What are /r/BitDefender's favorite Products & Services?

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Bitdefender Free uses the same protection as paid versions, minus several features. For a live AV, it works great, just like other Bitdefender products. Protection information has been verified by third parties, and you can see my favorite source below:

https://www.av-comparatives.org/vendors/bitdefender/

I would not recommend it. Bitdefender VPN uses Hotspot Shield, a VPN that sells and shares your data to advertisers. It is not private or anonymous. I have heard multiple stories of people's credit cards being stolen due to using Hotspot Shield.

How to get rid of Bitdefender free edition certificate mess in Firefox (Windows 10, Firefox 57.0.2)

1- Check if https://unsplash.com is hijacked and certified by BitDefender 2- Uninstall BitDefender Antivirus Free 3- Uninstall BitDefender Agent 3- Reboot Computer 4- Start Firefox Check https://unsplash.com -- Should be certified by GlobalSign now 5- Reinstall Bitdefender Antivirus Free - Do NOT close Firefox when asked, just cancel BitDefender Root certificate installation 6- Let Bitdefender finish its installation. 7- Reload unsplash.com, another popup should appear, and cancel again the Bitdefender certificate installation. 8- From now, your Firefox should be immune to BitDefender certificate (close and restart then reload unsplash.com to be sure). 9- For extra Windows cleanup, remove the Bitdefender certifcate using certificate manager. 10- You can check residual rogue certificates in windows with sigcheck from SysInternals ( 'sigcheck -tv' in a console)

Enjoy.

If you want to add Emsisoft to file or folder context menus, you can do that with Easy Context Menu. It won't start a scan, but lets you open the app from any file or folder context menu.

For a password manager, the best solution (by far) is Bitwarden. Free (although the premium is well worth it), open source, and security audited. Works cross-platform on Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS with plugins for most major browsers. https://bitwarden.com/

I am not affiliated with them at all ... it's just such a superior option to embedded versions or other competing products (LastPass, Keeper, Dashlane, Enpass).

Take a look at this, maybe it is helpful in helping you decide.

https://www.av-comparatives.org/tests/mac-security-test-review-2021/

Then I guess I got nostalgic thinking about the past since these days I dabble at the most so I got long-winded, my apologies.

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I don't own a Mac anymore but I have three favorite security solutions all of which are available for Mac.

Avira

BitDefender

Kaspersky

Malwarebytes

Beyond those ESET, F-Secure, and Sophos have at times over the last few decades been acceptable in many ways but I feel can't rank with the top three mentioned. LONG ago Trend Micro and Panda had some good showings but in the grand scheme of things that was fairly short-lived. WebRoot was hit and miss it seems.

I prefer these due to for the most part being low impact and having high detection capabilities as well. These are the two most important factors in my opinion. I do not worry too much about the ability to remove an infection as I think if the detection rate is high enough an infection is less likely. I also worked with so much virus removal over so many years if a situation arose I am equipped to handle it.

I am not a fan of McAfee, Norton/Symantec, Avast/AVG.

Luckily macOS is still less targeted compared to Windows so having some sort of backup is the best security measure you can have. I suppose Time Machine is the go-to solution but I truly am not certain.

So you first have to buy a Bitdefender Box. You get a free year with purchase. After that year, it is $99 a year for “unlimited” devices.

Where in the article does it say anything about Hotspot Shield doing anything malicious? The most relevant snippet I found is this:

>the small print explains that device IDs and IP addresses can be collected in a few situations. These are far less significant than we've seen with many commercial VPNs, and we see no major issues

Difference between standard and premium is like most other VPN offers for free or paid for services where you will have access to more VPN servers in different locations and a data cap on standard.

Please note that their VPN is provided by Hotspot shield or at least they are using their engine. For that reason alone I don't use their vpn. Just run a web search for Hotspot Shield and you'll find various websites about leaked data ect

I was excited to finally have a antivirus and VPN solution all in one but really disappointed that they chose hotspot shield. For that reason I don't use their VPN and purchased my VPN subscription from a different provider.

Before IE11, there was a plethora (look at me, using big words...) of problems that plagued everyone. Asking that you use IE11 simply means that you're willing to do the required updates to keep your system safe. I don't use IE at all, so no concern there. I've used BitDefender for 4 years now and it's bulletproof. However, I'm pissed that they keep using virus-like pop-ups to try and sell me their VPN. I'm happy with NordVPN and told them so. Just can't get them to stop acting like a virus. Other than that, they are very competent, IMO.

