Search Advisor and Trafficlight Not Working BD TS 2021

Search Advisor icons stopped working in Chrome and FireFox soon after BitDefender Total Security updated from 2020 to 2021. This is on a modern new (just purchased last month) high-end system, Core i7-9750H CPU, 32GB RAM, 512GB Western Digital NVMe SSD - all system drivers and updates (hardware, bios, operating system) fully current to latest versions.

Troubleshooting steps tried so far:

  • Completely uninstalled BitDefender Total Security and Restarted System
  • Ran Windows Update and System Driver Updates manually to make sure all are current
  • Restarted system again
  • Reinstalled BitDefender Total Security directly from within BitDefender Central account
  • Let BitDefender run updates / ran quick scan / ran system scan
  • Rebooted again
  • Right-clicked BD TS icon and chose Update , completed 100%
  • Rebooted again
  • Tested - still no search advisor icons in web searches
  • Added BitDefender Trafficlight extension to all browers
  • Rebooted again

Results:

  • Search advisor / no trafficlight icons still do NOT appear in searches in FireFox and Chrome (latest versions)
  • Search advisor / trafficlight icons DO appear in searches in Microsoft Edge
  • Contacted BitDefender Live Chat support on October 9th. BD Live Support agent stated she would open support ticket and was immediately reporting the issue to senior colleagues and second level support, and told me to rest assured the problem was being fixed.

So, while waiting to hear back from BD tech support, I'm posting this information here and will continue to update it.

Some more system information in the interim:

Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit

Version 2004

Installed on 9/21/2020

OS Build 19041.508

Windows Feature Experience Pack 120.2212.31.0


Product Info

BitDefender Total Security

Build 25.0.3.24

Last Product Update: 10/4/2020


Threat Database Info

Engine Version: 7.86227

Last Engine Update: 10/12/2020


Additional Info

Chrome Version 86.0.4240.75 64 Bit with Trafficlight 3.1.3

FireFox Version 81.0.1 64 Bit with Trafficlight 3.1.4

Microsoft Edge Version 86.0.622.38 64 Bit with Trafficlight 3.1.3


Notice that Trafficlight for FireFox is is 3.1.4 , whereas on Chrome and Edge it's version 3.1.3

The trafficlight icons appear in seaches in Edge, but NOT in Chrome or FireFox

Using Bitdefender Total Security. Paying BD customer since 2012

Answers

  • Flexx
    Flexx DEFENDER OF THE YEAR 2023 / DEFENDER OF THE MONTH ✭✭✭✭✭ mod

    Hi Member

    Kindly drop an email to bitdefender support at bitsy@bitdefender.com regarding your query .They will reply back asap.

    Regards

    Flex

    (Bitdefender beta tester 2019/ 2020)

    Life happens, Coffee helps!

    Show your Attitude, when you reach that Altitude!

    Bitdefender Ultimate Security Plus (user)

  • I emailed support for an update. They still don't have a time line for a fix. This is kind of ridiculous at this point.

  • AnotherDave
    AnotherDave ✭✭✭
    edited March 2021

    Search Advisor still does not work with Google. (Works with Bing though - tested again today with latest versions of Edge, Chrome, and FireFox)

    I've tried installing/unsintalling TrafflicLight, I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling Bitdefender Total Security, went through all of the settings. Search Advisor simply does not work with Google.

    Bitdefender Total Security - Build 25.0.14.58 / Engine Version 7.87743

    Windows 10 Pro64-bit Version 20H2 / OS build 19042.844

    Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-9750H CPU @ 2.60GHz  / RAM 32.0 GB

    Using Bitdefender Total Security. Paying BD customer since 2012

  • I have the same problem with BD Total Security 2022 on Windows 10. With Search Advisor enabled, I see no "traffic light" icons when searching via Google on Chrome, Firefox & Edge, but I do see the icons when searching via Bing on these same 3 browsers. I just chatted with BD Support, and the person was not aware of the problem, and level-2 support will be emailing me for more info.

  • Same here. Search Advisor is not working for me too. Why not post the solution here? So other people who hit the same issue can know how to apply the correct fix.

  • Alex_A
    Alex_A ✭✭✭

    TrafficLight, began to work somehow selectively, in the Firefox browser, and in Google Chrome. Some sites are marked green as safe, others are not marked at all. Dear developers, what's going on?

  • @Alex_A does this happen when using particular search engines, or whenever you access those sites directly?

