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Complaint: BitDefender Internet Security

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SectorSeven:
Hi everybody,

I am a long time user of BitDefender security packages - AntiVirus and Firewall.
During the first few years, this product was my favorite among the competition.
It was fast, not hogging the computer, had a low number of false positives, not causing any problems, and the technical support was easily available and mostly helpful.

This last year, I believe will be the last year I am paying my yearly fee to BitDefender.
These are the main reasons:

1. It has become quite bloated with many different modules

2. Some modules cause Windows to crash when some applications are running (firewall + file sharing).

3. Technical support is now almost impossible to reach

4. When you finally get to tech support, you get a reply about 50% of the time, with a long delay.

5. The replies you receive from tech support, either tell you to download a new version (which was unaccessible at the time of trying) or to run a long sequence of debugging and "memory dump" to send to their technicians - as if I am paid to do QA on their products.

6. Searching their own forums for the same problem as I encountered, revealed many other people have it - they all get a personal "check your email" reply as an answer.

I am not sure yet which security package I will use next, and if it will be a free one or a paid one, but in my book, a paying customer needs to get access to customer service.

I hate to see BitDefender go down like this, but unless I can access a helpful tech support hand, and/or a stable product, I am out.

--

Innuendo:
Sorry you had such a bad time with BitDefender, but your story has a lot more high points than the typical tale of woe I hear from BitDefender users. The good news for you is that there are better companies out there & they are eager to take your money. You shouldn't have much trouble finding one to be a suitable replacement.

SectorSeven:
Yeah, you know I wanted to give them also credit for their past performance.
I used and tested many antivirus software, and even those that are considered excellent by many people, gave me issues - some were small issues, like Kaspersky in some version caused videos to halt for a fraction of a second every now and then.

Or another antivirus (maybe also Kaspersky) that used the files Archive flag for something - which caused quite a mess with my backup software.

So many people just dont notice what these tools are doing to them, or they are not making the connection that it is the antivirus.

BitDefender was excellent in this regard, but has gone downhill in the past year or two.

I will probably try one of the free ones before I commit once again.
At least with a free one, if I don't get support, I cannot complain... :)

Innuendo:
The most popular choices in free internet security suites seem to be (in no particular order):

AVG
Avast
Avira

If you can't find what you want in the realm of free programs I suggest you try Eset's Smart Security Suite. It was very light on resources the last time I tried it.

SectorSeven:
Thank you.
Yes, AVG and Eset are at my top list.
I know that AVG has quite a few false positives, but I will probably try it.

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