- Nov 4, 2012
- 14
- 0
- 10,560
I recently purchased Bitdefender Total Security 2016 and ran into some major issues and was wondering if any of the Tom's Users/Moderators that use/recommend that product could help.
As soon as I installed I noticed the time it took my browser(s) to load a webpage (tested sites several and used google.ca as a reference) went from immediate to taking between 10-15 seconds. I check forums and the Bitdefender site and applied some changes to the firewall (setting to "stealth" mode and un-checking port blocking). This seemed to reduce the time to 5-10 seconds for the next couple days.
A couple days later when the problem seemed to return (slow internet and connection to site speeds) I needed to re-download a game from Steam. While monitoring the download in the Steam App I noticed that my max speed was half my bandwidth. To verify whether this was hardware, software, my ISP, or the Steam servers I booted up my secondary PC which does not have Bitdenfender and tried downloading the same game from Steam and found I was getting my full speed. So not steam servers, not my ISP.
Going through the Bitdefender forums again, I found that running the Bitdefender "Repair" would be my next step. After following the instructions and restarting my computer to complete the repair the Bitdefender Firewall was not able to activate.
After some more consulting with Bitdefender support, it was determined that I should download the removal tool and re-install Bitdefender. Upon re-booting I noticed it took my PC an extra 30 sconds to reach my Windows desktop - quite a change from the normal 5 seconds. The problem persisted and Bitdefender was still unable to activate its firewall and all applications and processes were slowed noticeably.
The recommendation was to once again use the removal tool and re-install. Once completed this changed nothing and my PC was even slower to boot (over 45 seconds to desktop) and loading web pages took +/- 1 minute.
I contacted Bitdefender support by phone and they listened patiently as I explained the problems and the steps I had already taken. Unfortunately the support person could only offer to have a tech remote connect to my PC (for an additional fee) to see if they could resolve the problem. I'm far too paranoid to allow that and asked if their tech could talk my through what they would like to check and do over the phone as I'm not exactly computer illiterate. They said they were not able to do that and they were sorry but they had no other solutions to offer me.
I then tried to load a restore point but was met with the "System Restore did not complete successfully" message. I was not able to find an option do temporarily disable Bitdenfender so I used the removal tool again and uninstalled. After cycling through the re-boot process I then re-booted in safe mode and tried a system restore again but met with the same failure.
I contacted Microsoft support and after some back and forth of checking options and re-trying several steps they concluded that I would need to re-install Windows.
After re-installing Windows and activating the Windows Firewall and installing MSE (Microsoft Security Essentials) I have zero issues with startup time or connection speed, which leads me to believe the problems all originated with the Bitdefender program.
I am reluctant to try re-installing the program again unless anyone else has some insight or steps to try and configure the program for proper function of features and speed of operation, so any help or suggestions would be appreciated.
Sorry for the massive wall of text, I hope the paragraph breaks made it readable enough for some of you to get through
As soon as I installed I noticed the time it took my browser(s) to load a webpage (tested sites several and used google.ca as a reference) went from immediate to taking between 10-15 seconds. I check forums and the Bitdefender site and applied some changes to the firewall (setting to "stealth" mode and un-checking port blocking). This seemed to reduce the time to 5-10 seconds for the next couple days.
A couple days later when the problem seemed to return (slow internet and connection to site speeds) I needed to re-download a game from Steam. While monitoring the download in the Steam App I noticed that my max speed was half my bandwidth. To verify whether this was hardware, software, my ISP, or the Steam servers I booted up my secondary PC which does not have Bitdenfender and tried downloading the same game from Steam and found I was getting my full speed. So not steam servers, not my ISP.
Going through the Bitdefender forums again, I found that running the Bitdefender "Repair" would be my next step. After following the instructions and restarting my computer to complete the repair the Bitdefender Firewall was not able to activate.
After some more consulting with Bitdefender support, it was determined that I should download the removal tool and re-install Bitdefender. Upon re-booting I noticed it took my PC an extra 30 sconds to reach my Windows desktop - quite a change from the normal 5 seconds. The problem persisted and Bitdefender was still unable to activate its firewall and all applications and processes were slowed noticeably.
The recommendation was to once again use the removal tool and re-install. Once completed this changed nothing and my PC was even slower to boot (over 45 seconds to desktop) and loading web pages took +/- 1 minute.
I contacted Bitdefender support by phone and they listened patiently as I explained the problems and the steps I had already taken. Unfortunately the support person could only offer to have a tech remote connect to my PC (for an additional fee) to see if they could resolve the problem. I'm far too paranoid to allow that and asked if their tech could talk my through what they would like to check and do over the phone as I'm not exactly computer illiterate. They said they were not able to do that and they were sorry but they had no other solutions to offer me.
I then tried to load a restore point but was met with the "System Restore did not complete successfully" message. I was not able to find an option do temporarily disable Bitdenfender so I used the removal tool again and uninstalled. After cycling through the re-boot process I then re-booted in safe mode and tried a system restore again but met with the same failure.
I contacted Microsoft support and after some back and forth of checking options and re-trying several steps they concluded that I would need to re-install Windows.
After re-installing Windows and activating the Windows Firewall and installing MSE (Microsoft Security Essentials) I have zero issues with startup time or connection speed, which leads me to believe the problems all originated with the Bitdefender program.
I am reluctant to try re-installing the program again unless anyone else has some insight or steps to try and configure the program for proper function of features and speed of operation, so any help or suggestions would be appreciated.
Sorry for the massive wall of text, I hope the paragraph breaks made it readable enough for some of you to get through
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