    Do you encounter this on Mac or Windows?

    If you can post a screenshot it would be very helpful as I am checking this with a developer as we speak.

    Thank you.

    Premium Security & Bitdefender Endpoint Security Tools user

  • Alex_A
    Alex_A ✭✭✭

    hello, Alexandru_BD

    In Windows, any search engine, somewhere more, somewhere less. It also depends on the request. Here is an example.


  • Hi Bitdefender,

    I have the same issue as above are you able to find a solution and post it so others can see.

    20th Jan 2022

    Google chrome user

    Search Advisor Traffic light not working/selectively works

  • Hi Bitdefender,

    I have the same issue as above,traffic lights selectively working/or not at all.Using google chrome browser.

    When I use microsoft bing search engine the traffic light search advisor works properly no issues.

    20th Jan 2022

  • Hello everyone and thank you for sharing your findings with us.

    This is a known issue, Trafficlight does not rate results accurately on second page of DuckDuckGo searches in Chrome/Firefox. An investigation is being conducted by the developers to deploy a fix as soon as possible.

    As it stands, the Search Advisor doesn't always work on Bing & Google and this is also being addressed.

    We are pushing for a fix.

    Best regards.

    Premium Security & Bitdefender Endpoint Security Tools user

  • Words in the wind. Certainly you will need months for a fix, as then, after a while, it does not work anymore. It happened before.
  • Has this issue now been solved?

    I have just installed the firefox extension on my Mac, and there are no traffic light icons from search advisor.

  • HI all

    Same issue here!

    NOT work in google search engine. Edge or firefox browsers.

    WORK only in Yahoo search engine and Bing. Edge or firefox browsers.

    Cheers

  • Hello

    I have the same issue on Microsoft Edge. The search advisor only works in bing and not with google.

    Is there any fix available?

  • Cosmin P.
    Cosmin P. QA Engineer ✭✭✭

    Hello,

    As a temporary fix, you could try disabling the QUIC protocol in chrome/edge settings:

    1. Navigate to edge://flags or chrome://flags (in the address bar)
    2. Search for "QUIC"
    3. Set it to disabled (and restart the browser)
  • Installation of this extension- Traffic Light-, solves the problem, definitely, both in the Google Chrome browser and in Mozilla Firefox

    Windows 11 Pro - 11th Gen Intel Core i9-11900KF @3,50 GHz, 128.0 GB RAM

  • AnotherDave
    AnotherDave ✭✭✭

    Hey guys, thanks for posting solutions that worked for you.

    Unfortunately neither disabling QUIC nor installing Traffic Light have ever worked for me, and still don't. I've tried on multiple PC's. I've tried every solution possibly found, including full uninstall / reinstall of Bitdefender Total Security.

    I originally posted about this years ago and also submitted a support case back in October 2020, to which I've received several responses to from BD support stating that the issue is still not resolved and that devs are still working on a fix.

    It is now May 2022 and the issue still is not resolved. Did some searching around here on these forums and places like Reddit etc and it is clear I'm not the only one with this problem.

    I always run the latest versions of FireFox, Chrome, Edge, and Bitdefender Total Security.

    The Search Advisor still does not work in Google searches in any of those 3 browsers. It works in Bing searches but not Google searches.

    I keep my systems fully updated at all times, including BIOS / drivers / Windows OS.

    My main system specs:

    Edition   Windows 10 Pro

    Version   21H2

    Installed on   ‎3/‎24/‎2021

    OS build   19044.1645

    Processor   Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-9750H CPU @ 2.60GHz

    Installed RAM   32.0 GB

    System type   64-bit operating system, x64-based processor

    I realize that this is not the biggest worry since in most cases BD will still protect if we click on a harmful link despite the missing traffic light icons, but when you've been paying for multiple licenses for many years you expect the features listed in the description to work.

    @Alexandru_BD - Any progress updates on the true actual fix for this? Thank you in advance.

    Using Bitdefender Total Security. Paying BD customer since 2012

  • Hello @AnotherDave,

    I know the developers still have an open case on this matter, but this doesn't mean they could not come up with any solutions at all. The problem is that the fixes and workarounds discovered so far did not apply to all users encountering this. The best way to move forward would be to get in touch with the Support Teams for the engineers to check what solutions are available for you.

    You can get in touch with our engineers by choosing one of the contact methods available here:

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

    Regards

    Premium Security & Bitdefender Endpoint Security Tools user