My 6 month of experience with bitdefender

[woomera]

everyone used to say bitdefender software itself was poorly written and designed till ver 2012. then 2012 ver came out and many negative views over this software turned around and since i knew the engine is fantastic i decided to buy 2 licenses of the AV, then started the pain...

this software is not compatible aith almost all known security products out there inc firewalls, anti-trojans, anti-malwares.
try extracting the setup file using 7-zip, there's a folder inside called "extern" with name of major security softwares which im guessing these are the ones the setup warns for uninstallation before continuing which includes these:

1. 
   ACA.xml
   Ad-Aware.xml
   alading.xml
   AntiVir.xml
   avast5.xml
   AVG.xml
   Avira.xml
   BackWeb-4476822.xml
   BBC.xml
   Bitdefender.xml
   Bitdefender 2011.xml
   Bitdefender Antivirus.xml
   Bitdefender Bussiness Client.xml
   Bitdefender Internet Security.xml
   Bitdefender Total Security.xml
   BitdefenderGonzales.xml
   BullGuard.xml
   cciss.xml
   COMODO.xml
   DRWEB.xml
   ESET.xml
   eTrust.xml
   F-Secure.xml
   G Data.xml
   GData.xml
   GUIDs.xml
   JiangMin.xml
   Kaspersky.xml
   Kingsoft.xml
   kv.xml
   kv antivirus.xml
   kv2007.xml
   Lavasoft.xml
   Malwarebytes.xml
   McAfee.xml
   MicroPoint.xml
   Microsoft Security Essentials.xml
   Mobile.xml
   MSC.xml
   mse.xml
   Norman.xml
   Norton.xml
   OfficeScan95.xml
   OfficeScanNT.xml
   Panda.xml
   PC Tools.xml
   PCTools.xml
   Premium.xml
   Rav.xml
   RFW.xml
   Ris.xml
   safeguard360.xml
   ServerProtect.xml
   SunBelt.xml
   Trend Micro.xml
   TrendMicro.xml
   VETWIN32Vp5.xml
   Virus.xml
   Webroot.xml
   WinSS.xml
   ZoneAlarm.xml
   

see how some of these are firewalls? MBAM name is in there and from own experience the setup wont continue even if you have mbam free ver (on-demand) installed or comodo firewall.
so i thought i upgrade to bitdefender internet security and i can get over this issue cause i wanted to have a firewall and after i did i realized what an idiot i was to trust such company.
guess what, the firewall doesnt have the option to set global/system-wide rules. so basically you cant do a simple task of blocking ip's or hostnames.
you cant set the order of which the firewall rules are sorted and no search option so after few days the list is unreadable since they appear in there totally random it takes few mins each time to find and edit a rule.

so lets email the customer service then, first thing they ask for is a support tool log which the tool itself is included in the installation directory, one of things this tool does is gathering the list installed and running applications and you know what, they have issues with even more softwares other than those which you cant even install AV if you already have them on your machine.
in the last email i got from them after i asked for support this is what they wrote me:
"After analyzing the information we received from you we concluded that there
are other security solutions or
applications installed on your system, which could conflict with BitDefender:

- Advanced SystemCare 5; --> does have malware scan option but no real-time scanner
- File Governor v1.3; -->alternative to Unlocker
- Malwarebytes Anti-Malware version 1.60.1.1000; -->free ver, no real-time
- Panda Security URL Filtering; --> really?this is an issue with bitdefender?
- Panda Security Toolbar;
- VirusTotal Uploader 2.0; -->hehe, this is a context menu app which allows to upload files to VT
- Emsisoft Anti-Malware;" -->the only one i could agree with but still after contacting EAM staff it seems it works along with most av's ust fine
so basically you cant have anything else installed on your pc other than bitdefender softwares or you wont be able to use them or get support.

