BitDefender AV Free

Published on December 29, 2012 By DrJBHL In Personal Computing

This article isn’t designed to trigger a “mine’s better than yours” war, nor to convince you to change your current antiviral software.

I have BitDefender Internet Security 2013, so… I can tell you I haven’t had any problems with the software, and none related to SD software, specifically.

It’s more in the direction of this is here if you need it, and for folks with older machines without the ‘liquidity’ to get another soon. It has very little effect on your system resources.

Features:

New in this latest update is that after installation, updating isn’t a problem, and the scan done on installation counts as your most recent scan.

There are no configuration options, and no advertising ‘nag screens’.

So if you’re interested, it’s here: http://www.bitdefender.com/solutions/free.html

Comments (Page 2)

Jafo

on Dec 29, 2012

http://www.bitdefender.com.au/solutions/free.html

Click the download..and you'll be required to add your email, etc...there it states in the image "get your free year of protection".

After which I expect you'll be asked to purchase.....[otherwise there IS NO need for an email, etc.]...

Wizard1956

on Dec 29, 2012

Jafo

reply 16

otherwise there IS NO need for an email, etc.

Avast requires the same info for its free AV.

The wording is somewhat confusing, but it appears the Free Trial is for BitDefender Plus 2013

Oddly, the link in the OP and the link you provided takes you to different places. Ah, it's that .au thing. Must be a special Down Under Edition.

I do see from your link that the free one isn't real-time, just On Demand, and if that is the case for the one I have installed now, for my purposes on this particular rig is fine.

DrJBHL

on Dec 29, 2012

Paul... Wiz beat me to it... yes, the offer on my link in the OP has no such additional windows. Try my link: http://www.bitdefender.com/solutions/free.html

Jafo

on Dec 29, 2012

DrJBHL

reply 18

Paul... Wiz beat me to it... yes, the offer on my link in the OP has no such additional windows. Try my link: http://www.bitdefender.com/solutions/free.html

Well....there you go....looks like it's for the US only....if I click the link it loads as .au and the info is as stated....

RedneckDude

on Dec 29, 2012

DrJBHL

reply 14

reply 13 Now that is hilarious!!!!
Actually, it's probably programmed to do that. It saves disk space, and if you choose to uninstall the program, you'll have to download the latest installer with the latest definitions.

Doc, I'm sure BitDefender isn't programmed to flag it's own installer as malware.

DrJBHL

on Dec 29, 2012

RedneckDude

reply 20

Quoting DrJBHL, reply 14reply 13 Now that is hilarious!!!!
Actually, it's probably programmed to do that. It saves disk space, and if you choose to uninstall the program, you'll have to download the latest installer with the latest definitions.

Doc, I'm sure BitDefender isn't programmed to flag it's own installer as malware.

I didn't say it was.

I wrote that it was probably programmed to uninstall its own installer... which way it does it only the programmers know. There is a certain logic to uninstalling the installer, however it 'defines' it.

RedneckDude

on Dec 29, 2012

DrJBHL

reply 21

I didn't say it was.

Correct, you didn't, but Wiz did say that the only "infected" file it found was it's own installer....If that isn't hilarious, I don't know what is...lol.

Uvah

on Dec 30, 2012

It didn't do that to mine. I still have the installer. No flags came up and the scan upon install took less than five minutes. Also it didn't flag or otherwise interfere with MalwareBytes or any of the others I have like Threatfire and MSE. So far everything seems to be normal.....or as normal as it can be considering who's typing this reply.

Wizard1956

on Dec 30, 2012

Uvah

reply 23

Ross, you do realize running more than one AV program at a time is never a good idea don't you? Anti-Malware apps, yes, Anti-Virus, never.

And to clarify my statement about the installer, I went to downloads, right-clicked on it and selected Scan with BitDefender and got the results I posted. The information is from BD's own logs. 10 minutes to scan a 160 kb file, one infection. A further note, the full scan it did run later found and deleted a well known and trusted Windows Codec Pack installer, with no way of stopping it from doing so and no way of recovering it.

No quarantine, no options, just deleted it.

Uvah

on Dec 30, 2012

Uh oh.......methinks maybe I should back up and do a rethink. Whatcha think?

I was just trying it out on my system to see if there were any incompatibilities with the ones I normally use. If its gonna do stuff like that then it isn't worth it. Gone!

