Since a few days the Scan Activity bar (on screen graph of product activity) is not working properly, the Net zone shows Internet activity but the File zone shows the usual black background but not green graph indicating scan activity.



Help is appreciated.



Windows XP sp2

IS 2008

Dear farbar

You can still check if files are being scanned by double clicking on the red BitDefender icon and press on the settings button once you are in BitDefender Security Center press on antivirus,shield. Keep in mind that you will only see something on the graph if large folders of files are being scanned. So you will not always see something on the graph.

Best regards
Niels

Thanks Niels for your reply.

The schield is checked, the scan is working fine, but even for the large files or diep scan you see no indication on the File zone. Perhaps a corrupted file of a missing registry, but I don't know which one.

Dear farbar

Sometimes I don't see anything on the graph bar either. The most important thing is that you see the amount of scanned files,folders,... being increased once you take a look at the location I gave you in my previous post. I don't know how big or how much files that there must be scanned to be displayed on the graph.

Best regards
Niels

Dear Niels,

The activity bar in File zone doesn't show anything all the time. Not even when you scan all the drives which are pretty big. On my other PC I can see it from time to time even if I don't initiate a scan. I could see it a few days ego but since then it doesn't display anything.

Hello farbar,

When you make a Manual Scan, the activity bar doesn't show anything. That activity bar is for Realtime Protection only. This is how it has always been (since that activity bar was introduced in BitDefender).

Cris.

Hi Cris,

Thanks for the information. But the problem is not solved. I could see the green graph from time to time before and when for example I initiated scanning with antispyware program. That is also to see on my other PC. But since one week I see no green graph AT ALL, ALL THE TIME.
I think I am going to send an e-mail to the support service.

You could try to do a Repair install. Just Go to Start -> BitDefender 2008 -> Repair or Uninstall, click Next on the first screen and, on the second, select Repair. You might loose all settings and FW rules.
See if this works.

Cris.

Hi Cris,

I did as you said and the Activity bar is alive again. As you said the settings and firewall rules were gone but it doesn’t matter.

Thanks a lot.

You're welcome, farbar.

If you have any other questions regarding BitDefender, don't hesitate to post.

Cris.

I have recently upgraded from BD v10 to BD Internet 2008 and have been using the update for around two weeks, initially things were ok, however in recent couple of days I have noticed that the Scan Activity Bar either the File or Web becomes blank with a cross mark, this happens during normal browsing on the internet, or while working with Office programs, the system has the same config as was being used with BD V10, out of curiosity and concern I have checked the main window for some issues to however the main window keeps on showing normal scanning and firewall activity, while this is not being shown on the Scan Activity Bar. I use two different computers with diff configs, and this event happens on both of them, but not at the same time and neither with the same frequency, sometimes, the file scan activity display becomes blank with a cross sign, while at other times the net Scan becomes disabled. I have reinstalled / repair installed BD 2008 but this keeps repeating.

Any suggestions/forethoughts why this happens??

Concerned!!!

This is an update to my last post.

I restarted my pc this morning and noticed that the Scan Activity Bar is stuck with the Desktop Tool Bar, I keep it on the top of the screen. I can move it side to side but not anywhere else on the screen. I have tried every possible type of change in settings including desktop setting change but it does not cause any effect. However, when I unlock the tool bar and bring it at the bottom the Scan Activity Bar is released to move around as it was in its original condition.
Is there anyone who can guide me what is wrong? I am attaching pics of both the situations so u can understand the case.

regards

Concerned
Jehania
Click to view attachment
Click to view attachment

Hello Jehania,

First question: It is caused by BitDefender Update. After BD downloads new files, it restarts it's modules so it can install the updates. This causes the protection to be disabled for a few moments (therefore, the X in the Scan Activity Bar). It's normal, and shouldn't last more than a second before BD returns to it's initial state (up-and-running).

Second question: I never experienced this. Maybe it was only a glitch... Doesn it do the same after you reboot your computer?

Cris.

Dear Cris,

I have solved problem number 2 by uninstalling / rebooting and fresh install of BD Internet Edition 2008. So now the Scan Activity Bar has come back to its original status. to answer your question on this, the situation didnt change after reboot, system restore etc etc. so i took this cause of action.

