[solved] How To Disable Bd Pop-up Advertisements?

The "OFFICIAL" response:

There is no way to turn off the pop-ups.

The only method of stopping the pop-ups is to contact "Custom Service" about Bitdefender 2013 http://www.bitdefender.com/support/consumer-phone.html and ask them to place the E-mail address associated with your account onto their list.

Withing 48 hours, according to Bitdefender, you will no longer receive the pop-ups.

Is this a great resolve?

No.

Did I voice my opinion when requesting to be placed on the "disabled list"?

Yes.

I've used most every top name anti-virus available. Other than this pop-up garbage, Bitdefender tops the list as best. It's SO unfortunate that they feel the need to "force" users to read their advertisements. Regardless of their reason, it should be an "opt-in" when purchasing the product - an "option" that is clearly marked and requires a yes or no tick of a radio button or checkbox.

AND...the option should NOT have a default answer checked.

Christian, if you're out there, please bend enough ears to make this change happen.

The "OFFICIAL" response:

There is no way to turn off the pop-ups.

The only method of stopping the pop-ups is to contact "Custom Service" about Bitdefender 2013 http://www.bitdefender.com/support/consumer-phone.html and ask them to place the E-mail address associated with your account onto their list.

Withing 48 hours, according to Bitdefender, you will no longer receive the pop-ups.

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I did not know that was an option, thanks for looking into it, and passing this on.

Dear Christian,

I have read a number of posts where you have responded to the issue of pop-ups. I commend your restraint as well as your diligence.

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Please review my post carefully. I'm suggesting an "opt-in" that is obvious, mandatory, and well explained as to what the user will see "if" they opt-in.

Additionally, there should be a method to disable the pop-ups if the user decides later that they no longer wish to receive them.

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I hope you will be able to submit this information successfully and get the pop-ups stopped for every user instead of only those savvy enough to call and request that their specific account pop-ups be disabled.

Thank you for your time.

Agreed, at least to have a user "opt-in" option, for those who may wish a notification reminder of an expiring license etc. The PC tune up is pretty new, and I may or may not fault Bitdefender for getting that word out on a new feature/product....once. After that, it's up to the user to follow up on their web page for more information.

We did lose a good member who was pretty sharp, due to this issue: http://forum.bitdefender.com/index.php?s=&...st&p=140603

Very well thought out, and tactfully stated posts, LTCreations.

This person should be beaten, then fired, then beaten again for good measure.

LOL! Do you think a good stoning should be thrown in as well?

So far I've only had them when I did a new install, at least as far as I can remember

http://forum.bitdefender.com/index.php?s=&...st&p=178725

If they can not help you I have found all Anti-Virus companies to be helpful and sympathetic. I think this would certainly be the case in Bitdefender. I would start an e-mail ticket. Then if nothing happens call BitDefender and tell them all about. In the mean time write things down this way you do not get upset and just describe from that as a ****** your problems and then it makes it easier.

At the end of the thread linked to above, in June 2012, Christian stated:

Some changes will be made in Bitdefender 2013 regarding the pop-ups.

So, should I assume from this thread, started March 6th 2013, that the popups are still evident in BDIS2013? This would indeed stop me from returning to the product.

In the good old days, Bitdefender 2011 had option to disable Notifications for all Modules including the one discussed here.

A feature for Notification Settings has been already posted here in the mid of last year, but seems to be no implementation in near future.

Separate Notification/pop-up Settings For All Modules

As was previously mentioned here, if you could provide a screen shot of the pop up, just to confirm it, would be helpful.

And as also mentioned, BD would be able to "disable" it on their end, if needed and requested (see the first summery quote in this post): http://forum.bitdefender.com/index.php?s=&...st&p=180290

The last few days I've had similar popups pitching BitDefender Premium Services. THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE! I don't give a ###### what or how great the product or service being offered is it's INTRUSIVE, UNWARRANTED AND UNWANTED.

Bottom line: Cease and desist all such practices or I WILL NOT RENEW MY LICENSE. Furthermore, I will no longer recommend BitDefender products to friends and associates and will rescind any and all such prior recommendations.

The last thing we need or want is a trojan horse masquerading as an AV product. I hope I've made myself clear.

Hello,

@ AnnoyedatBitDefender:

@ Carlos

We apologize for the negative experience you have encountered with the product pop-ups. We will contact you via PM and a solution will be implemented for both of you soon afterwards.

