Trial Experience

Hello,

Last week I decided to do a trial of BitDefender Total Security 2013. I decided I would install it in a VMWare Workstation 9 VM running Windows 7 x64 Ultimate that I use for remote access to my office workstation and a few other miscellaneous tasks. Here is how it went:

1) I did a complete uninstall of MSE. (rebooted)

2) Ran the BD TS 2013 install choosing the option to let me configure the options.

3) BD ran fine and I configured the options to meet my requirements.

4) The next day I attempted to connect to my office workstation but when I logged in to the corporate remote access portal I was presented with a message saying that I would not be allowed to log in because I was not running one of the authorized/recognized AV software packages. It gave a list of the approved packages which appeared to be most all of the well-known names. Bummer, but I could probably submit it for review to be included in the approved software list.

5) I ran the Windows control panel uninstall.

6) Based on experience I knew there would be yet another "full uninstaller" I would need to run to completely clean out BD just like most if not all of the other AV packages. (Note: I find this rather annoying. The CP uninstall should remove everything IMHO)

7) I found the most recent reference on the BD site/forum to the 2013 full uninstaller. I downloaded and ran that. (rebooted VM)

8) VM goes into system recovery mode and ultimately fails. I tinker for a while attempting to resolve this issue without success.

9) I restore the VM to a pre-BD snapshot and re-install MSE and successfully remote in to the corporate network.

I was very concerned that Windows rebooted into recovery mode and in addition was unable to recover. I came to the forum and began researching possible reasons for this. I found an alarming number of posts describing similar situations. For my research my impression is this is likely related to the advanced recovery tool installed by BD. I also discover that it is not unusual for System Recovery and/or restore point features to fail. I read the links referencing Microsoft documents about AV software and these Windows functions.

To summarize where I'm at now... I really want to trial and ultimately purchase BD based on the reviews I've read and the Sphere package meets my needs perfectly. I'm a software developer by profession but I do a lot of "tinkering" at home with several workstations and laptops, both Windows and Mac OS, all with several VM's on them. My wife and boys all have computers as well. Obviously the Sphere licensing model is very appealing to me.

The problem is that I'm very concerned about my first experience after uninstalling the product. I haven't researched the details of the advanced recovery feature but if it creates a partition and/or modifies my systems MBR I just can't have that. The good news is I don't care if I have that feature or not, a bootable CD is a far more desirable option for me. So that leaves me with these questions:

1) Assuming I'm right about the cause of the issues in my first test the big question here is can I install BD and tell it not to install that feature and avoid the kind of issues I had with my first test?

2) If my assumption about the cause is not correct, what is a more likely cause?

3) I've supported a lot of systems using various AV packages and *never* had a problem with system recovery/restores. If I use BD is it correct that those features will not work without following an elaborate series of steps listed in a post I found here? If so that is going to be a big negative when I analyze the results of my testing and research to make a purchasing decision.

Finally, I ran across yet another post in my research that indicated that not only does the Windows control panel uninstall leave traces of the installation behind. That really annoys me be is common enough with AV software I can't call it a negative for BD. However, the thread also states the the full uninstaller purposely leaves behind traces of the installation and that I find unacceptable. Is this correct? Is there an option or alternate uninstaller that removes all, yes every single modification the my system, made by the BD product?

Slightly off topic but I use a product called Total Uninstall to do all of my product installs. It does snapshots before and after the installer runs, as well as monitors the installers activity as it is running. It is astonishing how poorly most uninstallers do at removing everything. Total Uninstall allows me to see what the uninstaller left behind then quickly and easily finish the job. It would be interesting to see if TU works with an AV installer since I would expect it to get upset about being monitored.

Anyway, if someone from BD support could address my comments and questions above I would appreciate it so I can decide if I should continue with my plans to review BD for purchase.

Thank You,

Kelly E Major