BitDefender Premium Security Stopping All Downloads and Slowing Internet Speeds To A Crawl

Let me start by saying that I have had no issues with BitDefender up until this point and have enjoyed how useful BD PS has been on all of the systems it is installed on.

A couple of days ago I was trying to download some updates to my games on Steam and they were just crawling along at 25-100KB/s and bursting up as high as 20MB/s (168Mbps) with update times of anywhere around a few minutes to a couple of months. Typically, I see speeds around 70-85MB (587-671Mbps) and a few minutes to update. Most videos will not exceed 360p or 480p without buffering every few seconds and forget about trying to download any files or drivers, I get a network failure every time I try. For the record, I have an 800Mbps with Comcast/Xfinity and "normal" speeds are around 500Mbps given how remote my community is.

I have also been unable to transfer any files from my own NAS while other computers and devices on my network have not had this issue and they are either Windows 10 Home 21H2 or Android and running BitDefender as well. I spent Thursday and Friday evening as well as this afternoon resetting or reinstalling my OS (Windows 10 Pro 21H2) three times thinking that Windows, some obscure driver, or some program was causing the problem.

I have tried to disable the firewall and online threat prevention but still have the same problems, very slow internet speeds and I am unable to download anything from anywhere. At this point, I've uninstalled BitDefender from the computer and have resolved all these issues, but that is less than ideal since Windows Defender is all I've got right now.

In short, BitDefender is blocking anything that is a video or file from being downloaded to the computer, the latter of which compromises the long-term security of my computer and home network. Add to all that, my subscription is up in less than a week, so I am a bit anxious to fix this as soon as possible.

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Mike_BD

Hello @LoneWolf3574 and thanks for joining our Expert Community.

Until other member might jump in the discussion with some advice, I would say that you're facing an issue which needs tech support/ logs. Therefore I'm kindly asking you to visit our support team here https://www.bitdefender.com/consumer/support/

Afterwards I can follow-up on the ticket and see what we can do.

Stay safe,

Mike

ross0369

I'm having this same issue on a new Windows 11 setup. Have been using it for years on Windows 8 and later Windows 10 without ever haivng an issue and now suddenly it's interfering with Steam, all my browsers, and most of the update processes for my programs. I'd like to know why suddenly it chose to go to war with the internet. I don't want to uninstall it but if I'm going to have to fight it every step of the way I might have to.

LoneWolf3574

Just an update.

I worked with Bitdefender for as long as they kept replying and only stopped when I had a planned vacation, but resumed after I returned.

The gist of the entire ordeal was that the development team is still working on a fix that is taking a bit more than usual to come up with. It will be automatically released through product updates and I don't need to do anything more. I am still waiting 3 months into my new subscription cycle and thankfully I have 8 other devices being protected so my subscription renewal is not being wasted. Though at this point, I plan on stopping any renewal as nothing tangible has been done outside of my reinstalling Bitdefender every month to test if the issue is fixed.

Download speeds are now highly erratic with Bitdefender installed. While using speedtest.net, they are at best 200-230Mbps dropping to 140-160Mbps over the period of the test and typically 40-60Mbps. All downloads are still blocked giving the well-known network error and most web pages have to be reloaded at least once or more to get the full content. Video has not improved either and has actually gotten worse on some streaming services by being stuck at buffering any video. That all being said, I am at a loss to explain why I am able to watch YouTube videos up to full 8K (4320p) resolutions without buffering every couple of seconds.

Mike_BD

Hi @LoneWolf3574,

Did you check with our engineers from Support ? It would help if you can share a ticket number so I can follow-up on it.

I personally tried, but failed, to reproduce your issue (tried on my work and home machines - w10 dell laptop, w11 acer gaming laptop, w10 old PC, w8 old PC , all on FTTH optical max 940mb download connection tested on some Blizzard updates, speednettest and epic games updates).

BMWtravel1100

I'm unable to run the web or app version of Ookla speedtest. Tried disabling Bitdefender options 1-15 as recommended by tech support. No change. Ticket 1007283326. Is it because of embedded advertising? Downloads? Curious what others have done to get speedtest to run.

Mike_BD

Saw the ticket, we'll follow up on this how we can @BMWtravel1100 .

I tried to reproduce your issue and on the virtual machine and was unable to. We'll try more tests. Cannot imagine can be an ISP related issue..

LoneWolf3574

Just an update.

The issue has been resolved with the current build of BitDefender 26.0.14.62. Although I will say that it took a couple of days before I could install it and build 26.0.14.63 was out by then.

My only disappointment is with how long it took to resolve this problem as I reported the issue toward the beginning of December 2021 and it is now April 2022. The only computer on my network that had been affected was my main computer and fortunately, the others used by my family were not.

LoneWolf3574

Unfortunately, the issue has returned, but I managed to figure it out. There is a compatibility issue with the Asus GameFirst VI software. Something in it causes both programs to severely limit the internet. The solution is to either disable or uninstall GameFirst if you want to keep using Bitdefender.

Mike_BD

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/comment/311879#Comment_311879

Thanks for sharing back with the community. If you already opened a ticket with our support team, kindly asking to update there as well, as it might help fix this compatibility issue.

cheers,

Mike

Terence Carter

Thank you so much for the information!

I have been having the exact same issues with my Bitdefender since its install and it has been driving me up the wall. Steam updates, scanner software updates, and other driver updates were all failing. I had to completely install Bitdefender, install my apps, and then reinstall Bitdefender. I was just about to kick this AV software to the curb when I saw this thread and it’s recommended actions. And it worked!

I am using an Asus Zephyr G15 laptop. It did have the Gamerfirst software.

Alexandru_BD

Evanliftbrau

Same here! The instant I closed Asus Gamefirst VI the issue completely went away. After messing around for hours... It almost feels like Asus's programs tend to be very buggy or create conflict with other programs. (had problems with Armoury Crate too).

Thanks again for the info.