I try to google most of the IPs and most of them seems to be legit (except that sometimes someone or some systems report these IPs via AbuseIPDB site. And most of the time these scam alerts appear while using ProtonVPN (or any other VPN service/app for that matter) for some reason...

From what I found, NordVPN is not part of that conglomerate. Express is part of KAPE, but Nord is owned by a company registered in Panama.

,a%20company%20registered%20in%20Panama.

Try this: https://www.nicehash.com/blog/post/how-to-add-nicehash-miner-to-bitdefender-antivirus-exclusion

You can't disable those notifications without disabling the protection itself unless you have the version of Bitdefender for business use: Bitdefender GravityZone Business Security.

Windows Defender, the free Antivirus that comes with Windows 10, works just as well as Bitdefender for normal home PC consumers and doesn't have all the pop-ups.

https://www.av-comparatives.org/latest-tests/

If Kaspersky Security Cloud Free is similar to Kaspersky Internet Security in terms of performance, then it will copy files and open applications faster than Microsoft (tested using their test machine of an i7 processor, 8 GB of RAM and an SSD).
https://www.av-comparatives.org/tests/performance-test-october-2021/

I totally get the limited income thing.

When you decide to switch AVs, I definitely recommend checking out AVComparatives.

https://www.av-comparatives.org/consumer/

Looking at the real-world results on their site and the privacy policies of the products with good results, you can find an AV with a free version that meets your privacy and security requirements and will work on your platform.

Yep, idk why they put it in there...

https://www.mywot.com/en/scorecard/mackeeper.com?utm_source=addon&utm_content=search_donut

Most likely, that you have Bitdefender's remaining files on your computer. I mean you haven't uninstalled the VPN completely. I recommend that you check your Mac for Bitdefender's leftovers. You can do this with App Cleaner & Uninstaller from Nektony. I use this app and it always finds more related support files than any other uninstaller.

Bitdefender AVs do scan for rootkits, even if not explicitly stated.

If you're unsure, a simple option is to use Norton Power Eraser. It's a portable, regularly updated, scanner that includes a rootkit scan option (will require a reboot). Open the app, click settings (blue text top right) and ensure Include Rootkit Scan is ticked, then press Scan for Risks. It's an effective second-opinion scanner (un-tick rootkit option for regular scans without a reboot).

https://support.norton.com/sp/static/external/tools/npe.html?inid=hho_supp_quick_help

I tried many antivirus, really many of them. And i found Bitdefender the trustworthy of them all. I use the the free and the paid versions on systems i support and even on a VM. i found some notifiactions annoying and i would not use the VPN Services but only because i have a other service for VPN. The Price for 5 Devices for the Total security is fair and if you share it with friends its not that much for a really great solution you put on configure once and then don‘t mind it anymore until you need it, and then id does the job really fine. But you don‘t have do trust me the Website AV-Test.org is testing the common solutions every time and Bitdefender is scoring here really well. I am right now happy with it for myself and my costumers. But as everything this can change over the time.

Here is the Link to the Test:

https://www.av-test.org/en/antivirus/home-windows/windows-10/june-2020/bitdefender-internet-security-24.0-202406

Oh shit, I forgot about this! Yes, I did end up fixing it! Turns out what was left was Adware. I installed HitMan and Malware Bytes Adware Cleaner. Those did the trick. Still keep BitDefender installed because I think something may have popped up again, but I'll check on that later this week.

I also posted this to the antivirus subreddit, which I now remember I need to respond to

Is this referring to the mobile version, Antivirus Plus or the full Internet Security package?

I've had the Windows version of AntiVirus Plus for around 5 years. Yes, they push the VPN at every opportunity (e.g. you can't remove it from the dashboard) and I assume it's installed along with the main product. Slightly annoying as I already have NordVPN. So I just have the VPN option switched off, and that's it.

I don't get any pop-ups and it doesn't appear in the taskbar.

I uninstalled it recently just to test if it was BD that was causing me some problems (it wasn't) and it certainly didn't reinstall itself. I would be infuriated if any of my software did that.

Surfshark is really great. The speeds are as good as or better than ExpressVPN & IPVanish) & way cheaper, and no records. I left ExpressVPN when they were asking more for my renewal than what I paid for it originally.

I was thinking of getting Bitdefender Internet whatever but Im not sure if I should with this VPN reinstall issue. The ironic thing is that its working just like a malware.

Has anyone found a way around this? From what I have researched its a really good AV..

Does the free version have this problem or Plus version?

