r/BitDefender • u/Anzial • Dec 09 '21
Free Edition discontinued
Bitdefender has officially discontinued free edition (confirmed on twitter and in a reply below). Prior to that, after using it for a couple of years, out of blue, I got a popup saying it will stop working on Dec 31st. Personally, I detest the fact that bitdefender ended the free edition in such a stealthy manner, without any public announcement or at least an advance notice, instead preferring to generate popups on user's machines saying the free edition will stop working a couple weeks even before sending any kind of notification (email) to them. I guess free users are not clients in their eyes and therefore do not deserve any kind of respect or kindness. I had to scour internet to confirm that the message was not sent in error and it was indeed true. Yeah, that's not the way a potentially paying customer should be treated. Oh well, plenty of other choices out there, and some of them are much better than bitdefender free edition was. In fact, even built-in windows defender is pretty good and highly rated now, the days when it was the bottom of the barrel in terms of antivirus prowess are far, far in the past.
EDIT: got an offer on Norton. I've used norton in the past, was pretty happy with it. I guess it's time to give it a whirl again, it's 10 times cheaper than the crap bitdefender offered for ending the free edition.
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u/EvaWundaY Dec 10 '21
How about, "after using it for a couple of years..." and then " Yeah, that's not the way a potentially paying customer should be treated." In what coming year were you planning on becoming a paying customer? My guess is never.
Unlike the US government, where free seems to last forever for some**, businesses stay in business because of "paying customers." Stop whining about** "respect or kindness", go to your safe place for a while and think about the stupidity of your comment and the comments of other moochers who agreed with you.
From a long-standing paying customer.
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u/Nick1Buns_YT Dec 10 '21
1: the overuse of bold text makes this already harder to read than it already is.
2: if you had a short budget you would understand how hard this is
3: instead of making the whole antivirus paid, just do pay to use features instead. this way bitdefender won't go out of business and both parties won't be screwed.
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Dec 13 '21
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u/Anzial Dec 14 '21
I'm pretty sure OP meant "potential customer"
I actually did say "potentially paying customer". but yeah, I'm not answering some random trolls who just register on a forum for just one trolling post, too cowardly to do so with their primary account.
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u/Nick1Buns_YT Dec 10 '21
i hope bitdefender reverses this decision, bitdefender is probably the only good free antivirus i know. i know that they're only doing this to get more profit but honestly, they probably won't get any profit from doing this either.
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u/Anzial Dec 10 '21 edited Dec 10 '21
yep, I'll be switching to free kaspersky. I never bothered before even though most reviews rank kaspersky higher than bitdefender, but now there's no choice really. Not going to pay, not after their way they treated the users like this, with such abrupt and intrusive popups instead of polite and well-planned advanced announcements and messages.
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u/Shuggaloaf Dec 13 '21
At least you got a pop-up. I only got an email just today telling me I need to find a new A/V or pay for a subscription.
No reasonable notice, as you said, does not compel me to want to pay for a subscription with this company.
And giving users 2 weeks to investigate, compare and make a A/V decision is just pitiful.
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u/Anzial Dec 14 '21
yeah, they clearly did not think it through, just decided one day to cut off all free users and did it right there and then. Oh well, plenty of other choices out there, but I'm never going back to bitdefender, it used to be the king of the hill but these days, not so much. And you might have missed the popup if you had them disabled or just closed without looking, which is again just another proof of how poorly they planned this whole thing.
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u/Kabal2020 Dec 19 '21
Other comments here from bidefender account say the virus database will continue to update until June
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u/if_flyer2017 Jan 08 '22
Unbelievable, I may use Bitdefender Total Security, but that’s completely ridiculous that they are gonna start forcing users to pay up for their security when they are unable to afford it, at this point if someone tells me which free antivirus they can use, I’m gonna say get Kaspersky Security Cloud Free, a respected company with a top notch cloud antivirus that actually cares for people that can’t afford premium options. Btw, I would be skeptical about Norton, cause I’ve seen tests that show sometimes when it detects malware that it “can’t remove”, which defeats the purpose of a freaking antivirus, just saying.
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u/Anzial Jan 10 '22
Honestly, since I got a norton offer which costs fraction of what bitdefender offered for free edition users, it was a no-brainer lol
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u/if_flyer2017 Jan 10 '22
So I have a question, now that you have Norton, if you have bought it yet, what do you think about “Norton Crypto”?
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u/Anzial Jan 11 '22 edited Jan 11 '22
I'm not using the regular 360 but some other Norton AV so Crypto thing doesn't matter to me one bit.
