Bad Update Or....? - Solution Here: Http://forum.bitdefender.com/index.php?showtopic=18789

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  • the staff:


    "we are looking for a reliable solution, but now it's time to go to dinner and after the siesta we will look forward to find something"


    shitdefender staff

  • This bites hard. I kept getting the trojan.fakealert.5 message from bitdefender, so figuring something got on there, and BD would need to run a scan to fully remove it, I ran a deep scan. It found like 40,000 infected files, and it asked me what I wanted to do with them. Well I choose quarantine, and all ###### broke loose. It basically made my computer unusable. It must have moved my display drivers or something, cause windows was just a blank screen with no image whatsoever. Restarting, even in safe mode gave me the same results. I tried repairing my installation using my windows disc, and that did not help. I basically had to resort to completely reinstalling windows. Thanks a bunch guys. Bought BD because it was the best rated on several sites I had researched, and the virus protection itself was responsible for doing enough damage to my system to make me have to reinstall? not cool at all. Next time I see something fishy I am going to check these forums first.

  • This is terrible. My laptop is mostly fried because of this. I've been trying for 2 hours to restore the thousands of system and application files BDTS quarantined so I can login to work. My boss didn't believe me when I said I was unable to connect because my anti-virus software broke my laptop. Now he has seen the discussion, but told me I have to take an unpaid leave day because of this crap. Why did I pay for BDTS 2010?! My unpaid leave day has just cost me more than I can possibly afford.


    Thank you so much, BD, for the clear announcement (NOT!) and fast fix on your homepage. I had to connect and wait for a chat agent to tell me there might be a fix in this forum in 20 or 30 minutes. Great. How about you code your products so this doesn't happen in the first place? Is there a liability claim process for me to get reimbursed for my missed work day?

  • I have the same update as you, automatic update says there's no new updates so i don't know how people have anything higher than...848


    If anyone has info on a site where people affected by this are wanting action taken, PLEASE post it,or PM me..

  • I see only x64 systems affected.


    Can someone please tell me if BitDefender is pure x64?


    I've seen \system32 and \syswow64 mentioned, but not \sysnative.


    Thank You.


    John

  • This may be a stupid question, but should I shut down my computer or will that simply risk my not being able to start Windows again? Is there anything I should be doing to protect my computer? Earlier, I had to do a system restore from safe mode just so I could get past the Master Password from my Windows 7 start page--BitDefender even allowed my startup screen to fail. This is an extraordinary screw up. Extraordinary!


    Did you install the update?


    Here's the link: http://www.bitdefender.com/site/view/Deskt...ts-Updates.html


    After that if your computer seems quite ok then you should be able to restart.


    Here's what I did:


    1- Installed the update.


    2- Restored every quarantined file I could, most in system32 didn't but the repair fixed it.


    3- Rebooted


    4- Repair started on it's own, but maybe you would want to start it by yourself in case (click F8 after BIOS) it doesn't start (probably means you don't have to though).


    5- Repair said it couldn't fix all the problems. Clicked finish to shut my computer down.


    6- Started in safe mode, 2 seconds after I restarted the computer (=


    7- The computer started again with no problems and apparently the repair did it's job because I can now listen to music again.


    I'm ignoring the files shown in quarantine but hopefully BD will do something about it but apparently there are new copies made anyways and all is ok (=


    BD should compensate us greately (=

  • The problem described in this thread is affecting 64bit systems. Are you sure that your system is 32bit? Because this problem shouldn't be affecting you, according to what was said until now.


    Yeah, it's a 64bit system.


    I couldn't remember which disc I used when I installed it...the 32bit, or the 64bit...and it was the 64bit.


    I change operating systems so often on my home entertainment computer, I tend to forget.


    Whereas, my dev computers are used much more frequently...and my needs are specific.


    I'm downloading Firefox for the second time - it was trashed a few hours ago.


    Then, I'm going to download BitDefender again...it too was trashed.

  • Second time BD is ruining my PC ( after VISTA SP3 component being considered as malware ) ...

