[noemotion]

I am not disagreeing with you, but I want to point out that, usually, the certificate is generated locally during setup and then installed in the trusted certificates store. So no one else should have that certificate. I also assume there is an option somewhere to disable the MITM scanner.

[bad_user]

> I also assume there is an option somewhere to disable the MITM scanner.

By default this is ON and users don't have the competence to recognize that this is in fact increasing the surface area for attacks and to disable it. The mere existence of a setting that is ON by default doesn't absolve such AV companies.

But speaking of Bitdefender in particular, I installed it on my wife's computer, disabled that option, confirmed that it survived a restart, then one month later I discovered that it is ON again, probably due to an automatic update. It's also an "admin" setting and my wife's user account does not have admin privileges to turn it on or off.

So even with a setting in place, it's untrustworthy.

[compuguy]

When I was using bitdefender, this was the first setting I disabled after installing it. Bitdefender also has a slew of other issues, including BSODing after installation.

[ashmud]

Bitdefender likes to revert to default settings frequently. I prefer Windows Firewall (Win7) and have to turn off the Bitdefender firewall usually at least once a week.

[slrz]

What is the reason you're using the software at all? What is it achieving for you? Genuinely interested in the motivations.

[hrez]

Bitdefender free version doesn't have ssl MITM feature. Neither it installs root cert as far as I can see.