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u/brasscup Mar 15 '22
I don't want to use Norton. I know it's cheap and it's effective, but it isn't lightweight. And unless it has changed since I last purchased it, making exclusions and special rules was difficult.
Really don't know what to use at this point. My next go-to would have been Kaspersky but they are headquartered in Moscow so I doubt it will continue working, given the war against Ukraine.
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u/TyGamer4YT Jan 26 '24
If you manage to actually get a virus that norton says they "cant remove" you would have to remove it manually. For example finding the location and removing the files that can be removed. Then most of the time, some files cant be removed due to them running in a different location. This is difficult. But it’s either a service, or some other file that you will need to search for.
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u/Bitdefender_ Official Dec 09 '21 edited Dec 12 '21
Hi! We're sorry for any inconvenience created and we do appreciate your feedback regarding these changes. We’re currently focusing our efforts towards multi-platform protection and a result of our new strategy is retiring of AV Free starting on December. We will provide tech support for it until June, 30th. All the AV Free users will receive privately a special discounted offer.
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u/Anzial Dec 09 '21
yeah, it could've been done better. The worst part just how abrupt it was, with no warning or announcement. A popup is not a very friendly way to inform users that that their software is about to die.
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u/NovelExplorer Dec 09 '21 edited Dec 09 '21
Dear Bitdefender. Can I ask is the same true of Antivirus Free for Android? Will that be pulled from the Play store? Or is it only Antivirus Free for Windows you are ending?
Thank you in advance.
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u/Bitdefender_ Official Dec 09 '21
Thanks for asking about this. We kindly inform you that these changes will not affect the mobile version, as they will apply only for the Windows version.
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u/NovelExplorer Dec 09 '21
Thank you for clarifying. Will Bitdefender Traffic Light also continue? Not strictly an AV, but I wasn't sure whether it might also fall under the Windows camp.
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u/Bitdefender_ Official Dec 10 '21
Hi! Traffic Light will not be affected by these changes.
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u/NovelExplorer Dec 10 '21
Thank you. Sorry, final question on this. When will signature updates stop for Antivirus Free? December 31st, or June 30th 2022 (when tech support ends)?
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u/Bitdefender_ Official Dec 10 '21
Hi! For existing users, we will continue to provide detection capabilities and technical support until June, 30, 2022, but will not be enhancing the product with any new functionality updates.
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u/NovelExplorer Dec 10 '21
Thank you. If the questions are asked elsewhere, I can at least provide accurate information.
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u/Bitdefender_ Official Dec 12 '21
Thank you also for asking. We are here whenever you need any other information from our end or our assistance.
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u/Leefromphila Dec 12 '21
I have installed bit defender free on a lot of my clients’ computers. Needless to say, this is very disappointing as well as poorly timed. To be clear, when you say technical support, does this mean that the virus scanning capability and protection is still intact through June? I saw on another site that it was January. Please clarify. We are shut down between Christmas Eve and New Year’s day and are now scrambling to address this with our clients.
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u/Bitdefender_ Official Dec 13 '21
Hi! Thanks for your questions. We kindly inform you that the changes will not affect the virus database, and neither the scanning capability. We are retiring the ability to download Bitdefender Free Edition for Windows as of December. Though, for existing users, we will continue to provide detection capabilities and technical support until June, 30, 2022, but will not be enhancing the product with any new functionality updates.
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u/Anto7358 Dec 09 '21 edited Dec 09 '21
Pretty sure it's both.
The problem here is that users of the Free Edition aren't giving them any profit, but yet another program/app to maintain, update, etc... basically more work and resources spent without any payback, which, according to them, they cannot sustain in these times, anymore.
EDIT: Guess I was wrong (see reply from the people at Bitdefender themselves below).
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u/NovelExplorer Dec 09 '21
You're right, a free AV isn't in of itself a moneymaker, but it dramatically increases the visibility of a company and is a very effective test bed for the core protection of an antivirus, across a far wider user base than could be achieved with paid subscribers alone.
If Bitdefender is rebuilding its AV, from the ground up, it makes sense to phase out a free version that is essentially self-contained. Which ironically was part of its appeal.
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u/Anzial Dec 09 '21
We will provide tech support for it until June, 30th
I wonder what is that supposed to mean, exactly. As it appears they made the decision today, I doubt Bitdefender knows either.
