Potential FYI. r.e. Spybot and Bitdefender

On the 15 of July I installed Spybot free and things immediately started to go wrong (very high cpu usage etc) so I uninstalled it. Then during the computers restart a very odd thing happened...

1) Spybot only partially uninstalled leaving a huge number of files in the instillation folder, the Spybot banner was still in the task-bar and it was connected to enough of the program to be able to load a Spybot window (which couldn't do anything).


2) During the restart process Windows paused the shutdown sequence and displayed the following message;
A problem has occurred in BitDefender Threat Scanner. A file containing error information has been created at C:\Windows\TEMP\BitDefender Threat Scanner.dmp. You are strongly encouraged to send the file to the developers of the application for further investigation of the error.

A search of the BD forums identified a number of threads reporting the same message with the BD people stating the issue was limited to the AV and AV free software. I also looked in my Windows\TEMP folder and found a large Bitdefender .dmp file which was created that day.

And here is the confusing bit... I don't have Bitdefender installed. I had Bitdefender Total Security some months ago but changed it, we are currently trialing Webroot and Armor. I uninstalled BD with their uninstall tool and a manual search of the likely places to make sure it was all gone.
The funny thing is that I know I checked the Windows\TEMP folder and I am certain there wasn't any Bitdefender byproducts in there.

So it appears BD is still in my system somewhere (or some nasty is active and using Bitderenders name) and it somehow interacted with my latest Spybot instillation (causing me a lot of work ).

Take care

 

That's why i always use a clean OS image when i want to change my security setup....

 

What program are you using for a clean image?

 

The main program is Active Disk and the second is Paragon Backup&Recovery 10 Home Edition.(i know,maybe i'm a little paranoid,but i like to have two clean images with both),although Active Disk never failed me in almost a year of usage.And i've restored dozens of clean images...

 

+1 for active@

the boot disk is the best in the business

 

except the boot disk is still using win PE 3.1 which lacks windows 8 GPT/Secureboot support. Wish they change to WinPE 4.0 soon.

 

not true, make sure you are using the latest version. pretty sure they added support for GPT/secureboot a while back

http://disk-image.net/features.htm

edit- found the thread https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=344833

 

I'm having exactly the same problem as the OP and it's driving me crazy.

Every time I shut down Windows 7, that annoying message appears. It showed up about a week ago but unlike the OP, I NEVER installed any Bitdefender product - ever.

It seems just like a virus but apart from creating the DMP file, I can't tell what the payload might be.

I can't see any references to it in the Registry, Spybot Search and Destroy or Malwarebytes or the Anti-Virus component of ZoneAlarm all reveal nothing. I can see nothing in Services or Startup in Msconfig that looks remotely like it.

I tried downloading the Bitdefender uninstall tools from their web site and after running them, the message is still there.

Can anyone help me to get rid of this thing? I have no idea where the process is stored or how it's triggered. I just want to get rid of it from my system.

Trevor

 

The new Spybot is a BD clone so maybe it uses some BD-developed files other than just the db (like old Ad-Aware with G-Data files).

 

Found it!

It's being delivered or triggered by Spybot Search and Destroy 2. I upgraded SSD from version 1.6.2 at the weekend but later uninstalled and that's when this Bitdefender Threat Scanner message started to appear. Maybe I failed to uninstall SSD correctly.

As soon as I tried to stop the SSD scanner service, the BD message popped up on the desktop and couldn't be removed without a reboot.

I had to stop all SSD services manually before I could delete the program folders as the program didn't appear in the Installed programs list in Control Panel for some reason.

So what to make of this? Is it some joint collaboration between SSD and BD? I'm reluctant to trust SSD again after having used 1.6.2 for years and always trusting it.

Any comments about this.

Trevor

 

What the hell are they doing to all of our favorite software?

 

Then that would make sense. Thanks for shedding some light on this. It would have been nice if there had been some mention of Bitdefender from the SSD install or at least a logo placed somewhere. Maybe I missed it. Anyway, for now, I'm going back to SSD 1.6.2 which always seemed to work ok for me.

Thanks again.

Trevor