Webcam Protection Too Good To Be Any Good At All

ZgzpdiKv8g4YC4

Using webcam protection has been nothing short of a hassle at almost every turn.

Windows Hello is one issue which has plagued many other users but has worked well for me until a recent Windows update. This was only compounding issues I have had with app/browser permissions.

eBay facial recognition to sign in never worked.

Stream Yard only worked after A LOT of tinkering and only on Firefox. No dice in four other common, popular browsers.

I've given up and turned it off completely, including microphone protection. Far too much hassle than necessary. Adding application exceptions in both the browsers and the Bitdefender app did diddly squat. I just had to kill the protection completely to be able to do what I want to do.

Bitdefender must either provide detailed instructions that actually work and/or completely revamp how Bitdefender webcam and microphone protection works. Very disappointed.

Off-topic gripes:

While I did finally figured out how to turn off product notifications, I too was very bothered by the incessant advertisements just as many other users - paying customers - have been. I am already a paying customer. Don't pester me with your up-selling. Send me an occasional email - fine. Pop-ups that I have to click away and figure out how to turn off? No. Just no. Wrong approach. You provide "spam protection" and they you spam your paying customers. Ballsy move. And hypocritical.

I don't want your VPN service. Wanna do something that would add value? Let me integrate the VPN service of MY CHOICE.

I don't want your password manager. I pay $10 a year for a very highly rated, popular password manager that works with YubiKeys (all USB standards, lightning, blue-tooth, NFC, touch) and on all platforms including Apple with facial recognition. I can store passwords, ID, credit cards, passcodes, you name it. Ten bucks per year! Less than a dollar a month and I use it daily. Beat that if you can.

I don't want Safe Pay or any sort of secure wallet. Tried that once. What a hassle. Never again.

Your job is firewalls, antivirus and ransomware protection. In this shield, webcam and microphone protection, if offered, should work without hassle and it should obey the commands I give it. Instead, it does whatever the f it wants meaning that I have to turn the protection completely off.

I shouldn't have to write this laundry list of gripes or turn of functionality I want but can't make work. If the functionality is not intuitive and requires reading forums, contacting support and extra instructions, then the functionality is simply not correctly implemented in the application.

You have homework. Do better.

Alexandru_BD

Hello @ZgzpdiKv8g4YC4 and welcome to the Community!

While I cannot pronounce myself regarding the issues you have encountered when using webcam protection and this looks like a task for the Support engineers to tackle, I do have a couple of things to mention concerning the off-topic observations you have made. First and foremost, I would like to say that your feedback is highly appreciated.

The first point concerns the notifications in Bitdefender. As you may have noticed, most of the notification preferences can be customized depending on user's choice. However, the recommendations from the dashboard cannot be removed or disabled completely. The option that disables recommendation notifications ensures that you will not receive pop ups on your computer reminding you of these features in Bitdefender, but they will continue to appear in the dashboard along with a few others. This is designed to make the users aware of the available security features and help them make the best out of their Bitdefender subscription. With this in mind, the advisor proved very useful, especially for users that are not tech savvy and could use this guidance.

Furthermore, there is an ongoing review process for all Bitdefender notifications and our developers are looking for ways to streamline the pop-up messages and warnings, especially the ones that are stealing focus, to further improve the manner in which the product communicates with the user.

Moving on to the VPN, things are very simple here. All customers that use one of our security suites also benefit from 200 Mb/day of free VPN encrypted traffic, therefore we need to install the app so the customer can utilize the full functionality of the product they chose. In the event you do not require VPN traffic encryption or use a different provider for this, you may uninstall the product from your device. All Bitdefender apps are easily removable via standard platform specific mechanisms (eg for Windows, go to Programs & Features).

Safepay is of course not mandatory to use, although the protected browser is highly recommended, especially when making online transactions. It's a sealed environment with many security features to offer and you can read more about it here.

I agree that some users may not require it, but our usage statistics and user feedback show us that it has been a very appreciated tool so far.

The same applies for both the included Wallet and the latest Password Manager. The Wallet has been undoubtedly a trusted privacy utility for many Bitdefender users worldwide, securing passwords, credit card information, and other sensitive data with ease. And we are proud we could provide such a helpful tool with our antivirus protection. The new Password Manager comes as a response to our user’s request for a more versatile solution available on the most important platforms. It has a plethora of bonus features that increase your privacy and in the unlikely event that you haven't heard of them yet, you can find out more by clicking here. But this service is far from its final form, as development of new features and improvements is ongoing.

And it won't be that cheap, because we don't cheap out on safety. We're talking about the latest, military standard, cryptographic algorithms – AES-256-CCM, SHA512, BCRYPT, HTTPS, and WSS protocols for data transmission and these are worth more than 10 dollars for sure. 😎

The job is about firewalls, antivirus and ransomware protection that's for sure, but it doesn't stop here, so I have to partially agree with you on this one. Bitdefender is committed to delivering innovative, effective security solutions to our customers. As technologies and threats evolve, Bitdefender continues to proactively develop and shape its solution set and the portfolio is constantly evolving. This happens out of necessity and because today’s technological landscape is evolving fast and those who don’t move at the same pace, stay behind. The priority is to develop new things that bring additional benefits and protection for all users, as the threat landscape evolves.

In a nutshell, the products are designed for both advanced users and less tech savvy users as well, to meet overall requirements. All supporting documents are there precisely to ensure that all users, no matter their technical level, can enjoy and benefit from their cybersecurity solution at its maximum capacity.

Keep in mind that you are as strong as the weakest service you are using.

For any technical issues for which a resolution cannot be found in the Expert Community, you may always reach our Support Teams who will be happy to help. To get in touch with them, simply choose one of the contact channels available at the link below:

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

I hope my insights are helpful and your Bitdefender product will meet your expectations in the future.

Regards