Compatibility Problem With Borderlands

I'm trying to get help with Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition on Windows 8.1 I tried using the contact form but it requires that I enter a license key, which I don't have precisely because it's the free edition.


I'm seeing a compatibility problem between Bitdefender and Borderlands (a video game) which results in the game failing to launch. I've attached the Windows error report for this event. Searching on Google revealed that other people have the same issue, with this game and with others. Tuning off virus shield and auto scan does not help. Unfortunately the only solution I've found is to stop using Bitdefender and switch to a competing product.


Are you aware of this issue and do you have a solution?


/applications/core/interface/file/attachment.php?id=12650" data-fileid="12650" rel="">error.txt

Comments

  • OK, so 5 days have passed, I've received no response, and still I am unable to play Borderlands.


    Maybe my initial question was a bit too pointed...


    So let me try again. Here are some more general questions related my issue:


    1) Are you aware of compatibility issues between Bitdefender Antivirus and videogames, and if so, how do you recommend working around these issues?


    2) Are you aware of compatibility issues between Bitdefender Antivirus and videogames such as Borderlands which run on the Unreal 3 engine, and if so, are there any special considerations for working around issues with this specific class of games?


    3) If answers 1 and 2 are both 'no', what assistance or suggestions can you offer for troubleshooting or working around the issue I described?


    4) Is there any additional information I can provide which would assist you in answering my questions?

  • CapnBFG:


    Did you ever try just to turn off the interface (Exit from the icon)? If I am not imagining it, this may have worked in another case but I am not sure if it relates at all.


    --graciliano

  • Thanks for your response. I did try exiting using the taskbar icon but it did not help.

  • Thanks for your response. I did try exiting using the taskbar icon but it did not help.


    That's too bad. I can only hope Bitdefender's team pays attention to this issue. Please make them aware of this problem through customer care.

  • I tried submitting a ticket to customer care but was unable to do so. The problem is that the form requires me to enter a license key for the product, but the product is the Free Edition which as far as I can tell has no license key. I emailed the webmaster 5 days ago to point out this problem with the form but I've received no response.

  • I tried submitting a ticket to customer care but was unable to do so. The problem is that the form requires me to enter a license key for the product, but the product is the Free Edition which as far as I can tell has no license key. I emailed the webmaster 5 days ago to point out this problem with the form but I've received no response.


    Yeah, that is a pain but the free version does not offer customer support. :)


    Also, Bitdefender Customer Care offers very limited support for this free product. Purchasing a full-featured Bitdefender solution will entitle you to the benefits of real-time protection, as well as comprehensive product support.
  • capnbfg
    edited March 2014

    That excerpt you quoted says limited support, not no support. In the case of every other company I've dealt with, that means you can ask questions and they'll try to answer, but they aren't going to work very hard to fix any new/unique issues you may have found. All I'm trying to do is ask a question and so far I'm unable to contact them at all.


    But let's assume you're right, that they offer no support. Why then is "Bit Defender Free Edition" a choice in the dropdown list on the "Contact Customer Care" web form?


    http://www.bitdefender.com/support/contact-us.html


    I'm not sure what their intent is because the form is self inconsistent. It simultaneously offers and denies support for the same product. That's why I contacted the webmaster.

  • graciliano
    edited March 2014
    That excerpt you quoted says limited support, not no support. In the case of every other company I've dealt with, that means you can ask questions and they'll try to answer, but they aren't going to work very hard to fix any new/unique issues you may have found. All I'm trying to do is ask a question and so far I'm unable to contact them at all.


    But let's assume you're right, that they offer no support. Why then is "Bit Defender Free Edition" a choice in the dropdown list on the "Contact Customer Care" web form?


    http://www.bitdefender.com/support/contact-us.html


    I'm not sure what their intent is because the form is self inconsistent. It simultaneously offers and denies support for the same product. That's why I contacted the webmaster.


    CapnBFG:


    When I suggested to contact customer support, it is not only for you but also so that the makers of the product become aware of any problem that may affect it.


    A while ago I found a review of Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition that listed as a con that the tech support was only available through email. The author wrote they received tech support via e-mail for assistance with a failed installation.


    I suppose you may write Free version as the license key for the email ticket since that is what shows when I list my products in MyBitdefender's page. I am otherwise out of ideas.


    Thank you and good luck!


    --graciliano

  • graciliano
    edited March 2014

    CapnBFG:


    When I suggested to contact customer support, it is not only for you but also so that the makers of the product become aware of any problem that may affect it. (Maybe they had already paid notice to your problem but have no quick solution, but I should not speculate.)


    A while ago I found a review of Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition that listed as a con that the tech support was only available through email. The author wrote they received tech support via e-mail for assistance with a failed installation. However I cannot offer first account evidence of email support because I have not needed it (knock on wood).


    I suppose you may write Free version as the license key for the email ticket since that is what shows when I list my products in MyBitdefender's page. I am otherwise out of ideas.


    Thank you and good luck!


    --graciliano

  • I suppose you may write Free version as the license key for the email ticket since that is what shows when I list my products in MyBitdefender's page.


    Thanks for sharing this idea. However, I tried exactly this prior to posting here and it didn't work. It seems that the web form checks for the license key to be valid, and it does not accept 'Free version'.


    I also tried directly emailing support@bitdefender.com but received an automatic response that this address is no longer used and my email will not be answered.


    Given that no Bitdefender employees have responded to this thread yet, I'll assume they don't pay much attention to this forum...

  • FYI, I contacted Bitdefender through another channel and am now receiving help from a support engineer. They confirmed that the contact form is broken and said that they are working on it. They also had me run a tool to capture diagnostic information about the issue with Borderlands, which I've now sent back to them. I'll update this thread with whatever the outcome is.