Also, your feedback is greatly appreciated and will be directed to the appropriate team for review, to enable us to improve our services.

The last few days I've had similar popups pitching BitDefender Premium Services. THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE! I don't give a ###### what or how great the product or service being offered is it's INTRUSIVE, UNWARRANTED AND UNWANTED.

Bottom line: Cease and desist all such practices or I WILL NOT RENEW MY LICENSE. Furthermore, I will no longer recommend BitDefender products to friends and associates and will rescind any and all such prior recommendations.

The last thing we need or want is a trojan horse masquerading as an AV product. I hope I've made myself clear.

I've been getting the same pop-ups!! This is my work computer so it's completely unacceptable. I can't put up with these kinds of interruptions while I'm coding! What a pain!

I've opened an e-ticket (201304171000941) to ask for help resolving the issue. I shouldn't have to call support to get this fixed. If it's not fixed in 48 hours I'm uninstalling and demanding a full refund.

They need to make this an option that users can turn on or off in a future update. Better yet, make the option subscribe to 'emails' to pitch new products, rather than ramming it down user's throats with pop-ups. Just a suggestion.

Without wishing to speak too soon, I've been fortunate enough not to have been 'blessed' with spam popups from BD as yet, but as BD are currently having to respond to cases individually, wouldn't it be far simpler, and considerably more appropriate, to place an opt in / out option within MyBitdefender?

Customers should not be automatically 'opted in' for promotional popups anyway, but to make users jump through hoops to be able to opt out of something they never agreed to in the first place, seems totally wrong, especially for a top rated security product.

Does this only affect users who have purchased their licences direct from Bitdefender? I have to confess, I bought my genuine licence from a large online retailer, at a far reduced cost to buying from BD direct, and haven't had any popups.

I received a desktop 'pop-up' ad from Bitdefender today. It said something like "Is your PC feeling sluggish?"

It was annoying and, to some extent, slowed my internet browsing.

This uninvited SPAM is illegal, isn't it?

I'm taking my Bitdefender off all my computers and giving away my other licenses. The ad is popping up on all my computers at least once a day. " />

Wow, glad I saw this thread before I purchased Total Security 2013. I've been trialing it, and I like the product, but pop-up adds on paid-for software is simply unacceptable -- even if they can be turned off by contacting Bitdefender individually. They should be turned off on paid software, period, with no special action required. Will move on and try a different product.

That's probably a good idea. I am uninstalling mine and using a different product as soon as I have time to do so. This software is garbage. It bombards me with false alarms that it blocked a port scan from my own router every 30 seconds, and now it has the nerve to try to up-sell me on another one of their projects. No thanks.

Have registered on the forums to get these huge popup ads removed from my account, have sent Georgia a PM with my email address to get these intrusive big ads that take up a lot of screen space removed.

It's sad when a d a m n good paid product resorts to this kind of intrusive advertising.

Georgia, please reply to my pm to let me know when these ads will be stopped.

Thank you,

BanziBaby.

Georgia, these are causing so much bad feeling, it seems you may be losing more customers than you hope to gain from the pop up ads. Is it not time to stop these altogether? They would be acceptable, perhaps, for the free utilities, but customers do not expect this kind of invasive marketing when they have paid for a top end security product. It completely goes against the grain of what having PC security is all about. Regrettably, I will not be recommending Bitdefender products until these ads have been stopped, or at least, an easy opt out process is provided, by way of a simple and obvious tick box.

For all types of Notifications/Pop-ups, a request is made already since long, which may be expired now, because there was no such implementation in the Beta version of the new comer. And don't know how can they add the same to the Final version without being tested in Beta stage?

http://forum.bitdefender.com/index.php?showtopic=36404

I fear it's probably too late anyway now, for suggestions for BD2014, but I don't see that a simple opt out process could be that hard to implement at any stage. In any case, what should be happening, is that users should not be opted in by default, without their agreement - but by all means create an opt in option, for promotions, either in General Settings, or in MyBitdefender.

Wow, glad I saw this thread before I purchased Total Security 2013. I've been trialing it, and I like the product, but pop-up adds on paid-for software is simply unacceptable -- even if they can be turned off by contacting Bitdefender individually. They should be turned off on paid software, period, with no special action required. Will move on and try a different product.