  • Woah....uhhh..update is downloaded but stuck at " installing updates..." And when I go to restore file by file..it says the file already exists, asks if I want to replace....click ok and then it says can not find the file..only option after that is cancel....so0o0o how do I restore the billion files in my quarantine? or should I just give up and re format my pc and start from scratch? although I did like one guy's advice of using the partition disks to repair windows and then system restore to an earlier time...but the results are questionable. atleast with the re-formatting I know my pc will be *almost* back to normal. And where can I go for up to date info? because this spot is getting jam-packed with the same **** over and over and over again? no offense people, I'm buggin out too, but cool, calm, collected is the best way to get the best results.

  • i was at the match when my daughter rang in a panic - she'd been composing her portfolio for art a-level. My son is doing his final work for geography gcse, so i thought it was safest to turn off the PCs. Mistake. It's taken me 3 hours to get their machine up and running. Eventually got the Windows7 disc to do a recovery, boot up in Safe mode, and disable Bitdefender. Not sure if I will try and get a refund and buy Kapersky, or trust their fix. Never had a problem before. Will be spending tomorrow dumping off severla Gb of photos and coursework onto DVDs - let this be a lesson to us all about backing up!!


    Come on though Bitdefender - get this posted on your HOME PAGE and get it sorted soon.

  • When u don't test an update this is what it's happening... But from what I saw those days few firms are actually testing the things they release as they should do. No offence but most of the test teams are a bad joke (all of them will say they have a test team but bugs that will notice in 10s after the patch that happens prove that there is no test team).


    Lucky me I disabled bitdefender after it quarantined calc.exe. The name of the so called virus make me thing it's a false positive... But well not many people thinks like me...


    What can I say... I will just change the antivirus. Why? There is sentence in romanian: "If it happened once, surely it will happen again."

  • The problem is only on MS platforms or on linux too?

  • dannnyy
    dannnyy ✭✭
    edited March 2010
    Thanks, my last update was 7.30848, so I guess that was not the fix?


    Where did you find that info?


    Thanks again,


    Snacko


    "Thanks, my last update was 7.30848, so I guess that was not the fix?"


    I also had 7.30848 and the problem was present.


    I analyzed ?:\Program Files\Common Files\BitDefender\BitDefender Threat Scanner, more exactly C:\Program Files\Common Files\BitDefender\BitDefender Threat Scanner\av64bit_17427\Plugins\update.txt.

  • East Coast USA. I have the problem on Win 7 64 bit (11,000 + infections) but cannot see that I have bitdefender installed. Does anyone know if it is the software used by The Shield Deluxe? I suspect so. Maybe it is also on Malwarebytes? I uninstalled The Shield and reinstalled it and updated, but it is still finding infected files; so I turned it off.

  • Yeah, it's a 64bit system.


    I couldn't remember which disc I used when I installed it...the 32bit, or the 64bit...and it was the 64bit.


    I change operating systems so often on my home entertainment computer, I tend to forget.


    Whereas, my dev computers are used much more frequently...and my needs are specific.


    I'm downloading Firefox for the second time - it was trashed a few hours ago.


    Then, I'm going to download BitDefender again...it too was trashed.


    You were getting me worried for a moment there.


    What a mess. :( All I can say is ... good luck to everyone with the repairs.

  • I see only x64 systems affected.


    Can someone please tell me if BitDefender is pure x64?


    I've seen \system32 and \syswow64 mentioned, but not \sysnative.


    Thank You.


    John


    Bitdefender works on both 32-bit and 64-bit Operating Systems. This problem only seems to be affecting users that are using a Windows 64-Bit Operating system (Vista or Windows 7)

  • i hate people like you.....just shut up. We have all been affected badly, deal with it. I've lost lots, but it's one of those things that happens.


    Oh man....get a grip


    Ok - so how many times do you want your pc to go down before you change your view?


    EULA - Product Liability protects users from this. EU law says a product can not have a 'no liability' - so compensation is due. How much media this gets will be determined by how bitdefender handle this.


    Will it be handled internally? Extending software license will not be enough. Check the case law. It is an unacceptable form of compensation. At VERY minimum the product price should be returned. But I think personally as a opinion due to them already accepting 'it was there fault' the componsatory amount cannot be minimum - it must be more.

