a Windows 7 Pro desktop without any problems. I did not enable the Network configuration as I didn't want it possibly messing with my business home network, as I will be uninstalling it. Be sure un-check all the options on install, and to uninstall the COMODO bloatware as soon as you install it. i.e. the Dragon Browser and the Internet Security Essentials.

Bitdefender just plain works best on a clean Windows environment, without additional 3rd party security software that can possibly conflict with it, slow it down, or cause glitches. I would in no way, then try to install Malwarebytes (which you would have to do after a Bitdefender install) as with what your'e doing is already, is enough. Even at this point, Malwarebytes Free could be the straw that breaks the camel's back. Let Bitdefender do its job, as COMODO can be a bit intrusive enough on its own.

Good luck :)

xt3a

it seems I forgot to close this thread - I contacted Bitdefender and the guys were not able to give me a solution to pass/skip the firewall-removal enforcement during antivirus installation, so they refunded it, I stayed with Comodo fw and added their antivirus solution, so this is where the Bitdefender Antivirus story ends.

xt3a

Hello Scott,

thank you, that is unfortunate, I have a reason to use Comodo firewall (far better than windows fw btw) and that's why I bought antivirus-only product and not a firewall-containing security solution. I have like 50 application rules active in Comodo, so uninstalling/reinstalling and loosing those is a no-go for me. The export/import function never worked for me for the fw rules in Comodo, and honestly, I don't see any reason to uninstall my firewall for just antivirus installation and even though what you write is probably correct, it confirmes my doubts about the quality of this product - so it works fine with Comodo firewall (as expected, since firewall is a totally different product), but still for whatever reason forces me to uninstall it during installation - with all the consequences. I'm kind of surprised bitdefender forces me to do this, we maintain many computers with Avast/Eset/Trendmicro antiviruses with 3rd party firewalls without any problem and one of the reasons to try bitdefender was to test it before possibly deploying it on client's computers after Avast dealer portal stopped working, but in seems the bitdefender experience will end before it has even started. Anyway, thank you for your big help

Scott

@xt3a

I understand your desire for the two separate components, an AV and COMODO Firewall, as that one does have an excellent reputation and history as a standalone firewall. In the past, I used to use AV+ with Zone Alarm, but now I just use Windows firewall on my home network, and Total Security on my portable notebook. That would be the other option, Total Security.

Unfortunately, there is no other workaround than what I posted. You have client computers you're working with, use the combination you know will work and be less grief on yours and their end.

You can ask for a refund here. Thank you for at least giving AV+ a try :)

https://www.bitdefender.com/consumer/support/answer/7217/

Kind regards,

Scott

xt3a

thank you again Scott, I wrote to bitdefender to either give me a solution to pass the installation with Comodo firewall or refund.

This is not just about my computer, we sometimes get IT guidelines with specific firewall solution from company HQ etc, antivirus forcing users to remove their firewall is just too risky & unreliable solution for me and more importantly, for my customers. And, well - I think a security company should be aware of the risks of forcing users to remove their firewall, and they should also know very well the difference between firewall and antivirus software, with those unlikely seriously affecting one another (as oposed to doubled AV or doubled firewall, which may cause serious issues), this does not make any sense to me and is not giving me much confidence.

I don't have any response from bitdefender yet, so there is still hope there will be a way to bypass this firewall check and I'll be able to try bitdefender, as I would really like to

xt3a

it seems I forgot to close this thread - I contacted Bitdefender and the guys were not able to give me a solution to pass/skip the firewall-removal enforcement during antivirus installation, so they refunded it, I stayed with Comodo fw and added their antivirus solution, so this is where the Bitdefender Antivirus story ends.

Scott

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/comment/326813#Comment_326813

Thank you for posting back your's and Bitdefender support findings. It may be helpful in the future should another member wonder about this as well.

Kind regards,

Scott

Flexx

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/comment/326814#Comment_326814

I closed the post for further comments. If in future anyone wants to reopen the post, they can contact any moderators or admins @Alexandru_BD or @Mike_BD

Regards