Now to problem one again. Now that I have reinstalled BD, the update was run and the Scan bar crossed out on the file zone, but unlike few moments, its has been switched off since last half an hour. i can not figure out an update/installation that can take so much time. This never used to occur with BD V10.

Any suggestions??

regards

Dear Cris,

I guess I was a bit too quick in replying back, after writing the above reply, I shutdown my pc and restarted it to get the Scan Bar to show the file zone activity, the result after restart is that the File Zone and Net Zone are now showing activity, however the problem number two has returned, that means the Scan Activity Bar is again stuck with my toolbar at the top same as the pics I attached earlier. I suspect the last update that was downloaded has affected BD to behave in this manner.

Please advise any solution.

regards
Jehania

After some Product Updates, the system needs to be rebooted so the update can be installed. This happens because some product files cannot be replaced while the Operating System is running.
Until reboot, the protection remains disabled, and BD should warn about this by showing a message.

You can choose to not show that message, but this is highly NOT recommended, because the behavior doesn't change: reboot is still needed.

I repeat: this only happens after a few Product Updates (and the first update after installation is one of the updates that needs reboot), and previous BD versions had the same behavior.


I have never heard about this kind of issue before.

However, the Romanian BD version (which I'm using) wasn't yet updated to 11.0.16 (which is probably the build you have, because the English version was upgraded).

I'll try to contact someone tomorrow about this.
To be sure I have correct information, please post the following:
- BitDefender Build number and language (the build number can be found by right-clicking in the tray icon and selecting About)
- Operating System version
- if you have other security software installed

Cris.

P.S.: I'm sorry I didn't reply sooner. It might sound silly, but I tried to do it, and I was under the impression that I already replied. Probably there was a network failure, and my message never reached the forum.

Dear Cris,

Thanks for your response, to answer your questions.

The build number is 11.0.16, My OS is Windows XP Professional - version 2002, with SP2 and no other security software(s) are installed.

I hooked up with BD online chat support yesterday and also followed instructions from the BD support to gather info about system and BD software and emailed all these along with the pics I put up earlier in my post. Now I am waiting for some response.

I very strongly feel that the issue is related to the latest update of BD because after the fresh reinstall, BD seemed to be working fine and after the update first the File Zone became blank means showed a X and as soon as I rebooted the system the Scan Activity Bar got stuck to the Tool Bar on the top of the screen. But the most interesting this that as soon as I move the Toolbar to the bottom, the Scan Activity Bar (SAB) is released from this lock and behaves normally, I have also tried to move the Tool bar to both the sides of the screen and the problem stays the same SAB is stuck.

Lets hope you guys find some solution quickly. Otherwise this is irritating me so much that I am about to uninstall BD 2008 and return to V10.

Look forward to your response.

Regards

Jehania

Hello Jehania,

Looking again (and more carefully) at the previous screenshots I realized what happened: It seems it's another "feature" that was added to the Scan Activity Bar, so it won't get out of the viewable screen area.

So, to achieve this purpose, the Bar was made to stick above the TaskBar. But, apparently, the developers just forgot that the TaskBar can be moved around, so if the TaskBar is at the top of the screen, the Scan Activity Bar will stay there.

I'll see what I can do. (I think this will be fixed, but I have no idea when, because updates are not released very fast... )

Cris.

Cris - Thanks for checking in to this - The Scanning Activity Bar is one of my favorite features of BitDefender - as long as I can see it! I'll look forward to the fix for this.

And by the way - who wouldn't want the Task Bar at the top of the desktop!

Thanks again!
Dan

Hello Dan and Jehania,

I talked directly with the person who is responsible with these two modules (bdagent.exe and seccenter.exe), and they said that they will fix the problems as soon as possible.

But, as I said, even if problems are fixed quite fast, updates are not issued for each and every fix. A product update is released after a series of bugs are fixed (I don't know the exact procedure...).
But, hopefully, they will make an exception this time, since nobody likes to have the Activity Bar locked at the top of the screen.

Cris.

Dear Cris,

Thanks for the info, look forward to the update, it is a suggestion that perhaps BD can consider resolving small issues more quickly by updating them as soon as a solution is found rather than having to make their customers wait for a whole lot of issues to be resolved first before their small issue is solved.