  • this will never happen again.it was just a human error.we all do mistakes.a fix will be made soon for all users.


    Just want to confirm - do you work for BitDefender? If so, can you state that somewhere? If not, then how do you know enough to make your statement?

  • OK. For the latecomers. I was on page one when this started and had 2 PCs impacted.


    The first I one finger soluted and I started again in Safemode. No harm done.


    The second I waited for the resolution from Bitdefender which did not work for me. So I one fingered this one too and restarted in safe mode. Again no harm done. This was with 1300 files in quarantine. I wish I hadn't waited.


    Oh, and make sure your internet connection is disconnected before the saluting. Doddle.


    So from my experience do not let Windows try to fix itself as some seem to have tried as this only digs a deeper hole. Safe mode is the way forward.


    IMO if you have restore points set for Windows there shouldn't have been too much impact. Immediate cost to me is about £1,000 and I think I've saved the contract since the third party has been following the saga on here. I have already replaced Bitdefender and gone back to my tried and tested vendor, Norman. I will be looking for a refund of the Bitdefender license as a start.


    Using the system I used above, there is no need to restore anything in quarantine. It's quick, nasty and works.

  • Just want to confirm - do you work for BitDefender? If so, can you state that somewhere? If not, then how do you know enough to make your statement?


    oh man...its called f**ing life.


    Im prepared to deal with one incident like this. Norton is a bag of crap, Kaspersky runs wild. Don't know any others, but BD has been great, low CPU useage, good protection etc. Ok, ive had a sh*t day today trying to save my pc, but it doesnt put me off for BD for good.

  • I'm downloading Firefox for the second time - it was trashed a few hours ago.


    Then, I'm going to download BitDefender again...it too was trashed.


    Good luck with reinstalling Bitdefender. I booted in safe mode and deleted all the stuff I could find, still Bitdefender refuses to install because if finds stuff from the old install.

  • cLutch.
    edited March 2010

    I can't even open BD it says "The program can't start because txmlutil.dll is missing from your computer. Try reinstalling the program to fix this problem. I also have several other programs that can't run such as Adobe products, flash player. My wireless internet does not work as well. How can i fix this Trojan.fakealert if i can't even open BD? It won't let me reinstall either.


    HELP PLEASE.

  • I am highly disappointed by bitdefender


    I hope they know that with a good lawyer this could be considered Cyber Terrorism! Although that's taking it to extremes, I lost $1000 Dollars today not to mention my blood pressure must have skyrocketed to 300/200.

  • what should i do now to wait until BD can solve these trojan!


    i'm freaking out right now bc 11K + files being infected!


    please help

  • This thread is actually not very helpful and shows its limitations, good luck finding the solution to your problem in its dozens of pages.


    True, but what could we do when we loose almost everything?


    There should be a dedicated technical support thread format, with buttons such as "I also need an answer" and the possibility to flag a comment as "Best answer", like in other professional technical support forums, so you can get notified of answers by email..


    I guess it would be costly to get this kind of service.


    I am lucky I didn't have my computer running overnight


    Yes sir!


    I did not put my computer with BD linked to internet since yesterday. I'll wait for a few days...


    I really expect BD to explain thoroughly what happened e the operating system cannot be salvaged or rebooted.)


    Indeed, a malware could hardly have made such a nuisance to so many people!


    And I'll be waiting for my "I survived Trojan.FakeAlert.5" t-shirt.


    A good idea. I wish I had a t-shirt too! However let's not dream...


    A few ideas I have been following for several years (because a colleague and competitor - Trend Micro - did the same blunder several years ago):


    Never install the update of any software on all the computers the same day.


    I follow the rule with free or subscribed software (CCleaner, Anydvd, Counterspy and so on.)


    I always wait for a few days!


    Check the action of the antivirus and never choose "destroy the suspect file", always choose the "quarantine" mode.


    I guess it does not help a lot when the downloaded software creates such a havoc...


    I am not a computer geek at all, just an old "advanced beginner" but I suffered formerly for not having followed the two "rules"...


