A Quandary

buridan
buridan
in General talk

I had a 2 year Bitdefender subscription until August 2007 - I never renewed. I stopped using BD in February 2007 when I switched from XP to Vista. The problems associated with BD and Vista at the time made BD unusable and I've been without antivirus protection ever since.


I just installed BD Antivirus 2008 as a trial and performed a scan, and no viruses or malware, clean, clean, clean. This version of BD is infinitely better than version 10, i.e., I can actually use it. Nevertheless, there is a slight lag in shutdown, about an extra 10 seconds, the startup has increased by about 20 seconds, even with the boot scan disabled, and I do experience slightly slower browsing but nothing significant. In short, the additional seconds are not that big of a deal.


So here's my quandary. Why should I buy another BD subscription? I've been using Vista for nearly a year without a single virus or malware. I periodically run a free antispyware scan, an online antivirus scan, etc., and nothing ever shows up. I haven't changed my computing habits in that time. I attribute my "good luck" to Vista's improved security features and, to a lesser degree, my safe browsing habits.


The question isn't a matter of cost - BD is priced very well comparatively. I'm just wondering what gains I'll receive in exchange for the slight inconvenience of relatively minor slowdowns. In other words, is it worth it to pay $34.00 every two years to slow my computer down just a tiny bit?

Comments

  • s4u
    s4u

    why not let it keep you safe for the next couple of weeks while you test it and than ask again?


    I think you don't have to ask again by that time

  • Niels
    Niels ✭

    Dear buridan


    You can use online scanners but the only thing is that you could get infected just after you have cleaned your computer. But if you are a "safe" surfer you could try but I wouldn't recommend it. What if your browser got broken and you couldn't run any online scanners anymore? I agree that it could be possible that a virus can disable BitDefender. But you can use the rescue cd-com or run a scan in safe mode.


    Vista boot up is slow by itself. But to see if there aren't that may startup items please do this press windows button together with r and type msconfig press enter and look the items that you will find under items for start up on this website. If you see an N or X you may uncheck the box before the start up items. You can speed up the boot time by doing this right click on my computer,select properties,click on advance system settings,under startup and recovery,settings,you can change the value from 30 seconds to your desired time press on ok.


    You can speed up vista shutdown by following these instructions.


    Try BitDefender again after you have applied what I said before.


    Best regards


    Niels

  • buridan
    buridan

    Thanks Niels for the response. I actively monitor my startup items, always have, and have used that startup list for years, well before Castlecops took it over. The slowdown issues are not Vista but directly related to BD, as they have in the past. In fact, I've just had my first two 3 minute shutdowns ever with Vista. My longest shutdown with Vista prior to installing BD was around 25 seconds - normal for me is 10 seconds.


    It's wonderful that BD works just fine for some, but a 3 minute shutdown pretty much counts me out. I was really hoping that BD would have been able to work out the kinks by now.


    I've come to the conclusion that antivirus protection is really not worth the performance and stability costs. This is by no means isolated to BD. I think it's a problem for most antivirus programs, if not all.


    I've talked with others about this on various forums and a majority pretty much agree that far better security solutions exist. Antivirus protection is really not for (or targeted toward) power users. The security software companies certainly realize this; hence, the explosion of security suites into the market. Remember, I'm talking about Vista only.


    Oh well, at least I gave it a try.

  • Niels
    Niels ✭

    Dear buridan


    You may not forget that during the shutdown process also that latest state of your registry is being saved and that can take also a while. Don't get me wrong BitDefender can be the culprit but lots of other software processes needs also to shutdown. To verify it it is really BD 2008 problem try my suggestions if you still want to try it.


    I agree with you but I couldn't know that you were a poweruser. I know that you could use behaviour analyzing tools,using a sandbox,.. as an alternative for antiviruses. But that knowledge not everybody posseses.


    Best regards


    Niels

  • buridan
    buridan

    My WaitToKill... has been set to 1000 from the start, including other tweaks. I've been playing with BD for the past couple of days, without modifying the system, and the issues I've described only emerged after installing BD. As I noted, I think the same sort of results would have happened with any antivirus program, and probably much worse from what I've read.


    I think you've alluded to something that is very true. Antivirus protection is probably still useful for average users because they don't want to be bothered with active security - they want a passive solution, which is what all these security suites provide. It's also why new users of Vista are so annoyed. They have to actually pay attention to what they're doing with the UAC.


    I'm thinking about giving Sandboxie a try - it's getting good reviews. Using BD on-demand sort of defeats the purpose. I can do the same with online scanners when needed. I'm waiting for the day when someone comes out with resident AV protection that doesn't effect performance and stability. I'm not holding my breath.

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