Thread: BitDefender - rant

A week and a few days ago my anti-virus, BitDefender 2009, gave me a warning telling me that I had 10 days to register an account or my updates would be disabled. I decided to wait it off thinking it's just some stupid notice. Today I turn on my computer to find that there's a security risk, which is my updates are disabled.

This is honestly the first time I've seen something like this happen. I've had BitDefender for a year now and I've been completely satisfied until now. I payed for my license, I've recommended people buy it instead of pirating it, but if this doesn't get resolved that will change.

Regardless of me paying of my license, they make it mandatory to register an account. I don't want an online account where I can read a few articles or get support faster. I just want my computer not to be completely destroyed because the torrent I downloaded isn't as safe as the comments suggest.

Right now my computers security is at risk. At any moment, I could open an email or web page and contract a keylogger that was identified not too long ago, and it would be missed because I can't get updates. My email addresses, forum accounts, and other accounts could be at risk. If one were to gain access to my email address I would risk losing access to it, I would risk losing all my emails, I would risk having all my passwords being handed over to people who shouldn't have them. Or worse, I could contract a virus that can wipe my hard drive clean.

The problem isn't registering an account. Registering an account takes a few minutes and is very easy. I just find it hard to believe anybody in their right mind, especially a security software company, would disable a completely necessary feature that decide if ones computer is safe or not just because the user doesn't want some potentially useless online account. I payed them for the anti-virus, not for an online account.

Here's a chat I had with a sale representative. Jim is the sales representative and Luka is me :

Luka: My account

You are now speaking with Jim of Customer Service.

Jim: Hi Luka.

Jim: How may I assist you?

Luka: Hello Jim

Luka: Alright, my subscription has almost two months left on it

Luka: But my updates have been disabled

Luka: It wants me to register an account, but I don't want to

Luka: I payed for my subscription, so what's the problem

Jim: What version of BitDefender are you using?

Luka: 2009

Jim: For thee 2009 version you need to create an account or else you won't be receiving any updates.

Luka: And why is that

Luka: Why is it so important I have an account

Jim: It helps us better track user requests and issues. Also it gives you useful information regarding your account, how many days you have left on it, you can get in touch with us easier if you need support.

Jim: Creating the account takes about 2 minutes.

Luka: I don't ever have any requests or issues. I don't need any useful information. And when I do need any help I get it fast enough already

Luka: I'm aware that creating an account is an easy thing to do, but making it mandatory and disabling my protection regardless of me paying my dues is quite frankly complete and utter bullshit

Jim: I'm sorry, Luka, that's just the way the product was designed.

Luka: Right now I could open a page or email and I could get a keylogger, lose all my emails, and all that because you guys insist on registering an account

Luka: Or I could catch a virus which could wipe my hard drive clean

Luka: I will register an account, but to me it honestly looks like you guys could care less about protection

Luka: Disabling updates even with an active subscription in place is something I've never seen until now

Luka: My suggestion is you guys think more of the users, remove this ridiculous feature, and make a few people happy

Luka: I'll request that on the forum as well

Jim: Don't worry, we forward feedback regarding this issue to the development, it won't go unnoticed.

Luka: Alright, thank you

I'm going to wait a week and if this isn't resolved I'm never going near their products. I'm also going to recommend to everybody I know that their products pose a security risk.

For the sake of seeing if this gets resolved or not, I will hold off on creating an account. Until then I will scan with Spyware Doctor + Anti-Virus and not download any torrents.

That sucks. Stupid Company Policies like that are what make people go from Legit Customer -to-> Pirate.


Companies still don't understand, you Don't frustrate your customer by making them jump all these hoops.

It's funny, Not only can you get your file by heading over to your nearest warez forum, but you can get quicker/free support there too.


I've been kicked in the ass too before by companies making me jump hoops. I refuse to deal with that anymore. I'm a Pirate now baby!

Originally Posted by admin

That sucks. Stupid Company Policies like that are what make people go from Legit Customer -to-> Pirate.


Companies still don't understand, you Don't frustrate your customer by making them jump all these hoops.

It's funny, Not only can you get your file by heading over to your nearest warez forum, but you can get quicker/free support there too.