    Good luck to everybody, and maybe BD sellers will give a virtual t-shirt for clients of Black saturday 20th march?


    :huh:


    L.

  • "In no event shall BITDEFENDER be liable for any damages of any kind, including, without limitation, direct or indirect damages arising out of the use, performance, or delivery of BitDefender, even if BITDEFENDER has been advised of the existence or possibility of such damages. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY FOR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO THE ABOVE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. IN NO CASE SHALL BITDEFENDER'S LIABILITY EXCEED THE PURCHASE PRICE PAID BY YOU FOR BITDEFENDER. The disclaimers and limitations set forth above will apply regardless of whether you accept to use, evaluate, or test BitDefender."


    From there Terms and Conditions.


    In the EU - 'no liability' is not possible. So compensation is required.

  • I was lucky enough to disable real time protection immediately upon seeing the oddity that occurred.


    And thankfully, I had it set so that quarantined files do not get deleted.


    For the people who are affected, you have my condolences.

  • what should i do now to wait until BD can solve these trojan!


    i'm freaking out right now bc 11K + files being infected!


    please help


    dont`t reboot the system and try to stop the real time av scanning.

  • enoch0o
    edited March 2010

    cant even watch youtube or do anything cause all my prog files are QUARANTINED!DAMMIT


    HURRY UP AND GIVE US PATCH FIX!GAaaaaawwwhd

  • vitamineg
    edited March 2010

    after the update,


    is rolling back the machine to an earlier date fixing those quarantined files that cant be restored?


    thanks.

  • This really is shocking for BD to put people and businesses in a position where they have to, for not fault of their own, spend hours backing up data and fixing systems.


    I use my PC for work - I had over 38,000 files found as 'infected'. It seemed odd seeing as it's only 2 weeks old so I guarantined them rather than deleting. I only found this as I Googled Trojan.Fakealert.5 and found this thread. Glad I did - it's probably saved me hours.


    I'm planning on waiting until tomorrow before attempting any fixes...sounds like the BD tech guys need a few more hours to get this mess sorted.


    Not impressed.

  • Hey I have got this on my support:


    Due to a recent update it is possible that BitDefender detects several Windows and BitDefender files as infected with Trojan.FakeAlert.5 .


    In order to solve this issue you will have to perform these steps:


    - open the BitDefender interface in Expert Mode


    - go to the Antivirus tab and disable the Realtime Protection permanently.


    - go to the Quarantine tab and restore all items that are detected as Trojan.FakeAlert.5.


    - reboot your PC


    - open BitDefender in Expert Mode


    - go to the Update tab and run an update.


    - wait for the update to finish and enable the Realtime Protection that was disabled earlier.


    If, however, your Windows can no longer boot properly you will need to perform one of the 2 actions below:


    1. Use Last Known Good Configuration


    - reboot your PC and press F8 repeatedly until you reach a text menu


    - choose the last option on the bottom of the page named Last Known Good Configuration


    2. Use System Restore - instructions on how to use System restore are available here


    http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/h...temrestore.mspx


    Don know if it works I will try on mine!!

  • Hello everyone, I have the same problem (Windows 7, x86...) and at the beginning I tried to fix it in safe mode because in normal mode no other program was able to run (bitdefender block everything else),...


    then I restart and enter to safe mode to try to run another software for search the problem but after the restart its not working anymore!!!


    In safe mode after you give the login password the screen remain black all the time only showing that is in safe mode but you don't see the desktop or anything else, and in normal mode it says that the password is incorrect!...so I don't know how to enter to windows and disable the anti virus, so for the moment my laptop is fried!


    Thanks for your help, I will be tracking all this forum to see what will happen and the Company response about all this (They don't test the updates before releasing them!!!)

  • Bit Defender's UK homepage Press Centre:



    Mar 12, 2010


    BitDefender’s Total Security 2010


    awarded “Best for Beginners”


    by Which? magazine


    Not any more it f'ing isn't.

  • Sorry. I just remembered that I have a computer on at work running BitDefender in the background. I have to go drive 60 miles to work to see if I can save any of my work.