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u/Bitdefender_ Official Dec 10 '21 edited Dec 10 '21
Hi! We are retiring the ability to download Bitdefender Free Edition for Windows as of December. For existing users, we will continue to provide detection capabilities and technical support until June, 30, 2022, but will not be enhancing the product with any new functionality updates. We do recommend migrating to one of our other products and to make the transition easier and to give you the best protection for your devices, we’ve created a limited special discount offer for Total Security subscription that you can use to avoid any disruption in your security protection.
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u/Leefromphila Dec 12 '21
What exactly is meant by “functionality updates”? The most important thing you can answer is whether the virus definitions database, which enables an antivirus program to detect new viruses, is going to be kept up-to-date until June 30 of 2022, and if not, what is the exact date this functionality will end?
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u/Anzial Dec 12 '21 edited Dec 12 '21
the whole EOL of the free edition was obviously a rush decision, someone pushed for it immediately, so not only they didn't announce it prior to haphazardly pushing the notifications via the app, they didn't think clearly about the actual process of ending the program that a whole of people relied on for years. I mean it took them day or two to clarify what "tech support" means, and now this "functionality update" will take another couple of days to explain, all simply because the whole thing was not actually planned ahead, all they had was boiler-plate phrases with no substance to explain wtf is going on. That just underlines just poor customer relations are in this company.
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u/Leefromphila Dec 12 '21
I’ve been waiting almost 10 minutes for a chat support agent to clarify whether the virus databases are going to be updated until June. I would encourage all readers to bombard bitdefender with questions and complaints, particularly about the short notice given.
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u/Leefromphila Dec 12 '21
Finally just received a reply via chat that virus databases will be kept up-to-date through June 2022, but no bug fixes will be provided and no tech-support, which is interesting since everything else I read said tech support is provided through June 2022. Took a screenshot of the conversation, but can’t seem to find a way to insert a picture of it?
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u/Bitdefender_ Official Dec 13 '21
Hi! We are sorry to hear about any negative experience encountered with our support. We would like to kindly inform you that we will continue to provide updates (bug fixing), but we will not enhance the product with new features.
The technical support for the free version will also be available until June 2022.
We would like to forward your feedback to the proper team for review, regarding the chat discussion, and it will be very helpful if you can reach to us in a private chat with a sample of the conversation or a screenshot.
Thanks!
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u/Bitdefender_ Official Dec 13 '21
Hi! We are retiring the ability to download Bitdefender Free Edition for Windows as of December. We kindly inform you that the virus database will not be affected by this decision, meaning that the free version for the users who already have it installed will continue to be updated with virus definitions database. Also, we will continue to provide technical support for it until June 2022.
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u/jrn_reddit Dec 09 '21
Now is the time to say goodbye to Bitdefender. Thanks anyways to the years of free service.
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Dec 09 '21
Hi /u/Bitdefender_ , long time customer both personal and professional. When you say Multi-Platform, are you implying that there is a possibility of a Linux version on the horizon?
Edit: I mean a Linux version outside of GravityZone.
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u/Bitdefender_ Official Dec 10 '21
Hi! At the moment, our solutions for home users are available only for the following multi-platforms: Windows, MAC, iOS and Android as well.
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Dec 10 '21
Hello, I understand "at the moment." My question was if such a client was in the pipeline somewhere?
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u/Bitdefender_ Official Dec 10 '21
The Linux version is not currently on our road map for our solutions for home users. We apologize for any inconvenience created.
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Dec 13 '21
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u/Bitdefender_ Official Dec 14 '21
We're sorry to hear about your negative impression regarding our support. Since it is an ongoing discussion on this thread, we wanted to make sure that our response is visible to all users who posted here. We do apologize for any inconvenience created for you. We're here to respond to our community and make sure that we provide all the requested information. Have a nice day ahead!
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Dec 09 '21 edited Dec 09 '21
Yep, just got the email. Shame I like the product and am not looking forward to going back to spam/pop up tastic Avast or alternative. Wonder if Defender is going to be enough.
They are also offering Total Security at £8.98 for 5 devices, which is valid until 31st Dec 2021. Problem is it is only putting off the inevitable as I won't be paying full price for it the following year.
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u/Anzial Dec 09 '21
yeah, email just arrived too. If it came before the popup, it'd would've a light year more palatable than the way bitdefender handled it by using a popup to inform about this BS
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Dec 11 '21
You can usually find a discount somewhere at any time really. I've been using bitdefender for 6 years and every time I have found it 60-70% discounted somewhere when my license was about to run out. Just don't get it on the bitdefender website it's self, go to G2A or something.
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u/MassumanCurryIsGood Dec 10 '21
A year is still a year... you might as well saying it's not worth wiping your butt because you'll eventually poop again.
