Anti-Virus and Anti-Malware for MSP

[HCHTech]

If what SW offers isn't a stripped-down version of BDGZ

Ok, guess I was just feeling grumpy last night - ha. If it is as you way, well then "Stripped Down" is still "not equal to" BDGZ. They won't say it in those words, they prefer "customized" and "Based on" the BD "engine" in my recollection, but the folks on the SW forums & Facebook groups who came from BDGZ say it's clearly different. I wish they would just license the darned product as is, but I'm sure that would be a) more expensive for them (equals more expensive for us), and b) require much more work to function in their dashboard. I call it the "Enterprise version" of BitDefender in my speeches, and hope no one ever asks for more details.

I would get into my rant about their revenue stream model, but this isn't TEO, so I'll skip that.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Yeah Solarwinds offering of BitDefender....basically you have a much more dumbed down management interface. It's the "base product" engine, typically a version (or several) behind. Your settings for it are built into the RMM itself, you don't manage it via Gravity Zone. You don't have access to as many dials, knobs, switches, levers, and buttons. Still a good product...just...simplified. Yet still effective. I found it easier for some circumstances...how you could do things like add global exclusions to all clients from the top level, or...client specific exclusions.

With gravity zone, there's a lot more work for profiles. But...also nice to have access to a lot more dials, knobs, switches, levers, and buttons!

 

[Mike McCall]

Ok, guess I was just feeling grumpy last night - ha. If it is as you way, well then "Stripped Down" is still "not equal to" BDGZ. They won't say it in those words, they prefer "customized" and "Based on" the BD "engine" in my recollection, but the folks on the SW forums & Facebook groups who came from BDGZ say it's clearly different. I wish they would just license the darned product as is, but I'm sure that would be a) more expensive for them (equals more expensive for us), and b) require much more work to function in their dashboard. I call it the "Enterprise version" of BitDefender in my speeches, and hope no one ever asks for more details.

I would get into my rant about their revenue stream model, but this isn't TEO, so I'll skip that.

Fair enough. It's been some time since I've used SW and BD has grown in a number of ways since then. Still, nothing to quibble over as far as I'm concerned. If it's different I'll stand corrected.

 

[gadgetfixup]

Stay away from Kaspersky, we've buried ourselves in K support. We built a following with renewals, offering a simple tune-up if they bring the equipment in for renewal. Worked great for 7 years but K now demands users create an online account, enter their CC information and they are getting all the renewals. What do we get? Half a dozen calls a week because Windows 10 update lost someone's license again and says it's invalid!!! A license they didn't purchase from us. As we explain they didn't purchase it from us and should contact K support, we hear, "yeah but you recommended this to us"!! Even with my own family I've removed valid subscriptions of K because every major update disables the license and you can't just put it back in. You have to completely remove K, reboot, re-install K and if you keep your figures crossed it might accept the license. If it doesn't you have to download an older version, install it, update it and you're good until the next Windows update when it will unlicense itself. I'll never sell Kaspersky again.