    Holy (*@#(*$#$ this is a disaster.


    Oh, and by the way, I tried to talk with the tech reps on chat and when I asked them serious questions 3 different reps simply quit answering my questions until the chat timed out. Now that's premium customer service.

  • what should i do now to wait until BD can solve these trojan!


    i'm freaking out right now bc 11K + files being infected!


    please help


    It's not a real trojan. It's bitdefender so stop real time protection and download the update


    http://www.bitdefender.com/site/view/Deskt...ts-Updates.html


    Because it sounds like you are still running the scan, in that case stop it and send nothing to quarantine!!

  • after the update,


    is rolling back the machine to an earlier date fixing those quarantined files that cant be restored?


    thanks.


    after the update will not get the fake av alert nor the system files quarantined.

  • where do I sign up for legal action! Comp is completely down, wont even open cd rom door!

  • I think messing up is one thing and errors are human, etc, etc.


    Not informing/warning your customers (I just checked again to be totally sure) about this is very very bad. NO email threat alert, NOTHING on website homepage, NOTHING on website period.


    There is this button in BD, 'Show Bitdefender News (Security related notifications)'. Why is it even there?

  • fablespinner
    edited March 2010
    Yes Windows 7 is amazing and it shows how ignorant people are for claiming Windows XP is better. With Windows XP you'd be in DEEP ###### right now. Windows 7 happily repairs the files Bitdefender so happily ###### up.


    If not for that, I'd have been positively SCREWED. regardless of what L.O.D likes to think, even relatively savvy folks like myself, when all else fails will fall back onto a reboot since the computer is locked up everywhere else. NOTHING would run for me. I couldn't browse the internet to search the virus name, I could not open task manager to manually stop files, I tried to open BitDefender itself to see what the ###### was going on and why I was suddenly getting pop up alerts everywhere about trojan,fakealert.5, NOTHING.


    Even intelligent folks sit here going, perhaps it's caught itself in a loop? Maybe a Reboot will stop the loop.... It's not a far fetched reaction to something like this.


    My computer went into meltdown, and after 3 unsuccessful attempts to even get a BOOT SCREEN, windows 7 kicked in and said "Gee, you're not booting... would you like to fix this and do a system restore?"


    UM.... HECK YES!


    I immediately got back online, searched the virus found out it's not a virus but my OWN ANTI-VIRUS TURNED VIRUS?


    Oh No they didn't!


    You can try to defend BD all you like, are you tyring to look like you live on your knees infront of BD? Because seriously, Herman is right LOD you're just making everyone else irritated with your responses, defense of BD and basically trying to make normal everyday people feel as if it's their fault they didn't know what to do.


    This is perhaps the WORST mess I've ever seen from ANY anti-virus company, they turned their own system INTO a virus basically.


    I know I'll be there with my name on the class action because of this nightmare. I lost FILES, I lost WORK, and I pay for this?


    Um, NO! I can understand small mistakes, this was massive, FAIL, all around DESTRUCTIVE. An "oops, my bad!" is NOT going to satisfy me and I'm sure many others.


    They did not make an announcement the second they discovered the issue, no mass e-mailings to warn their consumers? A virtual cricket chirping on the forum? Tells me they don't care about their customers in the slightest and made ZERO ATTEMPTS at circumventing the problem or mitgating damages. They didn't pull the update, they gave no warning and let people log into their computers and the casualties keep increasing.

  • It's doing its job. If your OS can't start then there's no viruses!

  • Amaro
    edited March 2010

    Hello everyone


    I'am a BitDefender Internet Security 2010 user and I like it.


    I´m living the " ..Trojan.FakeAlert.5 " and i´ve loosed my saturday freetime in family, while resolving the problem in my Windows 7 x64bit macine, with BitDefender 2010.


    By now I'll wait for a good response of BtiDefender team, and i send them my support and best luck i can achive.