This is why I'm sticking with ExpressVPN. Okay, I get that you want to sell me your VPN, but there's some kind of automated system that's unaware of that fact that I already have another VPN that I love, and I don't need a second one that'll only conflict with it.

In my experience its a poor service. I switched to NordVPN after a year of using BitdefenderVPN premium and noticed an immediate improvement in latency. I'm in Australia. Edit - clarified Bitdefender service I was using

> To answer your question, slightly, I hope: you do not have to renew through Bitdefender's website at all

You know I may be confusing renewing a subscription with Bitdefender with Private Internet Access. I know it's one of them since they are the only two paid subscriptions I have and there were problems one time when I did not renew directly from the manufacturer. It had something to do with access I think but not necessarily support. In any event I'll probably wait until later next month just before my subscription expires and see what is available. Thanks.

For number 5, Bitdefender offers protection for multiple platforms. From the Bitdefender Central app tap the Devices icon. Then click the + button in the bottom right. Select install protection. Click the link and follow the steps to install on your mobile device. For MAC, you can access the Central site from a web browser and look for the install protection option.

Android Protection: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bitdefender.security

Do not even consider a VPN service that does not adamantly and openly state that they do not log your activity. Bitdefender's TOS/privacy policy is not even close, and it reads that they do log it. ExpressVPN claims they do not log, so that is good.

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Are you concerned about ExpressVPN's price? I just checked, they are pricey for sure vs. their competition.

Don 't forget it doesn't scan cookies, boot sectors, or memory processes. I downloaded this correctly, and I have looked everywhere in the settings to turn it on. I turned on pretty much everything but for Safepay, Wallet, and password protection.

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If you know how to turn it on, please tell me how. Thank you. But I wouldn't trust Bitdefender because they allied with Hotspot Shield in their VPN, a VPN company in the USA that logs every keystroke you make.

_did_bitdefender_partner_with_hotspot_shield/

Did you read the article?

"Any more detailed service logging would be carried out by Hotspot Shield, but its privacy policy explains, reassuringly, that there's no monitoring of your web traffic or browsing history, or any detailed session logging.

Life isn't quite that simple, and the small print explains that device IDs and IP addresses can be collected in a few situations. These are far less significant than we've seen with many commercial VPNs, and we see no major issues, but check out our full Hotspot Shield review if you're interested."

I am having same issue, no changes but recent update to Bitdfender and now my VPN Cyberghost and Mullvad have slown down to less that 10% of original speed i get withough VPN. It seems a recent update is conflicting.

Regards

Amien.

To me this sounds like a lot of NordVPN pumping posts. I just grabbed the BD VPN so I have yet to form an opinion on it, but I would be weary of *ANYTHING* being said in this thread. You have no idea what agendas these people have. Do your own testing and benchmarking of these products, look at reviews but only take everything you read with a grain of salt.

Bitdefender is catching a lot of negative comments on this site from people who have never used the product. Bitdefender does not use Hotspot Shield only their engine and does not share information. I have been using the premium product since it was first offered. If you use a VPN like Nord, Pure or any of the others, after a couple of weeks your speed drops significantly. Bitdefender's VPN is much faster and has no stability problems. Your major VPNs spend a lot of money advertising and they all claim blazing speeds and it isn't so, you have to keep switching servers to keep a usable speed, which is only a 50% reduction.

Actually I don't work for BD, I live in Atlanta. Everyone on this site seems to be bashing a product that they actually know nothing about. They have not used the product and their negative reviews are based on Hotspot Shield. Bitdefender uses the Hotspot Shield engine not their service, evidently the wiz kids on this site don't understand the difference. If you put a Mustang GT engine in a Honda, is the car now a Mustang or a Honda?

I was also curious if anyone else had experience with BitDefender VPN. I love BitDefender and consider them very reputable, but I've heard nothing but extremely bad things about Hotspot Shield, who provides the VPN service. It would have been very convenient to go with the same branded product, but I'm prepared to sign-up for PureVPN instead if I don't have any positive word about BitDefender VPN.

Plus there’s this that just came out.

Researcher Claims Hotspot Shield VPN Service Exposes You on the Internet.

It’s a shame BitDefender have teamed up with such a disreputable provider for their VPN else I might have considered it. Money over quality I guess. :(

I noticed (somewhat obvioous) that it is powered by Hotspotshield. Ofcourse they use an already exsiting VPN just with their name on it.

Not that recommendable; Looking at NordVPN and Windscribe now.