DrJBHL

on Dec 30, 2012

Wizard1956

reply 24

no way of recovering it.

Wiz:

Uninstall the BitDefender.

Restore to a point earlier than the BitDefender installation.

I'm going to notify I have notified BitDefender about the problems found with their software mentioned in this thread. When I get a response, I'll let you know.

Wizard1956

on Dec 30, 2012

As I said, right off the bat, it told me Malwarebytes had to go, even though it let me reinstall it later. Lack of config options gives it far too much leeway to decide things for itself, imho.

As for trusting a restore point now, I'm not too sure about that. From today's logs:

Scan Results
The Virus Shield detected one infected item.
Scan Results
File Name Infection Action
C:\System Volume Information\_restore{74E0A9B6-ED55-496D-89EE-668E2CBE9B40}\RP105\A0030109.exe Trojan.Generic.8275880 Deleted

It has already decided that restore points are fair game. I will just yank it out by the roots. This is only my old $20 yard sale XP rig, no harm, no foul.

DrJBHL

on Dec 30, 2012

OK... maybe it saw the

Wizard1956

reply 27

C:\System Volume Information\_restore{74E0A9B6-ED55-496D-89EE-668E2CBE9B40}\RP105\A0030109.exe

as a trojan because it affects your registry... or because the code used to accomplish that is basically the same code used in that trojan...

I think the inability to control it or to 'white list' anything is a big minus. If they write back with anything constructive (I gave them the url of the thread) I'll post it. Sorry it affected your rig that way... but uninstalling it and going back to a prior restore point (or restoring from an external storage device after uninstalling) is the way to go, I think...

DrJBHL

on Dec 30, 2012

Wiz - This just received:

BitDefender Customer Care

1:06 PM (3 minutes ago)

to me

Dear Seth,

Thank you for your interest in our security solution, Bitdefender.

If there were previous Bitdefender products installed on the machine, the
installer will automatically attempt to uninstall them. Usually it is
recommended to use the uninstaller to do this.

In order to troubleshoot the Windows Codec error we require more data.
A printscreen is helpful and a support tool log.

[ How to make a printscreen ]

1. When you want to capture the content of the screen press the "Print Screen"
key on your keyboard ("Print Screen" is usually located at right top of the
keyboard); At this step we can't notice any effect as the picture is copied
into Windows's Clipboard;

NOTE! Some laptops might require pressing the "Fn" and the "Prnt Scrn" keys
at the same time in order to capture a screenshot;

2. Open a graphic editing application (we recommend using the standard Paint
program that comes with every Windows installation from: "Start" > "Programs"
> "Accessories" > "Paint");
3. Paste the picture in a new Paint document (using "Edit" > "Paste");
4. Save the file in JPEG format (as BMP format is too big to send by email) to
a location of your choice (use "File" > "Save as..." and set "Save as type:"
to "JPEG") and attach it to the reply to this email.

Generate a support tool log as follows:

- Please copy and paste this link into your browser:

http://download.bitdefender.com/windows/desktop/tools/2013/BitdefenderSupportTool.exe

- Download and run the support tool, by double clicking on it if you are using
XP. If you are using Windows Vista or 7 you will have to right-click
supporttool.exe and select Run as Administrator;

- Click on Next and enter your details as email address, full name, country
and a detailed description of your situation;

- Check Try to reproduce the issue before submitting if the situation can be
reproduced. This option is necessary to enable additional logging for the
analyze we will make;

- Select the type of the issue you are encountering and then click on Next

- Reproduce the issue and then check I have reproduced the issue. Click on
Finish.

An archive will be created on your desktop. Please attach it in a reply to
this message and we will get back to you as soon as we will finish the
analysis.

We are looking forward to your reply.

Best regards,
Crina Torous
Bitdefender Technical Support Engineer
-------------------------------------
http://www.bitdefender.com/help

Uvah

on Dec 30, 2012

In all honesty I wondered about the B-Have thingy. It did say that in a safe environment it would allow software to open only after it has not percieved it as a threat. Otherwise disable it and/or delete it or something to that effect. During the entire scan it said nothing. No flags, nothing disabled or caught doing stuff...nothing. The whole thing from dl to install took about twenty minutes. I even looked to see if my stuff was still there.

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