Are you seeing Bitdefender Agent in your system and you are worried that you might have a malware? As you already removed the Bitdefender antivirus from your system, seeing it might seem malware.
If you have the same question, you are at the right place. In this article, you will know what is Bitdefender Agent and should you remove it?
What is Bitdefender Agent?
If you are worried that Bitdefender Agent is a virus or malware, then I would tell you that it is not. It is not a virus or malware.
Bitdefender Agent is an official program used by its programs to establish the whole program in your computer and also keep it running all the time. It is necessary to keep running for an antivirus. That’s why Bitdefender has given the task to another process. This process makes the whole antivirus awake all the time in the system tray. So whenever your system is running the Bitdefender Total Security, you will also see it running in the process list.
It also saves the settings that you configure in the Bitdefender products. Overall, it is used to install the Bitdefender product in your system. It also helps them running and performs other essential tasks that are essential for them to work. So it is an assistant to the actual Bitdefender Antivirus.
How to Download Bitdefender Agent?
To download the Bitdefender Agent program, you don’t need to do anything extra. When you download any application from the Bitdefender website, you download the agent. It is a small installer that takes only a few MB of space. Once you run it on your machine, it will download the actual program and set up it on your system. So, there is no need to look for Bitdefender Agent separately. After that, it stays with the Bitdefender product and helps them running.
It is good that different tasks are assigned to a different process. Bitdefender Antivirus will take care of viruses and malware, while the Agent will take care that the Security program keep running.
It is one of the requirement for Bitdefender Offline Installer.
Should you Remove?
The main task for the Bitdefender Agent is to assist the actual program. When you remove the actual program, the Bitdefender Agent stays in your system. So, when you again install the Bitdefender it could assist that. It stays there taking up the storage and waiting for the Bitdefender program to reenter. If you plan to reinstall Bitdefender, it is good, but if you don’t, you should remove it.
- 5 Common Bitdefender Problems
How to Uninstall Bitdefender Agent?
To uninstall, you need to remove the Bitdefender product. If you only remove the agent, the Bitdefender product will not work correctly. Since you know that it is essential, you cannot remove it, if you plan to have the Bitdefender product.
Sometimes Bitdefender Agent stays even when you remove the actual product. Bitdefender should not do this if the user decides to remove the program. All parts of Bitdefender should remove. But that doesn’t happen. Bitdefender’s logic in this could be that the agent stays in case the user wants to install the program again. It will restore the settings and configuration. In case the user doesn’t want any of the Bitdefender parts, they have to remove it.
Most of the user doesn’t even know that the Agent is still on their system. They think that they have removed the program and it is now gone. Follow the below instructions to remove it.
Step 1- Press Win + R button together, you will see the Run dialog. Now enter the appwiz.cpl in the text box and click on the OK or press enter.
Step 2- Now, you will see the list of all program installed on your system. Locate the program. Right Click on it and click Uninstall. Now follow the instructions to remove it from your PC.
If for some reason the Bitdefender Agent doesn’t remove then you can delete its folder from the program files. Locate the folder here C:\Program Files\Bitdefender Agent\
Conclusion
Bitdefender Agent is not malicious software. It is assistant to your actual Bitdefender product. It enters in your system when you install any Bitdefender product. However, it doesn’t get removed when you uninstall the product. It stays in your system, waiting that you re-install the Bitdefender and it can assist that. You cannot remove the Agent if you already have a product. However, if you have uninstalled the product, you can remove it from the program list.
A site that also has ads for the products it’s reviewing should be taken with a grain of salt. The phrase “conflict of interest” comes to mind. According to Bitdefender as well as other sources the “agent” isn’t for support of the main application
(even that implication is insane, “Our one Anti-virus software solution didn’t work well so we installed TWO!”)
What it actually does is it probes and discovers networked devices and tells you if you can install their products on them. Basically it collects your network data, sends it back to HQ so they can upsell you on their products further. No it does not support any actual protection/prevention of malicious attacks. It’s a sales tool.
very nicely explained
it worked for me well
thanks a lot