Bitdefender Blocking Toby Extension

TL;DR

Bitdefender is overly sensitive to Toby’s connection attempts. We’ll adjust Bitdefender settings to allow Toby to function correctly without compromising your cyber security.

Solution Guide

1. Understand the Issue: Bitdefender flags Toby as potentially suspicious because it intercepts network requests. This is normal, but can prevent Toby from working. We need to create an exception for Toby in Bitdefender.
2. Open Bitdefender: Double-click the Bitdefender icon in your system tray (usually bottom right of your screen). If you can’t find it, search for ‘Bitdefender’ in Windows or use Spotlight on Mac.
3. Navigate to Protection Settings: The exact wording varies slightly depending on your Bitdefender version, but look for a section called ‘Protection’. Then find something like ‘Advanced Threat Defense’ or ‘Firewall’.
4. Access Application Access/Exceptions: Within the Protection settings, you need to find where you can add exceptions. This might be labelled as ‘Application Access’, ‘Exclusions’, or similar.
5. Add Toby Extension as an Exception: This is the key step. You’ll likely have two options:
   • By Application: If Bitdefender asks for a file path, you need to find where Chrome stores extension data. This is more complex.

     C:UsersYourUsernameAppDataLocalGoogleChromeUser DataDefaultExtensions

     Find the folder with a name similar to Toby’s ID (you can see this in Chrome by going to chrome://extensions/). Add that entire extension folder to Bitdefender’s exception list.

   • By URL: A simpler method is often to add an exception for the domains Toby uses. You may need to find these through your browser’s developer tools (see Step 7).
6. Restart Chrome: Close all instances of Google Chrome and reopen it. This ensures the new Bitdefender settings are applied.
7. (Optional) Identify Toby Domains: If adding the extension folder doesn’t work, you might need to identify the specific URLs Toby connects to:
   • Open Chrome Developer Tools (right-click on a webpage and select ‘Inspect’).
   • Go to the ‘Network’ tab.
   • Use Toby as normal. Watch for network requests originating from Toby’s domain(s). These will appear in the Network tab when you filter by extension.
   • Add these domains to Bitdefender’s exception list (as described in Step 5).
8. Check Bitdefender Logs: After restarting Chrome, monitor Bitdefender’s logs. If Toby is still being blocked, the logs might give you more specific information about why.
9. Update Bitdefender: Ensure your Bitdefender software is up-to-date. Sometimes updates include improved compatibility with extensions like Toby.