Bitdefender (free) has obliterated "palemoon.exe"

[bawldiggle]

Yesterday Pale Moon was open along with several other programs, including anti-executable VooddoShield (aka. VDS). I had literally just completed a PM update.
My laptop is set to hibernate after 1 hour of inactivity.

When the laptop was "awoken" Bitdefender flashed a 2 second alert that "palemoon.exe" is a threat ... no option to make a choice.
"palemoon.exe" (incl the correct path) was/is listed in In Free Bitdefender Exclusions ... so much for BD reliability not impressed at all

PM is not listed/running (in TaskManager)
I assumed the best thing to do is to copy the PM profile to a safe location -> uninstall PM -> install a fresh download -> replace the new profile with my original.
But "KillCopy" cannot create a folder on either the desktop nor a USB drive. MS Copy has the same problem, so I dont have a reliable backup of settings etc.

What to do next ?

1. I have a bootable Linux Mint. Can I use Linux to copy the old profile onto a USB stick to retrieve my passwords/settings/library/cookies/exclusions ... etc, before uninstalling PM.
2. Can I copy "palemoon.exe" from another machine and slot it into the existing PM installed location
   Subject to using the same PM version
3. if the only solution is to copy individual passwords/settings/library/cookies/exclusions ... etc; I would appreciate a list of all the file names that I need to copy. :;
   eg, For memory I think passwords consists of 2 files although sometime in 2017 password (?) structure changed

I would appreciate some knowledgeable help, thank you

Off-topic:
Bitdefender has been so unstable for several years on various machines. I had to clean install BD Interent Security 5 times in 2017, as instructed by BD telephone support
Any body who uses BD will know what a pain it is to re-establish exclusions manually in two lists on BD
For 8 months I have been using VooDoo Shield (8 months) as an experiment and IMHO it is light years ahead of BD, VDS was about 15 seconds faster than BD blocking ransom ware, and so far has never triggered a false/positive.
The only problem with VDS it does not capture phishing attempts, hence the use of Free BD

---------------
SPECS
Win-7 PRO 64-bit
PM 32-bit ... version unknown because the EXE file is gone, last update was 2 days ago Friday 19-Jan-2016 (Australian Eastern Daylight saving Time)
Free Bitdefender current

[Moonraker]

With all due respect,I think a change of antivirus would be far easier.

[dark_moon]

Sounds Bitfender have a lot problems.
Why not just the Microsoft protection?

[bawldiggle]

I agree about a change of AV, but all (I think) I need is anti-phishing because VooDoo Shield blocks all non-white-listed executables.

.. BUT ..

I still need help with which files contained in the current profile, I need to copy/backup to transfer to a new PM install.
I have now got a copy of "palemoon.exe" on a USB stick, same version as is (I hope) on my laptop
is there any way of identifying what version of PM is on my laptop (Resource Hacker?) , remembering I don't have palemoon.exe on the laptop.

I am 3 hours travel away from my laptop, so I won't know until tomorrow if the patch replacement works or I have to clean install PM

AND

Any suggestions on phishing detection programs, or maybe another free AV, open to suggestions
I thought Windows AV is no longer supported in Win-7, according to "Comparatives-AV" Windows AV leaves a lot to be desired and I want an AV that I can control
I am over heuristics ... !

Thank you all

[SpockFan02]

Can you not simply copy your whole profile folder?

>Can I copy "palemoon.exe" from another machine and slot it into the existing PM installed location
In theory, that should work fine. I'd try to make a copy of your profile first, though, just in case.

[bawldiggle]

As per post #1 ... all details (unless I have missed something are in post #1
Neither Windows Copy nor third party KillCopy will successfully copy the profile folder, for what ever reason
All I get is an "error occurred" alert, without any details other than a MS error code
MS Copy don't give any details ... KillCopy only state "cannot create a folder" about 70% into the copying.

C:\Users\<owner>\AppData\Roaming\Moonchild Productions\Pale Moon\Profiles\xxx.default
92 MB ... 156 files, 135 folders

C:\Users\<owner>\AppData\Local\Moonchild Productions\Pale Moon\Profiles\xxx.default
45 MB ... 848 files, 44 folders

I assume to copy the latter (ie, Local) ... I am the only user, and there are no other profiles.
I have tried copying to the desktop and a USB stick.

[Thehandyman1957]

Bawldiggle, get a Linux live Cd and boot it onto your windows machine. After it's loaded just go to your windows partition and
copy the profile to somewhere else. Many times I have had to use Linux to simply copy something in Windows when it decided
it would not let me.

Something simple like Mint or Arch linux. Do you have a friend that can help you with that?

[dark_moon]

I thought Windows AV is no longer supported in Win-7, according to "Comparatives-AV" Windows AV leaves a lot to be desired and I want an AV that I can control

Where did you read this? If you use still Win7 you should switch from Windows Defender to Security Essentials.
The test @ AV-test is crap. The first place got always the company which send the most money.
I never see a infection with Microsoft protection.

The best would be if you switch to Win10 because the internal Windows Defender got a lot improvement and is the new security center which even have EMET and a ransomware protection and other stuff.

[bawldiggle]

SOLVED:
Updated Palemoon on another Win-7 64-bit machine, copied the resulting "palemoon.exe" onto a USB drive, -> copied the new EXE onto my Win-7 64-bit laptop
Works perfectly, no problems
If it didnt work Linux was my plan B

@ Thehandyman1957
I have had bootable Linux for 6 years ... see my original post
Reinstalling PM and then fiddling with files from the old profile was not my idea of fun, but I was willing to do it if I had to.

[bawldiggle]

@ dark_moon

I made a typo in my post viewtopic.php?f=3&t=18098&p=133109#p132925 ... with "Comparatives-AV" instead of "AV-Comparatives"

I agree with you about AV-Test ... about 5 years ago (the last time I bothered to look at them) they were notorious for only testing AV that paid.
What amuses me is the contradictions between various "10 best AVs" articles and the like

I use AV-Comparatives as a guide.
AV-Comparatives list AV-Test as one of many alternative testing organisations, personally I simply don't believe anything AV-Test claim.

We all have start somewhere to get some solid science based evidence in evaluating AVs.
There are as many opinions about AVs as there are grains of sand on a beach.

One thing I have proved to myself is that VooDoo Shield (an anti-executable) is lightning fast at blocking unregistered executables and a lot lighter on resources than AVs.
The EXE white list is on my PC, not in the cloud so I am totally in control.

All I want is a FREE program to capture phishing attempts.

[dark_moon]

Just block phishing sites with PiHole
No crap program needed.

Also its enough if you use Microsoft protection.

[bawldiggle]

Just block phishing sites with PiHole
No crap program needed.

I want anti-phishing for my Windows PC.
Pi-hole® is for Linux

Thank you for your response