Hello,

I am with Big Valley Computer Services in California.

We have sold and installed the bit Defender line on all machines requiring protection in the last 9 months. We have never had any problems.

We have just acquired a new customer with Windows Millenium and were installing Antivirus + ver 10.

When we try to reboot or shutdown, the system hangs on the updating module. It appears that even with nothing loading in the startup routine but bit defender, the hang will prevent the machine from shutting down almost 10 times out of 10. In order to complete shutdown, the module must be manually told to "end task".

The user has incredimail and kodak software in the system tray normally, so it would be great if those would still work once this issue is resolved.

Does anyone have any ideas what needs to be done to make the product work?

Any help is appreicated as this is time critical.

Thanks,

Ray

For clarification, "livesrv" is the task that we have to close.

To make the solution easier to find, the out-of-the-box install would be fine, as would a simple reinstall or repair.....until an update is applied, and the service kicks in.

So, in other words, I cannot do an update or the system hangs on shutdown.

So, I would assume the problem lies in the update.

Hello bvcs

I recommend that uninstall BitDefender by using this specific uninstall tool. Reboot the pc install it again. Download the updates from here. Double click on it to install. After that perform an update while using the internal update module.

Best regards
Niels

Thanks Niels, I will give it a shot today.

When we see the end result, if it works out okay, I would be curious as to the techncal reasoning this occurs.

I will post after I have the result of the process.

Niels,

Is this uninstall tool designed for Windows Millenium? I cannot get it to launch, and looking at the file version description, it says "xpxp_sp2_rtm.040803-2158".

I am still trying to see if I may have operating system damage, but this is the only thing I have not yet been able to launch an install with on this machine.

Hello bvcs

Try to extract the package to a separate folder and run the UninstallTool.exe which you will find inside. This uninstall tool should work on all supported operating system version of the BitDefender products.

Best regards
Niels

Niels,

Before this post came in, I decided to do the best I could with what I had.

I did a remove and reinstall from CD with no update. I went through the startup routines and everything. The entire system seemed fine for running BitDefender without the update. (the only thing I had not loading was incredimal which looks like it conflicts. )

After This was all working fine, I added the update you provided the link for.

Everything STILL worked fine.....minus, of course, incredimail. -So I kept it disabled.

Then, I decided to apply the new updates and allow the switch to silent update from there on out.

Now, I have the same problem--hang on Livesrv.

So, I guess I try to go back to unpacking the uninstall tool and going through the whole process again. -Although all was working fine.....until the LATEST updates.

Do we know what the actual cause is? I cannot deploy a product to a customer who cannot get updates.

I will try the whole thing according to your previous instructions, but I feel like I am barking up the wrong tree.

Thanks,

Ray

Niels,

I did as you suggested.

I unpacked the file in an xp machine.

Then, I rezipped and transfered to the WinME machine we are having trouble with.

I tried the uninstall tool, and eventually, every executable in the bunch and NOTHING would launch. -No error, or anything.

I even tried in safe mode. As Bit Defender software seems to uninstall in safe mode, I thought I would give that a try.

Nothing from the tool worked.

It appears my suspicion is right: the tool is not designed for Millenium.

-And I still have a product I cannot deploy.

Do we have any other ideas?

As my last post implies, it doesn't appear this tool or an uninstall is the answer: it is the update that is the problem.

Any help is appreciated,

Ray

Update:

The problem is now worse.

The other day, I could install the software from CD, or install the "newer version" from being online. Then, running updates caused my problem.

Now, if I install the "newer version", a NEW error pops up claiming the installer is not valid.

This follows suit with my claim the updates are bad for Millenium, and the removal tool does not unpack in Millenium.

-Now apparently, the new online version will not unpack either.

It appears something in the installers and updates both is unfriendly to Windows Millenium, and I have spent a lot of time and money trying to deploy this package.

I am hoping someone comes up with something other than "uninstall and reinstall" as that clearly isn't the issue.

Please let me know what I can do about this.

