Is Bitdefender working properly?

Hi - I just installed Bitdefender Free for Windows today, and I'm not sure that Bitdefender is working correctly.

To test Bitdefender, I downloaded and saved the 4 EICAR test files (https://www.eicar.org/download-anti-malware-testfile/) to my PC. None of the virus files brought up an alert from Bitdefender.

I expected that each file would raise an alert when saving, just like all the other antivirus applications I have used in the past.

However, when I did a manual check of the four files with Bitdefender, they were properly identified as infected.

Is Bitdefender working properly? I would want Bitdefender to notify me whenever a threat is detected, and prior to being saved to my PC.

Best Answer

Answers

  • Kindly perform below steps & see if this helps you in anyway.

    1) Uninstall the bitdefender product with add/ remove programs option in windows

    2) To remove the remaining files download and run Bitdefender product uninstaller: https://www.bitdefender.com/files/KnowledgeBase/file/Bitdefender_2022_Uninstall_Tool.exe

    3) Restart PC in safe mode: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/start-your-pc-in-safe-mode-in-windows-92c27cff-db89-8644-1ce4-b3e5e56fe234

    4) As soon as desktop opens, assuming your windows drive is C, open below things in run (windows icon + R) command one by one :

    C:\Program Files (delete any folder with name bitdefender)

    C:\Program Files (x86) (delete any folder with name bitdefender)

    C:\ProgramData (delete any folder with name bitdefender)

    C:\Users\{your pc name}\AppData\Local (delete any folder with name bitdefender)

    5) Open run command again and run below command one by one :

    temp ,delete all the files in the folder

    %temp% ,delete all the files in folder

    prefetch ,delete all the files in folder

    6) Open registry editor through run command (windows icon + R) and then type regedit. Once registry editor opens, click on edit -> find, make sure to tick mark match whole strings only. Type bitdefender in search box and click find next. If any file or folder under name of bitdefender is found, delete it. Continue searching the registry and deleting until the search will report no registry keys found.

    7) Restart your PC in general mode by unticking the option that you selected to run the system in safe mode and then click apply.

    8) Remove devices from online bitdefender central: https://www.bitdefender.com/consumer/support/answer/2795/

    9) Download online installer for your respective bitdefender product from below stated links

    Bitdefender Antivirus Plus: https://download.bitdefender.com/windows/installer/en-us/bitdefender_antivirus.exe

    Bitdefender Internet Security: https://download.bitdefender.com/windows/installer/en-us/bitdefender_isecurity.exe

    Bitdefender Total Security: https://download.bitdefender.com/windows/installer/en-us/bitdefender_tsecurity.exe

    Once your respective bitdefender product is installed, a bitdefender dialogue box will open where you will need to login with your registered bitdefender online central details and after a successful login, your product will be synchronized with your online bitdefender central account. Henceforth, your product will get registered & activated with online bitdefender central automatically.

    If issue persists,

    Generate bitdefender BDsysLog: https://www.bitdefender.com/consumer/support/answer/1922/

    Generate bitdefender support tool logs: https://www.bitdefender.com/consumer/support/answer/1733/

    Generate bitdefender connectivity logs: https://www.bitdefender.com/consumer/support/answer/9689/

    Share the logs & your query with bitdefender support team by dropping them an email at bitsy@bitdefender.com

    If the generated logs are larger in size, you can upload the logs to google drive or we.tl (7days link validity for free users) or ask the support team to provide you with the online link & password of bitdefender cloud where you can upload the logs and share the upload link with the support team.

    The support team will reply back to your query within next 24-48 hours excluding weekends.

    Regards

    Life happens, Coffee helps!

    Show your Attitude, when you reach that Altitude!

    Bitdefender Ultimate Security Plus (user)

  • Hello.

    I just did a test and here are the results:

    OS Windows 10 Pro 22H2 x64

    With Latest Windows Updates Installed

    OS Build 19045.3324

    Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.19041.1000.0

    Bitdefender Total Security 27.0.16.86

    In my case, all files were detected and blocked in the browser by the Online Threat Prevention module, before they were downloaded into my device.

    And here is the notification:

    I believe something is wrong with your Bitdefender program and you should follow @Flexx's steps.

    Regards.

  • I believe I may have found the root cause:

    The EICAR files were detected when I tried the Edge Browser and Firefox. But they weren't detected when I used my default, which is Brave browser.

    Is there something I need to modify with the Brave browser to get Bitdefender's real-time detection operating?

  • Hello again.