NOW, im not posting this to promote hate against bitdefender nor im saying people shouldnt use it, in fact i still cant argue with their great engine/Heur and sig DB but im guessing it can only be beneficial to corporates where users sits behind office computers and dont install other security softwares where IT admins wanna count on one solutions only or maybe novice users where you wanna install one AV and the pc be set to go.

anyway thought i share this with others maybe some find use from it if they are planning to suggests bitdefenders to others or maybe buying it.

 

[jamescv7]

Well majority of the AV's that isn't compatible for Bitdefender is fine.

On some case Bitdefender must install first then after, you can proceed like installation of MBAM and other firewalls. Likely a hard time but that's a main solution for it.

 

[woomera]

thats actually what i did but but the problem is when you expect a service from their support.

also forgot to mention, firewalls like outpost and online cant be installed after the AV is on the system, system wont boot. now whats the use of an AV when you cant put a firewall beside it?

 

[jasonX]

Well majority of the AV's that isn't compatible for Bitdefender is fine.

On some case Bitdefender must install first then after, you can proceed like installation of MBAM and other firewalls. Likely a hard time but that's a main solution for it.

I remember doing that when I first installed KIS 2012. It too had a lot of apps listed as incompatible and said, "should be removed prior KIS installation". I did that and all went well. On another time when I had to do a clean install of KIS I forgot to remove MalwarebytesPro but it was not an issue either.

 

[iScream]

My experience: BD might have a very good detection rate, but slows down big time, and is annoying a lot of times.
Even in Call of Duty 4, I would get kicked all the time by Punkbuster because of it. Something like 'Unknown Windows Api'.

 

[woomera]

theres no doubt they have one of the finest Engines in the industry but as i said before their program itself is buggy as hell.

look at other companies that have adopted their engine inc. GDATA,Bullguard,F-Secure(as i recall).
only if they could write a good program so they could shine like those are...sigh

 

[Vextor]

Edit, or remove the files using 7-Zip. That should remove the problem.

 

[WinAndLinuxTutorials]

Now you've learnt a good thing from your experience... Never puchase a product without giving it a trial

 

[woomera]

actually i did give a try but at the time i didnt have anything else installed to see how it plays with other softwares.
but youre right, only in another way, i should've taken the comments more seriously

 

[Deleted member 178]

No way i will use another products than my actual combo (EAM + CIS) especially paid ones since you have many many free solutions than are as good or even better than most of them.
About BD it was my favorite AV when i was a beginner, but i discard it when i knew about Comodo.

 

[Littlebits]

Bitdefender is an example of an AV moving into the wrong direction.

1. New engine is completely bloated and slow, older engines didn't have as many problems. (others like G data, Bullguard and F-Secure use older engines)

2. Compatibility: The new engine doesn't work correctly with many popular software. (possibly because they want you to buy their security suite and user their partners paid products)

3. Rogue marketing tactics: False ads and fake paid reviews.

Could this be caused by decreased sales of their products? since most home users now use free AV's.

Thanks.

 

[malbky]

Bitdifender is I know incompitable with many products. But i have succesfully installed MBAM after installlinh BDIS. Now I will tell you guys what makes Bitdefender deadly. If Bitdefender is on Auto Pilot get out of it now. As in autopilot if the AV detects any virus and quarantines it, you will not receive any notification. You have to check in the events log. Last time bitdefender quarantined some of the files from my MS-office 2007 install. From the past 3 days i could not figure out why the setup was failing. Later i found this gruesome truth that bdis had quarantined them. I knew thses files were perfectly clean as they were copied into my pc from my Retail disc. I have a habbit of misplacing CDs so i copy them onto the pc. I restored the files and uploaded to VT only to find that only Bitdefender based engines detected this as a virus so it was an FP.

Do be careful if you are on autopilot. Another annoying fact I have come to notice in the past few days is that Traffic light many of them times is not able to connnect to the server to check the websites reputation.

 

[zeus]

definitely slows down the machine, ugly interface