Picking up a NEW PC laptop for my young daughter and I have one extra license available for Bitdefender AV Plus 2015 but am I'm just wondering how this will play with 8.1? or should I use Bitdefender Windows 8 Security made for the 8.1 systems? or should I use a another vendor? I just want something that will give me less head aches in the end, Now on this PC with W7 I have nothing but great things to say about BD but 8.1 may be a new game? thoughts, words of wisdom someone that has this AV on there 8.1 system??
Seems like you totally ignored my thread: https://www.wilderssecurity.com/threads/bitdefender-was-the-issue.372286/
@daman1 While I personally don't use Bitdefender, my advice is to install AV Plus, try it for a week or so and see how it performs. If you notice any slowdowns due to Bitdefender, uninstall it and try the Windows 8.1 version. Thr impact an antivirus has varies between different computers - what works well on one, may cause problems on another, so I think trying it yourself is the best option.
I've got it on a new PC with Win. 8.1 (A/V Plus 2015)..... and it's running very, very well. I'm using it with Outpost Pro Firewall without any problems.
Just for grins, I installed Windows 8 Security on a Windows 10 Tech Preview setup on an old 3GHz dual core box with 2GB RAM. For the two weeks I ran it 24/7, no issues; smooth, stable and with BDs superb protection. W8S is tuned for Win8 and without the "for all Windows" and all the extra AV+2015 crap. Yes, you should go with it, Windows 8 Security.
I stuck with the 2014 version of Bitdefender AV+ & it runs perfectly fine on win 8.1 pro, after you install it & reboot check for updates manually & it should get the program updates & then do a full system scan after you have set the settings to what you want, that way it will build it's cache & will only scan new & changed files. The reason Mortal Raptor had issues with the 2015 version was due to him leaving the profiles option to auto.
The profiles feature is new in Bitdefender 2015 products & basically adjust the program & some windows settings depending on what you are doing, ie if you run a game it goes into game mode etc. more info on them here from bitdefender uk site. As I am mostly a gamer I stuck with the 2014 version that has the game mode & games list feature that was removed in the 2015 versions. I also never use Autopilot in bitdefender either as I like to configure things manually & don't want it removing stuff automatically. I also didn't want the added tools that include registry cleaners as a security program should be about security & not include silly tools like that.
So it is mostly the auto profiling feature, not the auto tuneup part if I got it right. Switching the profile should revert the settings I guess or maybe turning off autopilot or whatever they call it would prevent any further changes.
Pretty much, some of the profiles will change auto windows updates & disable background programs or services, switching the profile should revert the settings back but I read some reports on the bitdefender forums that it didn't or was stuck in a certain profile. You can disable this & just stick with the standard profile in the settings & also not using autopilot mode. The PC tuneup feature I don't really know much about as I don't use the 2015 version, maybe I'm old fashioned but I believe a AV program should protect you from malware & not become a all round utility suite like the way Avast & Bitdefender seem to be going. Registry cleaners & PC tuneup functions have no place in a AV.
That's why I was leaning towards BD W8S because there's not all that bloat like AVP has she don't need that on her PC.
Maybe they are thinking that since so many people have trouble with other registry cleaner or pc tuneup softwares, then they can make better and safer alternatives to help them. A Pc tuneup from a security company should be safe to use, right? There shouldn't be any repercussion coming from them, right?
I agree with you about tune-up tools. Most of these tools either bring no benefit at all or brake something along the line and IMHO they shouldn't have a place in an AV software. Maybe a just junk cleaner (just because excessive junk files slow scans).
Well looking at the Bitdefender forums shows that some have had issues after running the tuneup features, seems it can also bork a install of VisualStudio by clearing the programs install file cache. My advice would be that if you really want to use a registry cleaner then use one from a company that has been making & maintaining them for years rather than a first attempt by a AV vendor that has no real experience of creating them.
Sadly it seems that a lot of the AV companies are going down this route, I always used to recommend Avast free to family & friends but stopped when Avast started adding so much useless crap like grime fighter, browser cleanup, secureline VPN, Chrome & now Dropbox. Useless feature creep is sadly only going to get worse.
FWIW: I ran a full installation of Bit Defender Total Security 2015 Muliti-Device for a while on a Windows 8.1 system. I had no problems or issues with it.(For an entire morning I received no updates, but that issue never repeated). For a variety of reasons I now use a different Security Suite, but not because of any problems with BitDefender. I never ran it's "Optimizer" or used any other of it's utility type tools, as there are free utilities that do an equally good if not better job) Bit Defender 2015 will do an excellent job at protecting your PC. Although it has a relatively high detection rate it also has been shown to have some weakness against VBS scripts. While it may allow some of these scripts to remain on your PC and run wasting CPU,etc, it will not allow them to do anything malicious against your PC.
Considering 99% of registry cleaners have problems with false positives, I don't think one from security companies are going to fare any better. Also, is is exceptionally rare indeed for a registry cleaner to fix any problems or make a computer faster. For the most post all those hundreds of registry "errors" they find are harmless and are not causing any issues.