  • FYI, I contacted Bitdefender through another channel and am now receiving help from a support engineer. They confirmed that the contact form is broken and said that they are working on it. ............................................... I'll update this thread with whatever the outcome is.


    Good to hear and good that they are sorting the contact form, even with the free version there should be some way to contact them with problems such as this. :)

  • Just a quick visual FYI reference of the temporary issue(s) concerning Contact Us/Support to those who may read this thread:


    BDSupportissue_zps8dccf83d.png

  • capnbfg
    edited March 2014

    That is one issue with the contact page, but it is not the one being discussed here. The issue I encountered is that the form requires entry of a product key even though the Free Edition does not have a product key, thus it is currently impossible to open a ticket for the Free Edition in specific.


    I've noticed that when you select Free Edition from the software list, the field for entering your country disappears. I suspect that the intention was that the field for product key would disappear instead, and that this is simply a coding error.


    Here is the form before selecting a product:


    post-177786-1394581156_thumb.png


    And here it is after selecting Free Edition:


    post-177786-1394581184_thumb.png

  • That is one issue with the contact page, but it is not the one being discussed here. The issue I encountered is that the form requires entry of a product key even though the Free Edition does not have a product key, thus it is currently impossible to open a ticket for the Free Edition in specific.


    I've noticed that when you select Free Edition from the software list, the field for entering your country disappears. I suspect that the intention was that the field for product key would disappear instead, and that this is simply a coding error.


    Here is the form before selecting a product:


    post-177786-1394581156_thumb.png


    And here it is after selecting Free Edition:


    post-177786-1394581184_thumb.png


    CapnBFG: You were so right! The new contact form now removes both the Country and the License Key fields after selecting Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition as the Product. Thanks to all who made this correction happen.


    I hope someone is working on the Compatibility with Borderlands problem.

  • Just a quick update here...


    Bitdefender support has been quite helpful. We've been exchanging emails daily for the past week. However, so far nothing that we've tried has fixed the issue. They did push out an exemption for Borderlands in a definition update late last week, but that also did not fix the problem (for me anyway). They are now trying to reproduce the issue on a system of their own. Meanwhile I have a few more ideas to investigate on my end.

  • This issue appears to be solved.


    Bitdefender support instructed me to download the latest update, which I did, and I can confirm that Borderlands now works.


    Bitdefender version is 1.0.21.1099


    Update version is 7.53728.


    Signature number is 11594918.

  • This issue appears to be solved.


    Bitdefender support instructed me to download the latest update, which I did, and I can confirm that Borderlands now works.


    Bitdefender version is 1.0.21.1099


    Update version is 7.53728.


    Signature number is 11594918.


    CapnBFG:


    I am glad to read your update, especially since it confirms Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition is a supported product regardless of appearing as if there is no further development.


    I am curious: you wrote Bitdefender support instructed you to "download the latest update" however there is no clear way in the interface to trigger and we can only wait for automated updates to occur. How exactly did you download the latest update? Probably this is not so important since my latest signature update is already version 7.53730, but it may be good to know.

  • capnbfg
    edited March 2014

    You're right. There is no way, as far as I can tell, to force an update. That was poor wording on my part.


    What I meant is that they said to make sure that the latest update was downloaded. So when I booted the PC, I watched and made sure that an update was downloaded and shown in the event log. Then I rebooted the PC to make certain that any configuration changes in the update would take effect.


    On a side note, because of the support and resolution that I received, I decided to purchase to a 3-PC/2-year license for Bitdefender Antivirus Plus. Just waiting for it to arrive now (ordered a physical copy).


  • CapnBFG:


    I am glad to read your update, especially since it confirms Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition is a supported product regardless of appearing as if there is no further development.


    I am curious: you wrote Bitdefender support instructed you to "download the latest update" however there is no clear way in the interface to trigger and we can only wait for automated updates to occur. How exactly did you download the latest update? Probably this is not so important since my latest signature update is already version 7.53730, but it may be good to know.


    This was kind of personal support. Yes they solved the issue but the user consistently contacted them.


    Otherwise generally support/development seems nonexistent & thats sad for such a wonderful free product.


    By the way BD Free & Paid provide same protection so does that mean if FPs, faulty updates, etc... are faced by paid products & Devs come to know about this, do they also check if the same prob is affecting BD free users or not & solve the issue?

  • This was kind of personal support. Yes they solved the issue but the user consistently contacted them.


    Please correct me if I'm wrong, but you seem to be saying that Bitdefender should have solved this issue without my involvement. If so, please explain why you think that is a reasonable expectation.


    This is security software we're talking about, which means it has some level of interaction with every other piece of software installed on the computer. For any given user issue there's no guarantee that it can even be reproduced in a lab setting, so the most sensible place to start is with guided debug of the user's computer.

  • Please correct me if I'm wrong, but you seem to be saying that Bitdefender should have solved this issue without my involvement. If so, please explain why you think that is a reasonable expectation.


    This is security software we're talking about, which means it has some level of interaction with every other piece of software installed on the computer. For any given user issue there's no guarantee that it can even be reproduced in a lab setting, so the most sensible place to start is with guided debug of the user's computer.


    I meant its good the users prob was solved & they helped the user. And this shows that they are there to solve any issue but doesn't shows that BD Free development is still ON. There are quite a few bugs/probs posted by users with no reply from the Devs. The users have also asked quite many times about the development is ON or not but no reply from BD staff. There use to be a BD staff regularly on Wilders forum but he too have disappeared from a long time now.


    Its not just me but check out popular forums like wilders, malwaretips, etc... users are saying the same things, development seems to be stopped, support seems non-existent, no future of BD free, etc...

  • I had problems with running games when I had BitDefender installed. Just uninstall BitDefender and install Avast instead, the games are working for me.