BitDefender installation woes

This is November 14th and I’m still trying to install the three computer version of BitDefender that I bought on Sept 11th of this year.

This post is a chance to try and recreate the chain of events that have so frustrated me.  Ideally, now that I’ve printed all of their emails, I’ll actually find the answer myself. Part of the problem is that there are so so many marketing emails from them that it’s hard to find the ones that might actually help.

 The good news is that I just found that BitDefender has a Ft Lauderdale office.  Next week, if I don’t have this resolved, I will show up at their office to get help.  As background, I took their online offer to try a 30 day free trial on the three computers that I use (office, home, portable). I liked it.  So i bought a three pack and installed it on my home computer.

Thank you for ordering from BitDefender, LLC. on September 11, 2008. The following email is a summary of your order. Please use this as your proof of purchase.   If you paid by credit card, please look for bitdefender.com on your credit card billing statement.

Then, I tried to install it on my office and portable computers. I couldn’t get it to work. I sent them emails.  They didn’t send back anything useful. I tried forums.  A few weeks passed. Eventually, on a forum, someone said that bitdefender codes are very finicky. If you don’t have the exact right version on your computer that matches your key, you can’t use it.

So here’s the current state of play:

Home computer – version 2009 installed and working
Portable – version 2008 installed on yet another 30 day trial.  I can’t download the 2009 version since you need to pay for it.  But, even with my license number (last 3 digits left off) and my order number (Order Number: 4072291 last 3 digits left off) and my password, there’s no way to download 2009. It seems that your download rights only last 30 days.

Product SKU: ML11051003-EN
Product Name: BitDefender Total Security 2009(3 PCs , 1 year)
Qty Ordered: 1
Amount: $79.95
License Key: 1FBD5AC4E02F2EAD7

Here’s what really gets me steamed.  When I tried to unlock the software (which I did many times), it only says that your key is invalid.  It doesn’t have the basic decency or intelligence to suggest that you check to see if you perhaps are installing a slightly different version the one that matches your key.

And digital rivers tech support, as far as I can tell, is not existant.  WOOPS. I found a relevant email.  In fact, a good one…It says:

Thank you for your interest in our security solution, BitDefender.
Please follow these steps in order to install BitDefender Total Security 2009:

1. Please use our uninstall tool in order to delete all BitDefender/Softwin
related files: http://www.bitdefender.com/uninstall
Access the link and when the window with the BitDefender file appears, please
choose the “Save to disk” option. Download the tool, run it, restart the
computer.

2. Download the program from here:
http://download.bitdefender.com/windows/desktop/
total_security/final/en/bitdefender_totalsecurity_2009_32b.exe
Access the link and when the window with the BitDefender file appears, please
choose the “Save to disk” option. BUT WHY IS THIS A 113MB download?  That just seems weird. And it’s taking a long time to download…..3. Install and register with your license key: 1FBD5AC4E02F2EAD7—.
Once you have downloaded the file on the PC, please double click on it in
order to begin the installation.
For additional information, you can also check:
http://kb.bitdefender.com/KB454-en–Registering-BitDefender-2009.html

Should you need further information, please do not hesitate to reply to this
message.
Best regards,
Alina Enache
BitDefender Customer Service

bit defender download size

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OK.  Smiley Face. Actually a grimmace. It’s now a few hours later. Two and a half to be precise.  There have been a series of setbacks and reboots.  But finally, this computer is protected.  Thats good since on Monday, I can take this one to the office and spend the morning trying to get my office computer protected properly.

It was my third attempt and I got it done in under two and a half hours.

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