Well, in spite of what I said earlier, I have decided to give the Total Security 2013 trial another try. Even though I still believe pop-up advertisements have no place in paid-for software, Bitdefender is such a great product. I just can't see casting it aside simply because of this occasional annoyance.

Thanks Georgia, that's good to know.

Hello all,

We are working on a different and very effective way which will allow customers to remove their email addresses from the IPM list.

We don't have an ETA yet, but rest assured your feedback has been heard and forwarded to our developers so that they could make use of it.

It's been nearly a month since your post. I'm also getting the popup ads, so it's obviously not fixed yet.

If you're going to fix this, a option to not receive the ads (i.e. with a check-box) should be put in the popup ad itself, allowing the user to opt out of the ads then and there. It shouldn't be any more difficult than that for a customer who doesn't want to see ads to stop seeing them. Internet users, as a group, are much pickier about things being simple to do than the population as a whole is. The "let's fix it if they want it fixed and leave it there to generate income if they don't complain" is a bad business model. Your customers will fall into one or more of several categories (not listed in order of frequency):

1) Those who will flat-out uninstall the software and cancel the subscription, without saying a word or looking for a solution.

2) Those who will look for a solution, and if none is found, or the solution is too much of a bother for them, will uninstall the software and cancel the subscription.

3) Those who will contact you and try to get the problem fixed. Some will uninstall/cancel anyway, and others won't renew their subscription when it comes due.

4) Those who will say nothing, let the subscription run out, and then cancel.

5) Those who will allow the popups and still use the software.

Notice that only one of those five groups will ever contact you. The first you may learn of the non-satisfaction of the others who cancel will be when the subscription is canceled, and by the time you're replied, they've probably moved to another company.

As you've seen by the posts in this thread (and no doubt in emails, support tickets, and phone calls), more than a few people get very angry at the intrusions by the popups. A few such people (and one threatened you with nearly as much) may make a career out of spreading the "news" all over the internet. Negative publicity is a bad thing, because many people believe everything that they read and will blindly repeat it elsewhere. When reviewing products and services online, people tend to judge based on the lowest fairly-common rating, i.e. if they see 2 bad ratings for every 10 good ones, they won't buy.

The bottom line is that whatever income you're generating from the popups probably is or will be negated by lost subscriptions, lost renewals, and lost potential customers. There are a lot of companies in the antivirus/security industry, and internet customers are a fickle, quick-to-change group. For every person who takes the time to complain, 20 more are just as upset and won't bother taking the time to complain. I don't know how much income the popups are making you, but I'd take a rough guess that the popup situation is costing and/or will cost you 3-5 times as much in lost subscriptions; something that may not be as apparent now as it will be down the road, when it's too late to do anything about it.

I realize that I was long-winded, but this is something you may wish to address quickly. I could name dozens of online companies that failed because they didn't listen to their customers.

Hello all,

We are working on a different and very effective way which will allow customers to remove their email addresses from the IPM list.

We don't have an ETA yet, but rest assured your feedback has been heard and forwarded to our developers so that they could make use of it.

Please, accept our apologies for any inconvenience you experienced.

Hi Qcho, and welcome

As I'm sure you saw this (above) and thus mentioned to be put on a list, let's see if Bitdefender includes (as mentioned above), or "automatically" resolves this issue in some way with the 2014 version, tentatively? due out on June 26th.

Kind regards,

Scott

WTF! I buy security tools to NOT have malware on my system.

What do I come home to today? A BIG F*ing pop up add! So you took advantage of having something on my system to push an add to my system, you are in violation of numerous federal and state laws.

You all have a very fine engine, but you are not the only game in town. However,when I PAY A LOT for software I expect an ADD FREE environment and I expect the company in whom I have placed my trust not to violate my trust.

You now owe me about 30 bucks for popping up crap on my screen as far as I am concerned and you have violated your SLA with me.

In addition take this as a notification that because you have violated multiple laws at both the sate and federal level, that any further pop-up adds continue I will bring a class-action suit.

I hereby also require that whatever socket you have used to bring foreign information onto my system against my will, be shutdown effective immediately or I will also report the violation to the FBI under the CFAA. It is clear you have a backdoor and you could place whatever you wish on my systems without my knowledge or consent. In 30 days I will be submitting your program to the Whitehat community for verification that this is no longer in place.

I am FURIOUS that you have taken advantage of the trust placed in your company in this way. " />