Software

Bitdefender Total Security Terrible Business Practice [Updated]

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About a year ago, I decided to purchase a family subscription to Bitdefender as it was affordable, and gave you a 15 device protection plan with a dashboard to view all device status and incidents. I thought this was awesome, and Bitdefender had a really good reputation for being light and having high detection rates.

However here’s the part that is causing me to make this blog post and ask for a complete refund. Their business practices are terrible. They keep trying to upsell their other products in very annoying ways. They bundle their VPN product with this install, which OK, that’s understandable, so if you won’t want to try it, just uninstall it, right? Wrong. If you uninstall it, it will reinstall itself next time it updates, start the application, and be in your tray if you’re in windows or in your menu bar if you’re on Mac OS.

I contacted Bitdefender about this, and expressed my frustration, and basically they said, that’s too bad, you can disable it. I replied and let them know that the VPN re installs itself even if you uninstall it and will re enable itself. Eventually I just gave up, and dealt with this annoyance.

However, today was the last straw. I was watching a YouTube video in full-screen, when I got a pop up ad that was quite large advertising their VPN product. I first checked to see if I’m logged into the Total Security application so that it knows I’m a paid user, and I was. I can understand this type of behavior if I was using a free version of their software, however I’m a paying user, I shouldn’t have to deal with their ads to up-sell me. That’s why I submitted a ticket to have my money fully refunded and I’ll move to another product. I posted this, to hopefully keep people from using their software if they are looking into it, and hopefully to force them to change their terrible business practices. If the ad shows up again, I’ll take a screenshot and update the post.

Update: Ad came up again right after making this post, I’ve put the ad as the main image above, and attached a screenshot below showing it with the Bitdefender Dashboad showing that I am logged in (personal info redacted) and that I have an active subscription. And it immediately came up on my Mac the second I opened the lid. I’ve since told Bitdefender that this “Special Offers” option should be Opt in, not Opt Out.

Update [23/10/2020] – Bitdefender has apologized, and sent feedback to the team that this should be opt in, not opt out. I hope the changes get made. I believe also the VPN has not been re installing itself anymore of recent. Thanks to Bitdefender for accepting criticism.

Tesla Offers Autopilot Trial Periods

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Tesla Autopilot Trial
Tesla Autopilot Trial

 

I was just randomly on Facebook, when I noticed one of the Tesla Owners posted a picture (above) that showed that Tesla now offers Trial Periods for Autopilot for owners that have the hardware, but have not paid for the software. This may seem like something small, however it’s huge. Traditional cars wouldn’t have this capability as you’d either have to drive the car in to the dealership to get the update flashed onto your car, or they don’t usually include hardware if you haven’t paid for it. This is such a clever way for Tesla to Upsell customers after the fact if they opted out, and creates easy revenue. It also reduces the amount of hardware configurations by having all cars standard with the hardware. This makes it much easier for customers to change their mind down the road. Every day there is something new that wows me about Tesla, and today this is it.

Windows Audio Stutter Problem Fix

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I’ve been having a problem while watching shows or movies in VLC  and Youtube for a while now, and it really got on my nerves and I decided to try to fix it today. The problem is the Audio playback would stutter every few seconds then cut out (silence) for a few seconds, then it would come back. This wasn’t an issue with the files. I tried everything, updating drivers, setting tweaks in VLC, downloading Media Player Classic, Disabling Audio Effects in Windows Audio Settings, changing codecs for Youtube. Then I stumbled on this blog post. I did have Airserver and thought it might be the issue. I disabled it, but the issue still continued. Finally I found that I still had the AirPort Base Station Agent running in the tray. I closed it and the problem went away instantly. I thought I’d share in case others ran into the issue as I spent a few hours on Google. After figuring out, I thought I’d reinstall Airserver, and it’ hasn’t happened. So it turns out, it was just Airport Base Station Agent, searching for drives to use.

Missing Text in Sent Items Outlook 2003

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Internet Explorer 11

If you’re running outlook 2003 and Windows 7 you might have noticed that some of your sent items are missing text. Don’t worry you’re not alone or going crazy. It’s a known issue that I found while helping out a client, and it’s been reported on spiceworks. The culprit is Internet Explorer 11. You can just uninstall it and the issue will be resolved. If you’re having this problem and want to uninstall Internet Explorer 11 follow the link below:

Uninstall Internet Explorer 11

OS X 10.8.3 Released

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OS X 10.8.3 Update
OS X 10.8.3 Update

Apple has released 10.8.3. Fixes a lot of issues, especially the one in which you could make a browswer crash by inputting a file address. You can download it from the Mac App Store, or if you want the combo link (updates any version of mountain lion) you can download it from Apple’s Website. I always like to grab the combo update and put it on my USB flash drive so I can update any family member or friends mac, without having to download additional updates.

WinX DVD Ripper Platinum Thanksgiving Edition Giveaway

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Turkey

Today I am able to give away an uncertain amount of licenses for WinX DVD Ripper Platinum. Thanks to the people at WinX. There are 30,000 licenses up for grabs, first come first serve. So hopefully I can create some buzz for them. So click on the link below and enjoy ripping your DVDs while you stuff your face with some Turkey.

WinX DVD Ripper Platinum Thanks Giving Edition

iOS 4.2.1 released today

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iOS 4.2 Update iTunes

Finally it has been released for iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad alike. You can get it form iTunes. No word yet on jailbreaking, although, it was reported that the Geohot’s exploit was working up to 4.2 beta 3. As of now I am updating my iPhone 4 and will report back if limera1n is working with final release of 4.2.1.

Update: I’m not sure why it says 4.2 on the update, and is actually 4.2.1. Way to confuse people Apple.

Below you can see the changelog, my favorite feature is the ability to find text in safari!

iOS 4.2 changelog

iOS 4.2 changelog 3

iTunes 10.1 released

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iTunes 10.1 Software Update

Hot on the heels of 10.6.5 iTunes 10.1 has been released today. It was rumored on the interwebs that this update along with the iOS 4.2 (which has not been released yet) would hit the web shortly after  10.6.5. Soon all iPad owners will be rejoice as they can then multitask!

As described in the picture above, this update to iTunes lets you stream video using Airplay on the new (black) Apple TV, sync with iOS devices running 4.2, and bug fixes. I predict 4.2 will be released this weekend or on Monday maximum since it has already been in Golden Master for a while now.

Skype 5 Beta hits OS X

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Skype Icon High Resolution

When Skype 5 Beta hit Windows, I was really upset that it didn’t hit OS X. The reason for that was the video conferencing, which is a really cool feature. Today thanks to my friend Michael, I learned that it has finally made its way over to my favorite Operating System. The startup screen and the main application window look much better! Finally Skype users on Mac OS X can rejoice as Skype has a long history of taking its sweet time with Mac OS X and Linux releases. Anyways you can download the beta here!