    To be able to use Bitdefender and all its features, your device needs to meet the following software requirements:

    -- Windows --

    - Microsoft Edge 40 and higher

    - Internet Explorer 10 and higher

    - Mozilla Firefox 51 and higher

    - Google Chrome 34 and higher

    - Microsoft Outlook 2007 / 2010 / 2013 / 2016

    - Mozilla Thunderbird 14 and higher

    Bitdefender provides real-time online threat prevention for:

    - Internet Explorer

    - Microsoft Edge

    - Mozilla Firefox

    - Google Chrome

    - Safari

    - Bitdefender Safepay

    - Opera

    Bitdefender Wallet add-on is supported by the following browsers:

    - Internet Explorer

    - Mozilla Firefox

    - Google Chrome

    - Bitdefender Safepay

    The Bitdefender Anti-tracker extension is compatible with the following web browsers:

    - Internet Explorer

    - Google Chrome

    - Mozilla Firefox

    -- macOS --

    The Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac TrafficLight extensions for Web Protection work and integrate with the following web browsers:

    - Mozilla Firefox

    - Google Chrome

    - Safari

    The Bitdefender Anti-tracker extension is compatible with the following web browsers:

    - Google Chrome

    - Mozilla Firefox

    - Safari

    -- Android --

    The Bitdefender Web Protection is compatible with the following web browsers:

    - Mozilla Firefox

    - Google Chrome

    - DuckDuckGo

    - Yandex Browser

    - Dolphin

    - Firefox Focus

    - Opera

    - Opera Mini

    - Samsung Internet

    - Microsoft Edge

    - Huwaei Browser

    - Brave

    As you can see, Brave browser on Windows is NOT supported by the Online Threat Prevention module.

    That is the reason why Bitdefender doesn't block the files in the browser, but it detects the files as malware after they are downloaded.

    Regards.

  • Thanks for the suggestion ... I installed the Bitdefender Traffic Light extension into Brave.

    Traffic Light appears to be a partial fix for Brave. While it successfully detected the EICAR "infected" links when I clicked on them, Traffic Light / Bitdefender still didn't detect an infection when I downloaded (Save Link As ...) the infected file.

    Bitdefender did detect and notified for the infected files when I did a Save Link As ... in Edge and Firefox.

    Does Traffic Light work in coordination with my installed Bitdefender application? Or, is Traffic Light primarily sending info up to the cloud / Bitdefender servers for checking whenever I click on a link?

  • Scott
    Scott ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited August 2023

    Hi @AzJazz

    This is correct: "Does Traffic Light work in coordination with my installed Bitdefender application? Or, is Traffic Light primarily sending info up to the cloud / Bitdefender servers for checking whenever I click on a link?

    It's separate from the Bitdefender app, it's a browser add-on apart from the app.


    Regards.

    All Bitdefender Home Product User Guides: https://www.bitdefender.com/consumer/support/user-guides/

  • Is there a way to load the Password Manager onto the Duckduckgo browser?

  • Scott
    Scott ✭✭✭✭✭

    Hi @Cryptopher2024

    Duckduckgo is not supported by Password Manager. Here is the list of supported browsers, the more widely used browsers. Edge, Chrome, Firefox and Safari.

    Kind regards,

    Scott

    All Bitdefender Home Product User Guides: https://www.bitdefender.com/consumer/support/user-guides/

  • Thanks Scott. Any chance that's on the horizon? I'm tired of Google and Microsoft tracking me and under the hood changing my search engine to theirs. So, I've moved to DuckDuckGo to prevent that.

  • Scott
    Scott ✭✭✭✭✭

    Not that I know of. Bitdefender tends to maintain the higher-use browsers. But I know what you mean, as I'm using Brave.

    All Bitdefender Home Product User Guides: https://www.bitdefender.com/consumer/support/user-guides/

  • Just out of curiosity, Bitdefender works perfectly in the Opera browser if you install the Bitdefender TrafficLight extension 😙(according to my tests)

    If anyone wants to use Opera with Bitdefender, this information will be relevant 😄

  • Any browser that uses Google's Chromium engine can install Bitdefender Traffic Light extension.

    The link below provides details of all Chromium-based browsers:

    https://alvarotrigo.com/blog/best-chromium-browsers/

    Regards

    Life happens, Coffee helps!

    Show your Attitude, when you reach that Altitude!

    Bitdefender Ultimate Security Plus (user)

  • Life happens, Coffee helps!

    Show your Attitude, when you reach that Altitude!

    Bitdefender Ultimate Security Plus (user)