    If someone can (.. on this confusion near panic zone..) listen for an experienced "user", follow me:


    1. Reboot your machine in Safe Mode (Laptop with power diconnected - Battery out - .. pray .. - Battery on ..);


    2. Make a Windows restore for example, to (..the last day before the bad upgrade date) 19th March;


    3. Using another machine, I say, download from http://www.bitdefender.com/site/view/Deskt...ts-Updates.html , the manual upgrade Exe.file of your product;


    4. Run it on your x64 bit machine, upgrading Bit Defender;


    5. Then I suggest you to disconnect your x64 Machine form net-Web or disabling the upgrades from BitDefender, till our Support Team give us the expected good news.


    I send to all of you, my best wishes of good weekend.


    Amaro


    from Portugal


    :)

  • Bit Defender's UK homepage Press Centre:



    Mar 12, 2010


    BitDefender’s Total Security 2010


    awarded “Best for Beginners”


    by Which? magazine


    Not any more it f'ing isn't.


    Maybe that was from WITCH magazine.

  • First of all, I must say that this is good bye to BitDefender from me.


    Secondly, this is how I fixed Bit Defender move to quarantine issue. On my computer it was set up to move suspicious files to quarantine, not to delete them.


    Also, you will need another computer with same version of bitdefender installed and Parted Magic Live CD or something similar.


    1. Locate your quarantine files and copy them to another computer (if you have dual boot, you can use another partition instead) with bit defender installed, into it's quarantine folder. If you can't access your computer (as I couldn't), use Parted Magic.


    2. Now that you are on a second computer with bit defender running, use it to extract your files from quarantine to another location. Don't forget to maintain folder structure, so that you can put back every file where it belongs. This can be a lot of work, depending on how many files bitdefender moved to quarantine.


    3. Run Parted Magic cd again, and use it to put your files back to their original locations. While you are in linux (parted magic) rename your bit defender folder, so that it doesn't load when you boot up your windows.


    4. Boot up windows. Locate bit defender folder and rename it back to it's original name. Now you can uninstall it or fix it if bitdefender support came out with some kind of patch.


    Hope this helps. I managed to fix my computer and I must add that this kind of flaw is unacceptable for a security software. So it's good bye to bitdefender from me.


    p.s. I warned my friends who use bitdefender to this problem, so maybe you can do it to, just to make a bit less damage.

  • Sorry. I just remembered that I have a computer on at work running BitDefender in the background. I have to go drive 60 miles to work to see if I can save any of my work.


    Holy (*@#(*$#$ this is a disaster.


    Oh, and by the way, I tried to talk with the tech reps on chat and when I asked them serious questions 3 different reps simply quit answering my questions until the chat timed out. Now that's premium customer service.


    If your work computer is running x64 windows update your bitdefender.


    If you had some files quarantined with the name Trojan.Fake.Alert.5 restore them.


    If you see Engine version 7.30856 in the update page you are ok, the false positive was fixed.


    For the quarantine restore problem, if you restart your computer, wait for a patch.

  • I reinstaled BD, cz the old one was stuck, didn`t made the update. The new one did.. works fine but in quarantine there NO FILE.. and my programs are still not working.. SO WTF?

  • my computer seems to be working fine now but the files are still in quarintine..i'm no computer expert so why can't a restore them. its says "the file already exist". what do I do there? should I just delete them, leave them or what?

  • my computer seems to be working fine now but the files are still in quarintine..i'm no computer expert so why can't a restore them. its says "the file already exist". what do I do there? should I just delete them, leave them or what?


    i wish everyone would read the previous posts, although i understand there are sh*t loads.


    Just hang on. im in the same situation, and we are waiting for another update to fix the quaranteen error.

  • If your work computer is running x64 windows update your bitdefender.


    If you had some files quarantined with the name Trojan.Fake.Alert.5 restore them.


    If you see Engine version 7.30856 in the update page you are ok, the false positive was fixed.


    For the quarantine restore problem, if you restart your computer, wait for a patch.


    I am waiting for an official response from Bitdefender before doing anything.


    I reboot my machine and had to use Vista repair disk.


    All seems fine.... maybe

  • If you had some files quarantined with the name Trojan.Fake.Alert.5 restore them.


    You make it sound way easier than it is.Some people are reporting over 10K files have been quarantined.Then, there's the issue with unable to locate file path and File already exist.