BitDefender Total Security 2011, 3 Users, 1 Year Subscription (PC)

The product was easy to install but the system was useless after installation and essentially the laptop is now unusable. Contacted Bit defender product support and they just don't reply. Apparantly this slowing down/freezing is a common problem....I have now found out.....don't make the same mistake as I did. Google bit defender freezing problem

I've come across this before, and it is unfortunate, but if a product does not install cleanly, especially a security product, why am I going to trust it running on my PC? Well I wouldn't. And I didn't. And this is the story of why not:

First attempt to install: I decided I didn't have time to complete it, so hit Cancel thinking the installation window would disappear, allow my PC to shutdown and allow me to go to bed. No, the installer hung. The only way out was Ctrl+Alt+Del.

Second attempt to install: I was told there was a new version available. Would I like to download it? Oh yes please, newer software more bug fixes would be nice. Bad choice. The download failed to work, the product hung again. Oops. The only way out was Ctrl+Alt+Del.

Now let me just add that I have Windows XP and it's a very good spec machine. I run high-end graphics and music applications on this PC. It shouldn't need that much to install a security product. Nothing else was running on the PC at the time I invoked the installer.

Third attempt seemed to progress a little further. Then I got a Dr Watson error, but the installer launched a second window, so I continued. There were screen display issues, the desktop was locked out, if you dragged the installation window around it left a trail behind it and never cleaned itself up. Last time I remember seeing that happening was in Windows ME many years ago!

Now it wants to remove "all other security software" including Norton. Norton? The only Norton product I have installed is Norton Ghost, and that's for my backups! It wants to remove my backup software? Why? It calls them "outdated software" and has a check box for "skip removal of competitive products!". I can't believe this. Most users would trust a security product to know what it's doing. It seems to be telling them that any competitive security product on their system is "outdated" and must be removed in order for BitDefender to work. And it's telling me my backup software falls into this category. This is all rubbish of course, so I clicked the "skip removal" check box and continued anyway.

I install all my software on my D: drive. Most applications are ok with this. When a product asks where you would like it to be installed, you hit the "Browse" button and choose a folder under D:\Program Files instead of C:. Straightforward, usually. Not with BitDefender. When I hit the "Browse" button, rather than coming up with a Windows Explorer dialog as one would expect, the installer hung again! It totally locked up on me. And guess what? With the desktop unusable the only course of action was another Ctrl+Alt+Del and a reboot!

I thought that would be the end of it! But no. Alack, I had left the BitDefender CD in the drive, and when the PC booted I discovered this was a bootable CD. Instead of launching Windows XP it went into the BitDefender Rescue CD. There was a countdown timer and the text displayed, and I fib you not, "The fun begins in 20 seconds". Fun??? I'd had just about all the "fun" I was going to take with BitDefender. Another reboot and eject the CD. Maybe I should shred it in case it finds legs overnights and runs back into my computer.

Well by this point I'd given up. A product that can't install cleanly is not going to behave properly on my PC, which goes against what a security product should do. A good security product should run so smoothly on a PC that you don't notice it being there. It should get on with its job in the background without you ever having to think about it. But if the installer freezes up, I doubt these software developers are going to know how to get the main product to work properly without also causing slowdowns or freezes. My PC is very healthy, never locks up and never freezes, so I have since avoided a fourth attempt to install this rubbish.

On the product blurb it says "trusted by tens of millions of customers worldwide". I find that hard to believe, here's one user with a pretty standard Windows XP and the installer keeps hanging. I doubt I'm the first to see it, and I doubt I'll be the last. "Up and running in minutes" is another of their slogans. Well, *I* was certainly up and running (away very quickly) in minutes after seeing what an appalling solution this was, and I suggest anyone else looking for a security product finds one with a more well recognised and trusted name.

I downloaded this anti virus software onto my laptop and it decided to delete some of my windows files thinking that they were viruses which they obviously are not and now my laptop will not load up. i am extremely annoyed about this and would warn all potential customers to be careful with this software.