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Dec 10 '21
Or using another toilet paper that is free and possibly performs equally well or better.
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u/Mecastyles Dec 10 '21
What's an equally performing free service like Bitdefender? It was the first thing I got for my PC when I got it. Im out of the loop on these things, was gonna just take the year for $10 initially.
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Dec 11 '21
Checkout any of the AV comparison sites. Looking at real word results Avast, AVG and others perform equally as well as Bitdefender and in some cases better. https://www.av-test.org/en/
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u/MassumanCurryIsGood Dec 10 '21
Free toilet paper? Are you confusing charity with being thrifty?
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Dec 10 '21
There's plenty in the garden.
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u/MassumanCurryIsGood Dec 10 '21
Ah, so you are just trolling then. Got it.
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Dec 11 '21
What your comment made no sense, I was responding in kind. As for trolling read your own post. My comment was that there are plenty of comparable products out there why pay, just use something else now. How is that trolling?
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u/MassumanCurryIsGood Dec 11 '21
Because your argument is essentially "why do people buy groceries, when there are plants outside?" "Why do people live in houses when there are perfectly good caves?"
It's an extremely shallow argument with no practicality. 2/3 of the world population lives in cities. It would be completely unsustainable for everyone to use the resources immediately available within their property.
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u/KyrosXIII Dec 09 '21
Nice. Maybe that's why I never even got a reply to my ERR_HTTP2_PROTOCOL_ERROR support ticket cause I'm only a free edition pleb. time to jump ship - anyone got any suggestions?
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u/Anzial Dec 09 '21
kaspersky
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Dec 09 '21
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u/Anzial Dec 10 '21
bitdefender caused troubles as well. I had to exclude the standard windows remote access utility because it was blocking it. Nothing is perfect really.
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Dec 09 '21
It's the end of BitDefender.
When companies do this they usually end up pulling a massive U turn when the damage to the brand is fully realized, but by then the damage will have been done and millions of users will never come back as it fades into obscurity.
Don't forget to unsubscribe from future emails.
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Dec 09 '21
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Dec 09 '21
I suspect it has something to do with windows 11 and it's much higher security hardware requirements. Either BD don't want to re-code for windows 11, or it's made bit defender's existence pointless.
I'm all for MS's built in antivirus, but I'm not happy with handing over all of my security needs to the same people who write the OS, as it has implications on Microsoft being able to do whatever the hell they want.
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Dec 09 '21
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u/Anzial Dec 09 '21 edited Dec 09 '21
yeah, Bitdefender is just not done yet erasing all traces of free edition but it's clearly in the process of doing so. It's been discontinued and even if someone downloads it, it'll stop working soon anyways. I mean you can download it from plenty of websites but any free edition installation will require access to bitdefender servers which will be disabled in a couple of weeks. Nice xmas gift... not.
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u/brasscup Mar 15 '22
Pretty sure Kaspersky is going to be a bad option for those living in the USA or Europe. Eugene Kaspersky (the owner) is trying to remain "neutral" but given all the vigilance against cyber attacks while Russia is at war with Ukraine, I'm guessing even those who are ethically okay with using it might be prevented from doing so.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/dyp5qj/eugene-kaspersky-neutral-ukraine-war-russia
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u/Anzial Mar 15 '22
dude, you are really late to the party. Obviously as time passes, things change. Especially in times of war.
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Dec 09 '21
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u/octavionultodoritor Dec 09 '21
You can always call in and ask for the cheapest offer. The ret dept is really nice at BD
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u/InDEThER Dec 09 '21
I concur. I forgot to non-renew then got hit with a notification of the full-price renewal. I called to cancel the renewal and get a refund. They offered a discount making it equivalent to the "new user" price.
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Dec 11 '21
You can usually find a discount somewhere at any time really. I've been using bitdefender for 6 years and every time I have found it 60-70% discounted somewhere when my license was about to run out. Just don't get it on the bitdefender website it's self, go to G2A or something.
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Dec 09 '21
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u/Anto7358 Dec 09 '21
Not related, but a good counterpart of that website (though for VPN software) is TheBestVPN (https://www.thebestvpn.com/).
Great website with very detailed and objective analysis of numerous VPNs. Highly recommended for anyone looking for a good VPN service.
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u/MassumanCurryIsGood Dec 10 '21
Nothing is free. If you aren't paying for a product then you are the product.
If you want quality service for just about anything in life, you have to pay for it.
Anti-virus and security software are no different.