BD may also look at resolving such small issues by putting independent executable updates on their websites and informing their customers through email, which is similar to Trend Micro and other software houses to resolve small yet irritating issues as myself and others may have experienced.

I am sure there may be many BD customers out there who may be experiencing the same but havent actually taken the pain to reach BD or these forums for understanding and resolving this issue, and amongst them may be many existing customers that may simply be lost and switch to other Antivirus solutions because they got irritated with the product or its feature(s).

A small step in rapidly extending solution on BD's part will demonstrate a more customer friendly attitude and fast responses to resolution of issues, helps customers feel more confident about BD products and it's after sales service.

It is just small effort at BD's part but makes a whole lot of difference in perception and likeness towards the product(s) and the company, just place yourself as a customer for any product and rate the good products over the bad ones simply because of the speed and kind of response you got from that company when you had a issue with the product/service. If you understand what I am saying then you should also understand where I am leading to.

Why would BD want to have its customers suffer, by having to wait for a whole lot of issues to be resolved first and updated later through automatic updates??? when the same can be done on immediate basis. My personal experience of such attitude is that it is more so at times because of the individual(s) that are responsible for this area, and sometimes things like these also get written into a policy and procedures which most the times reflect the attitude and thinking of the person who is preparing these policies, this happens because (a)such people are either engrossed too much in the tech side that they do not realize the impact of delay on the customer or ( they are over worried about quality and want to be 100% sure before they take a step © they simply are to lazy/laid back to make quick updates.

I am not trying to implicate anyone here but just trying to point out that the more delay in response to a customer the higher the probability of loosing that customer to your competitor. Its good be quality conscious but at the same time, with issues such as mine, I am sure do not need to write a whole lot of code or that needs to be changed just certain addition of more options in the code which will allow the problem to be solved.

I think BD management should think about this question with deep thought and very quickly.

regards

Jehania

I agree with you. Theoretically, it should happen as you say.

But there are different reasons why it happens how it does. The main reason is that, when you change some code, it might cause some problems elsewhere. Hotfixes are meant to fix small things (like your problem), but they can simply produce other bugs, even more serious. And that's why they apply a series of fixes, and then test them all together to assure that they don't conflict with eachother. This way, they prevent the hassle to revert to a previous version, just because the hotfix broke something else.


Another reason could be that more people work with the same source-code. Everyone has to do something. In case of small products (like my multimedia player), where there's only one person working at it, it's very easy to manage the code and provide hotfixes in matter of hours.
But when you involve a larger team, each member works with a code-section. And they cannot release the update until they all synchronize and deliver a complete code.

For instance... the Scan Activity Bar is included in the bdagent.exe module. At this module there might be more people working.
Now let's say that someone fixes the Scan Activity Bar in a few minutes after I sent the e-mail (as you said, it's very easy to change a little code for this). But for the update to be released, the hole module has to be compiled and build. And this can't happen if someone else works... at the Firewall alerts popups (which are also included in bdagent.exe). Maybe there's a lot more work to be done there, and the module just cannot be compiled with incomplete code.

I hope you understand what I mean.
I also like fast responses to bugs and requests, but for larger projects this is very hard to do.

Cris.

I'm having trouble moving the Scanning Activity Bar on my second monitor. I can place it any where on my main monitor but when I try to move it to the second monitor the Scanning Activity Bar will only show on the very edge of the screen. The Scanning Activity Bar acts like its hitting a wall or something and won't move past this point. Is this issue the same as Jehania is seeing?

I just started having this problem a few weeks ago.

The Scan Activity Bar also has funky placement on a secondary monitor: it can only be attached to the left side of the monitor. (My task bar is in the usual position at the bottom of the primary monitor.) This was working OK earlier this year (e.g., positionable in far right corner), so this might be another relic of the change mentioned above.

Sorry, I had overlooked cyborg11381's posting of the same issue.

Regarding, Jehania's request for prompter updates, perhaps there can be an option to get automatic updates from a beta version (e.g., via new http://beta-upgrade.bitdefender.com update host). This would eliminate the need for e-mail notifications and subsequenty manual user updates.

However, I agree with Chris that frequent updates generally should not be made to the release version. That would have prevented the problem in the first place (i.e., overly hasty introduction of the feature mentioned 14 Feb). Also, it can be quite annoying when user interfaces change without notice (e.g., as with Google Desktop).