I've been kicked in the ass too before by companies making me jump hoops. I refuse to deal with that anymore. I'm a Pirate now baby!

I pirate almost all of my stuff. I just buy games like Diablo to show my support.

I bought BitDefender because it's never failed me, and I wanted to support it even if it's just with a few bucks.

I found out that I'm not the only one complaining about this and that BitDefender is indeed receiving quite a bit of complaints and is actively looking for a solution. I decided not to keep my computer vulnerable, so I created an account.

After I created the account, which I did reluctantly, I opened BitDefender. I entered the account information into the software. I was hoping that my updates would be ready to go, but much to my dismay, they're still disabled.

I went to the BitDefender website, logged in to my account which supposedly is there to be of use by supplying a good amount of information to help users in need, and I found nothing. I started a live chat. Here's how it went down:

Luka: Registered my account but BitDefender won't update

You are now speaking with Jim of Technical Support.

Jim: Hi Luka.

Luka: Hello Jim

Luka: You might remember me from yesterday, I'm the one who came complaining about

the updates being disabled due to not registering an account

Luka: Like I mentioned yesterday when we were chatting, I made an account

Luka: But BitDefender still has update disabled

Luka: I'd like to know why

Jim: Could you tell me the exact name of the BitDefender version you have?

Luka: BitDefender Anti-Virus 2009, Version: 12.0.10.3

Jim: And when you try to update now, after you created an account, what happens ?

Luka: I can't update

Luka: It's disabled

Luka: Completely shut off, I can't update and all the options are disabled

Luka: I registered my account, I set the account in BitDefender, but nothing

Jim: I see. Ok then, I will send you an email with instructions on how to

reinstall Antivirus 2009 using our uninstall tool. During the installation it will

ask you to create an account or log into an existing one. Select the second option

and you won't experience the issue again.
a

Luka: Please do that

Luka: I just don't understand your guys' logic. First you disable my updates, then

you force me to create an account I don't want, then after I register my account I

have to reinstall the software completely.

Luka: That's not nice.

Jim: Yes, we've had a lot of users complaining about this. We're working on a fix

for this registration issue.

I just don't understand what people are thinking sometimes. First they trouble me personally and gamble with my computers security, then they make me create an account that will never be used, then they have a problem with the software so even after the account is put into the software you have to reinstall it to work. They're suppose to create software that protects ones computer, not software that risks it and makes the user work to keep a vital feature alive.

If I didn't have a lot of patience and their product wasn't good, I would've been long gone by now.

I just received their already made email, although I don't really need it, I just like reading emails, and I'm going to go reinstall the software now.

Well if AVG has been proven to out-best Norton, I'm sure it can out-best bitdefender.

Originally Posted by RAz

Well if AVG has been proven to out-best Norton, I'm sure it can out-best bitdefender.

Comparing something to Norton means nothing. Norton has been proven to be horrible so many times I've lost count.

Honestly though, everything is better than Norton. It would be a sad to when a software is not better than Norton.

An example of how bad Norton is that debating about how good it is makes your knowledge of even the most basic elements of computers look mediocre. Protect Norton and you'll usually fall into the group of those who think it's cool to use Firefox.

It's gotten so bad that I've stopped with that facts. I'm willing to give you examples though, but just this once. But that's only if you really are a Norton lover.

AVG is not comparable to BitDefender. While AVG works well, and it does protect you, it has many more faults than BitDefender. Not only does BitDefender have more virus signatures, it also has much stronger heuristics.

BitDefender, security wise, falls into the category of the absolute best. AVG, security wise, falls into the category of 'enough for a basic user'. The difference between those two categories is massive.

This is unheard of...I can get making somebody register for an account if they want additional features with a product or to buy an additional tool that compliments the utility.

Auslogic Defragger (I highly recommend this) is a basic defragger and when it's done it tells you a report of the defrag then says "You have X junk files on your computer" then asks if you wanna get rid of them by with their junk killer program...if you go to their website you can buy this. This is OK.

Same thing with antimalware software asking if you want a firewall or something...but I don't get the registering just for basic updates...

Then again I was looking into antivirus programs and I think Nod32 does this...I'm not sure entirely and since I like to test out programs I might try it out but I bet the 2010 version of BitDefender won't have this feature if enough people complain.