Bitdefender Free to discontinue of 31st of December 2021

oldschool

Level 81
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
Mar 29, 2018
7,043
What happens to existing free customers' machines after June 30, 2022? Are they informed on their machine that they are no longer protected or are they prompted to upgrade?
Users were notified by email of a discounted offer for the paid version - unless they used a disposable email. ;):D You should uninstall and either use Microsoft Defender or another 3rd party AV.
 

Behold Eck

Level 15
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Top Poster
Well-known
Jun 22, 2014
717
Would the BB(virus sheild) still work without the signature updates ?

Just wondering ?

Regards Eck:)
 

BitdefenderOfficial

From Bitdefender
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Developer
Well-known
Aug 25, 2021
8
@BitdefenderOfficial What happens to existing free customers' machines after June 30, 2022? Are they informed on their machine that they are no longer protected or are they prompted to upgrade? Are they given an option to uninstall? I am asking since many friends and family are using Bitdefender Free and I would like to know the options they will be offered.
Hi. We kindly inform you that after the mentioned date, the product will still be functional, though we will no longer provide support for it and also there will no longer be any updates available (we will not be enhancing the product with any new functionality updates, signatures or bugfixes). We recommend migrating to one of our other products to make sure that you have your devices protected against any potential threat. If you are interested in one of our security solutions, you can browse our official website (Bitdefender - Global Leader in Cybersecurity Software) and see what do we have in store. We also have support via chat, email or phone (https://www.bitdefender.com/consumer/support/), if you have any questions regarding our security solutions or our current discounts.
 

BitdefenderOfficial

From Bitdefender
Verified
Developer
Well-known
Aug 25, 2021
8
Would the BB(virus sheild) still work without the signature updates ?

Just wondering ?

Regards Eck:)
Hi. We kindly inform you that the free version for Windows will still be functional, though we will not be enhancing the product with new functionality updates, virus signatures or bugfixes. To make sure that your devices are protected, we recommend to choose one of our other products. You can browse our main website to see what do we have in store: Bitdefender - Global Leader in Cybersecurity Software.
 

Behold Eck

Level 15
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Top Poster
Well-known
Jun 22, 2014
717
Hi. We kindly inform you that the free version for Windows will still be functional, though we will not be enhancing the product with new functionality updates, virus signatures or bugfixes. To make sure that your devices are protected, we recommend to choose one of our other products. You can browse our main website to see what do we have in store: Bitdefender - Global Leader in Cybersecurity Software.
That`s a yes then ?

Regards Eck:)
 

Harputlu

Level 5
Verified
Well-known
Dec 26, 2016
211
Hi. We kindly inform you that after the mentioned date, the product will still be functional, though we will no longer provide support for it and also there will no longer be any updates available (we will not be enhancing the product with any new functionality updates, signatures or bugfixes). We recommend migrating to one of our other products to make sure that you have your devices protected against any potential threat. If you are interested in one of our security solutions, you can browse our official website (Bitdefender - Global Leader in Cybersecurity Software) and see what do we have in store. We also have support via chat, email or phone (Consumer Support Archive - Bitdefender Consumer Support Center), if you have any questions regarding our security solutions or our current discounts.
Hi bitdefender is consuming 600mb ram. Do you plan to reduce this amount of ram?
 
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BitdefenderOfficial

From Bitdefender
Verified
Developer
Well-known
Aug 25, 2021
8
Hi bitdefender is consuming 600mb ram. Do you plan to reduce this amount of ram?
Hi. Bitdefender actively scans all processes running on the PC, and the more processes there are, the more resources it consumes. We recommend that you close the processes that are not useful to you and delete the files that are not useful to you on the hard drive.
 

SeriousHoax

Level 47
Well-known
Mar 16, 2019
3,630
Has Bitdefender relaunched their free AV? The page has been updated and the installer is downloadable again.
I'm not on my PC at the moment, so can't test.

 

oldschool

Level 81
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Well-known
Mar 29, 2018
7,043

Antimalware18

Level 10
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Jan 17, 2014
485
Has Bitdefender relaunched their free AV? The page has been updated and the installer is downloadable again.
I'm not on my PC at the moment, so can't test.

when I click the link it only says for "MacOS and Android" so I'm guessing it is, but not for windows.
 

oldschool

Level 81
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Top Poster
Well-known
Mar 29, 2018
7,043
Update:
  • No need to restart after install.
  • Fully automatic, although you can turn some elements off in Online Threat Protection
  • GUI is a bit like AVG with locked paid features and promos
  • BD Free 2022-03-17 180159.png
Apparently, you can't turn off Web Attack Prevention and Web Scan but you can switch off the others.
 
Last edited:

Captain Holly

Level 5
Verified
Well-known
Jan 23, 2021
227
I have to wonder if BD came up with this new Free Version to compete with Kaspersky Free, which is now a really good way for BD to attract new business from prior Kaspersky Free and other Kaspersky users because of the situation with Russia and Ukraine. I have not downloaded or tried this new version yet and I am no expert by any stretch, but it seems to me BD tried to incorporate a lot of parts/similar functions from KSC Free. They even have an owner's manual now, something I never saw with the old BD Free:


And guess what, the Widget is back with us in this free version! And it even has more functionality now too..See page 17-19 in the manual for your widget details. This will be a definite game-changer. So far I really like what I have read about this new version and will probably try it out soon.

C.H.
 

Captain Holly

Level 5
Verified
Well-known
Jan 23, 2021
227
No ransomware protection in free version. :(

View attachment 265059

I may be wrong, but the new handy-dandy user's manual says the Advanced Threat Protection guards against Ransomware. This is from page 17:

"ADVANCED THREAT DEFENSE Advanced Threat Defense actively protects your system against threats such as ransomware, spyware and trojans by analyzing the behavior of all installed apps. Suspicious processes are identified and, when necessary, blocked. For more information about how to keep your system protected from threats, refer to “Advanced Threat Defense” (p. 69)."

And page 69:

"12. ADVANCED THREAT DEFENSE Bitdefender Advanced Threat Defense is an innovative proactive detection technology which uses advanced heuristic methods to detect ransomware and other new potential threats in real time. Advanced Threat Defense continuously monitors the apps running on the device, looking for threat-like actions. Each of these actions is scored and an overall score is computed for each process. As a safety measure you will be notified each time threats and potentially malicious processes are detected and blocked. 12.1. Turning on or off Advanced Threat Defense To turn on or off Advanced Threat Defense: 1. Click Protection on the navigation menu on the Bitdefender interface. 2. In the ADVANCED THREAT DEFENSE pane, click Open. 3. Go to the Settings window and click switch next to Bitdefender Advanced Threat Defense. Note To keep your system protected from ransomware and other threats, we recommend you to disable Advanced Threat Defense for as little time as possible."

To me this seems the BD Advanced Threat Defense may be very similar to Kaspersky's System Watcher component. The comparison chart says there is no Ransomware Remediation, which I am no expert on BD or any other AV but I would think Ransomware Protection is a different function from Ransomware Remediation. It seems to me that protection would block ransomware attempts from running to begin with while remediation would be a method to recover or restore files that have already been encrypted by ransomware?

C.H.
 

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