Leaving bitdefender because incompatabilites. What to do?

[ncage]

Hi guys, unfortunately i found out after purchasing a 3 year license (family pack) for Bitdefender that its incompatible with WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) which is a show stopper for me. Its something i must use. When i use WSL i have no network. So the issue is that you must disable the firewall of Bitdefender TS 2018 for it to work which of course bitdefender screams at me that i'm insecure. I don't want to run like that of course.

The initial response from bitdefender was useless (hopefully it gets better). In my original support request i explained to them that my ethernet adapter was set for "Home/Office" and i had stealth mode off. I got an email response asking me to set my ethernet adapter to "home/office" and to turn stealth mode off. Really helpful huh?

I've been in contact with Microsoft and they explained to me that the AV vendors have work to do to make their firewall compatible with WSL:

Thanks for your post and sorry to hear that Bitdefender and bash still do not not work in tandem. You can read through the long thread #475, which is essentially the same. In short, there is some work that AV vendors need to do to support WSL processes. In RS2 (a.k.a Creators Update), Windows released some API's that allows AV/firewall vendors to get notifications for WSL processes. Now, they need to do the work to hook it up to their software. They should already have the doc from our side, but, if not, if you talk to them, you can tell them to contact the WSL/bash team at Windows. And, we will get them the information they need.

WSL Antivirus and Firewall Compatibility

So until they fix it (hopefully they do) i must run something else. I was thinking either bitdefender free because it doesn't include a firewall product (i think the firewall in windows 10 is just fine) or since i'm a comcast member, i can get norton security for free. What do you guys think? I was "maybe" wanting to run sandboxie and i know bitdefender free is incompatible with sandboxie.

 

[frogboy]

Norton would be a good choice I think.

 

[RoboMan]

Yeah, if you have a free Norton license you can't go wrong. It's a whole different suite since years ago.

 

[ncage]

Well i was in the process of uninstalling it and, like a lot of products, it wanted me to take a questionnaire as to why i was uninstalling the product. I was brutally honest and at the end it asked me if i was willing to chat with them so they could try to resolve my issue. I thought it was worth a try. For those that have ever went to the bitdefender forums you probably know Sorin. He is the one that answered and was very helpful. While there is nothing he can do to fix my issue was able to assure me he has sent the issue to their development team for a fix and said it "shouldn't" take that long for a fix to happen. So i know the firewall is what caused the issue so i asked him if i could use Bitdefender Antivirus + on this machine and he unfortunately said they can't do that without changing my license over which i definitely don't want to do (family pack is a hell of a deal). Anyways he was able to offer me a 90 trial of bitdefender AV + while i wait for the issue to be resolved. Hopefully they resolve it within that time frame.

Honestly after installing AV + i think most of the stuff they add to AV + is just a waste anyways. Most of the features are just upsale crap anyways. Anitspam...no = good email providers antispam are top notch these days. Firewall...there is nothing wrong with Windows Firewall. Parental features might be useful if i needed them but i don't. The rest of them are like "drive cleaner", "startup optimizer", ect....features i would never use.

I will unfortunately be unable to use sandboxie but thats fine for now.

 

[kamla5abi]

1) if you turned the firewall module off on that computer, could you not re-enable windows firewall separately?
I haven't done this, but when i look at security and maintenance in control panel, under security drop down, it shows "Bitdefender firewall is currently on" then under that it says "view installed firewall apps". Click that, then you see new box pop up, with some options at the bottom "turn on" "take action" etc... Maybe if you open this using admin account on the PC, you can make changes to that and disable bitdefender firewall and enable windows firewall instead?

2) The free norton product you get from ISP, does it have firewall component too? If yes, has Norton fixed this problem yet?

 

[kamla5abi]

as for the sandboxie not working with bitdefender problem, maybe theres an alternative you can use (depending on what your purpose of sandbox is)
What is a Sandbox? Free Sandboxing software for Windows 10 PC

from the above link i just learned about "BitBox" (Browser In The Box) which looks like runs a stripped down VM (VirtualBox) and your choice of browser inside that VM, which gets reset every time you start up the browser. That probably isn't what you want to do I'm guessing, but the software sounds cool anyways lol
Maybe google around and search MalwareTips for alternative sandbox programs

 

[ncage]

1) if you turned the firewall module off on that computer, could you not re-enable windows firewall separately?
I haven't done this, but when i look at security and maintenance in control panel, under security drop down, it shows "Bitdefender firewall is currently on" then under that it says "view installed firewall apps". Click that, then you see new box pop up, with some options at the bottom "turn on" "take action" etc... Maybe if you open this using admin account on the PC, you can make changes to that and disable bitdefender firewall and enable windows firewall instead?

2) The free norton product you get from ISP, does it have firewall component too? If yes, has Norton fixed this problem yet?

1. Yes. Windows firewall was re-enabled by default. This is all fine & dandy but bitdefender screams at you (i'm exaggerating but you get the point ). I of course didn't want to run like this. Bitdefender doesn't have the ability to just tell it you rather use windows firewall and the program be content

2. Yes its essentially the same product you buy when you subscribe to Norton Security and i'm assuming it would work fine but i'm not sure because i never installed it since WSL was released.

Thats why i wanted to use Bitdefender AV+. Because it doesn't have a firewall and the program won't complain when i uses the default windows firewall

 

[ncage]

as for the sandboxie not working with bitdefender problem, maybe theres an alternative you can use (depending on what your purpose of sandbox is)
What is a Sandbox? Free Sandboxing software for Windows 10 PC

from the above link i just learned about "BitBox" (Browser In The Box) which looks like runs a stripped down VM (VirtualBox) and your choice of browser inside that VM, which gets reset every time you start up the browser. That probably isn't what you want to do I'm guessing, but the software sounds cool anyways lol
Maybe google around and search MalwareTips for alternative sandbox programs

Its not a big deal that i can't run it. I bought a license long time ago and its just a little extra protection from browser exploits. Its also has a nice drop rights features. Also it cleans all the junk the browser left behind when the sandbox closes.

Windows defender application guard looks promising in the Windows 10 Fall Update but unfortunately it only works with microsoft edge (i run chrome) & you have to be running windows 10 enterprise/education. Thats what i run anyways but it means its no available for most people.

 

[mlnevese]

Good to hear Bitdefender has good user support. It's quite a heavy factor in my decision to buy software of any kind.