Advice Request Bitdefender (total security 2020) asks me for a Windows update of more than 80GB!

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Grogass

New Member
Thread author
Apr 16, 2020
7
Hi,

I've been testing Bitdefender for a few days, first time using it (I had Avast before) as they offer a free trial of their total security 2020 version.
A few hours after installing it I had a very strange notification, which very strongly recommended me to update Windows (on W10), I took a screenshot of the following notification, but on the main message, that has now disappeared, Bitdefender indicated me that this update was like 60 or 80GB !! (80 GB in total but something was marked at 60 GB too).
2020-04-16 18_17_54-Microphone activity.jpg


For the moment I haven't touched anything. On the net, there are a few posts that talk about this, but not very much and dated. For example, there is one who said that he did the update windows advised by Bitdefender and via bitdefender (so, same message that i had most likely) and can not restart his PC since. My windows 10 is shown as "up to date" in the usual windows settings and I have updates on auto in W10.

What the hell could this 80GB thing be? I have read that Bitdefender could prevent W10 from updating, is it related to that? It is really very strange. Never had that with Avast.

Thank you to enlighten me on what it is and what to do with this notification, or prevent it from happening again. If Bitdefender is really messing with W10 updates that much, I'd prefer staying on Avast at this point.
 

Grogass

New Member
Thread author
Apr 16, 2020
7
That "mistake" must be a mistake of numbers only

What do you mean numbers? it was like 80mb instead of gb ? Even then it doesn't tell me why it wanted (and still wants, until i close the notification manually) to update an already updated Windows 10 system. That's this kind of behavior that concerns me. If it can't tell when a system is updated and suggests a weird update for it. What is it capable of doing when i don't manually check before i validate its suggestions?

I remind you that a guy having that (apparently) same issue than me, had his OS completely unresponding, and had to format everything. It's kinda scary. (here : )
 
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blackice

Level 38
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
Apr 1, 2019
2,731
One important question. Was your system up to date before you installed this? You can ignore all those warnings that don’t pertain to Antivirus. I would manually update windows.

Edit: I would just turn off the vulnerability scanner, or at least tell it to not check for Windows updates. I don't think it actually touches windows updates, it just checks if you're up to date. If you keep your computer up to date on your own the vulnerability scanner is largely worthless.
 
Last edited:

Grogass

New Member
Thread author
Apr 16, 2020
7
One important question. Was your system up to date before you installed this? You can ignore all those warnings that don’t pertain to Antivirus. I would manually update windows.

Yes, it was. You're right, i'm not going to use Bitdefender to update windows, that's for sure. But i don't want it to mess with the usual windows updates either. What if it blocks some of the updates of the next W10 versions without me knowing it? and then i get an incomplete "up to date" windows version. Is that possible or too far-fetched?
 
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EndangeredPootis

Level 10
Verified
Well-known
Sep 8, 2019
461
It's like top rank in many comparisons and awards. How can it be so "buggy" if it's one of the praised ones? And it's like the high end version I'm testing. Not the free or cheap version.
Ive personally tested and used it aswell, and these are the main problems:

  • it can go into an infinite cycle of wanting to reboot after you install it
  • Sometimes does not remove detected malware as shown in my Bitdefender vs Zero Day Malware test.
  • Huge CPU spikes out of nowhere, mainly related to its updater running in the background for no reason, its the same problem with Avira.
 

Grogass

New Member
Thread author
Apr 16, 2020
7
Was a crack version of Windows or genuine?

Genuine Windows and as far as i know, running alright until now. Though... A few weeks ago (way before i installed Bitdefender), i realized that I did miss some important windows updates for a few months, i don't know how it happened and how it's possible, since windows is supposed to force you to update after awhile even when you postpone them, but I quickly updated everything as soon as i noticed. Maybe it's linked to that somehow, even though i've been up-to-date for weeks now (and i installed Bitdefender like 2 days ago).

Ive personally tested and used it aswell, and these are the main problems:

  • it can go into an infinite cycle of wanting to reboot after you install it
  • Sometimes does not remove detected malware as shown in my Bitdefender vs Zero Day Malware test.
  • Huge CPU spikes out of nowhere, mainly related to its updater running in the background for no reason, its the same problem with Avira.

I've read many reviews of Bitdefender before installing it. Never read those issues yet.
What would you recommend then? I hesitated between Bitdefender, Kapersky and keeping my Avast (premium security).
 
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Grogass

New Member
Thread author
Apr 16, 2020
7
I send to Alex a message, waiting answer.

i don't know who's Alex, but alright. Sounds good.
Btw, i deleted the warning notification in history. I didn't want to somehow validate the suggested update by mistake (since it was still suggesting it). The screen I made above is the only thing left of that issue.
I deactivated scan for Windows update in Vulnerability Scan as someone advised above. That's the most i can do. Hoping it won't happen again.

That won't justify my switch from Bitdefender to another AV for now, but that was sure not a good experience to start my test period.
 
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EndangeredPootis

Level 10
Verified
Well-known
Sep 8, 2019
461
Genuine Windows and as far as i know, running alright until now. Though... A few weeks ago (way before i installed Bitdefender), i realized that I did miss some important windows updates for a few months, i don't know how it happened and how it's possible, since windows is supposed to force you to update after awhile even when you postpone them, but I quickly updated everything as soon as i noticed. Maybe it's linked to that somehow, even though i've been up-to-date for weeks now (and i installed Bitdefender like 2 days ago).



I've read many reviews of Bitdefender before installing it. Never read those issues yet.
What would you recommend then? I hesitated between Bitdefender, Kapersky and keeping my Avast (premium security).
To be honest if you dont constantly download stuff or visit shady sites then Windows Defender is enough.
 

Paul.R

Level 17
Verified
Well-known
May 16, 2013
844
Until now no answer from him, on forum, in some sections are people who are waiting for answer from almost 2 weeks. Sorry for this :)
 

Grogass

New Member
Thread author
Apr 16, 2020
7
Until now no answer from him, on forum, in some sections are people who are waiting for answer from almost 2 weeks. Sorry for this :)

It's not like i was stuck or anything. I deleted the warning, ever since, bitdefender seems to work just fine. It's just one of those mysteries of the universe that will never be resolved.
It's more of an issue for Bitdefender than for me, and for the people who might get the same warning in the future and might break their OS by accepting.
 

Eggnog

Level 3
Verified
Well-known
Mar 21, 2018
108
You can turn off having Bitdefender check for Windows updates in the settings under Vulnerability. I think it's a better idea to have Windows itself check for and install its updates. But that's just me.
 

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