Thanks,

Ray

Ok, another update and clarification of the problem:

From the top:

With WinME:

1. Install the AV+ ver 10 cd clean.
2. Cannot upgrade the install even though a new version is found online, because the package installer is identified by windows as invalid.
3. Continue install as normal.
4. DO NOT DO UPDATES.
5. Apply "Weekly update package" available from link provided by Niels.
6. All is well, but NOT TOTALLY UPDATED.
7. Manually tell the software to update.
8. You are presented with updates available for either signatures or engine.
9. Apply signature updates and reboot.
10. All is well. -However, updating the engines presents the death cry from there on of a hang on shutdown with Livesrv.
11. Let automatic updates occur naturally: Observe you still get the engines updated and it kills all hope of using the product with the Livesrv hang again.

The bottom line:

With no real tech support other than "remove and reinstall", our company has an unhappy customer with no product to work with. We are a company who recommends Bit Defender to everyone, and this is the level of tech support?

Am I supposed to call instead?

I have spent several days with the machine trying to get answers and get nothing. MY OWN troubleshooting identified where the problem was with a report as to the module and behavior, and I got no acknowledgement whatsoever that real investigation of the problem was being done.

We have many customers in our area still using Windows Millenium and now we are looking pretty bad over this issue.

Can somebody at least address it or tell me what the level of support is for this at this point?

I am trying to maintain a confidence in what I thought was a superior product by what I thought was a good company with excellent dedication to quality.

Right now, if perception of the last few days is accurate, my assessment of both is wrong.

I am still hoping to hear something back that will help us all.

Thanks,

Ray.

Hello bvcs

This is a user forum where all moderators are just volunteers who don't work for Softwin (BitDefender). The only people who work for Softwin that are active here are virus researchers. I could recommend to use uphclean but that doesn't work for windows me so that wasn't an option. If you want real support you have to use livechat. There was a faulty update but that was fixed in an next update.

Best regards
Niels

Thanks, Niels.

My mistake.

I made assumptions that I guess I shouldn't have made. Many times companies try to push you away from direct contact and have you address issues in the forum where a few of their people reside.

Here, I found that I was being directed down a similar path, but assumed incorrectly that Bit Defender techs were involved.

My apologies.

Thanks for the help you have provided. I am now in contact with Bit Defender tech support by phone, who didn't want to do anything other than email back and forth for support.

I have to give all kinds of system info of course, and the info they want is oriented to an XP environment, and not available in a Millenium environment.

I will update the forum when they can provide the answers.

Thanks again, and I apologize for making dumb assumptions.

-Ray

Hello bvcs

I try to help and share my knowledge but sometimes only the people of Softwin can solve your problem. If you take a look at the support possibilities you will see that the forum isn't mentioned. You didn't have to apologize. I would react the same way. But I didn't know another solution only but that isn't a real solution is exiting BitDefender before shutdown or stop the BitDefender update service.

Best regards
Niels

I have had ALMOST the EXACT same experience so far Ray.

www.snapfiles.com/freewareresently I await an answer from their Tech Support via E-Mail. This issue has TRASHED 3 Win ME boxes so far and On a brand new RESTORE fresh vwersion I get the same problems. I hope they get it fixed soon.

I too will endevour to let this forum know if I find a solution.

Well, I am disgusted.

I called.

I got someone who was very responsive as I called the section of support designed to help corporate or reseller customers. Then, in order to progress, they insist on email contact only.

That was fine as I got quick responses.

The problem was, after I gave a very distinct detailed analysis and history, they new to pass it to developers. -But I never had any response after that.

FOR 3 WEEKS.

No progress report, no "It is in process", no "we expect answers in 1 week", nothing.

The closest I got was: "It is for a discontinued operating system so it takes a little longer." and after I kept emailing, I got as blanket statement 3 times saying that it was a discontinued operating system, but THEY HOPE TO HAVE AN ANSWER IN A FEW DAYS.

I explained that it was unacceptable for a company selling a product with a 2 year license to make a new customer wait 3 weeks before a computer would work. -Much less give a simple status report.

I have worked for places with programmers on staff.

I know full well how status reports and system ques work for such things. They could not even tell me if it was being worked on.

I finally had to eat my $5000 in lost labor, the price of the product as it is opened now and useless, I get to eat money for the memeory upgrade I had to do on both machines to support the software, and my reputation suffers.

Now, as a result, I will not eat the bad reputation of this company, but instead I will tell everyone I know about how lousy the product is supported.

I have lots of nice email for evidence.

Hopefully they feel the impact on the wallet and iron things out.