How do I remove this garbage from my router?

Hi WCasey. You will never get the Orbi software pre-Armor since Armor is now an integral part of the Orbi firmware.

To the best of my knowledge, the only way to disable Armor is with the app. I've seen a post or two where doing so apparently didn't work but a factory reset did. At my end, I have disabled and re-ensabled Armor many times during my 90-day trial (still have a month to go); and when disabled, Armor is no longer funcional. Netgear Armor Portal can still be accessed, but alerts eventually stop after 24 hours or so.

For me, Armor as a standalone app on the router works great, but only after disabling daisy-chain topology. With daisy-chain enabled, I was experiencing chronic internet drops and jitter on 4K video streaming.  

Enabling Bitdefender Total Security on Windows PC and MacBooks also caused all kinds of problems, some of which were similar to what you experienced, loosing access to the App Store for one.

So for now, I am back running Armor as a stand-alone app, with Bitdefender Total Security activated on one device only (iPod Touch). So far, everything is running smoothly.

I doubt that the foregoing will be of much comfort to you, but thought to share my experience with you and other readers. As to whether or not I will transition to a paid subscription at the end of the trial period, the verdict is still out. If the performance I've been getting over the last three or four days holds for the next 30 days, I might. I hope that by then, Netgear/Bitdefender will have smoothed out the process.

Good luck!

This automatic installation and activation of Armor and BitDefender Cybersecurity should be illegal, if it isn't already. It has caused me numerous headaches (e.g., slow to no internet connectivity, inability to access important websites, strange email behavior, router lock-up), and there is essentially no phone support at all. When my call was finally answered after a 25 minute wait, the support person was unable to answer my questions, and told me Netgear was having equipment problems on THEIR end! He suggested I call back at a later time even though I told him I needed help with an issue right then that was keeping me from performing a critical work-related task. So, I went on my own through a process of resetting the router and dis-enabling Armor in the settings. That helped somewhat, but there are still problems with throughput that I suspect has to do with BitDefender Cybersecurity. I have never owned a truly decent Netgear product. This will be my last purchase. I wish this thing had failed altogether, like my last Netgear router. It would make it easier to throw out.

Somehow my Nighthawk phone app installed some bitfender Armor security software on my router.  It shows up as "enabled" when I log into my router directly from my computer, but there is no was to disable/remove it.

It says it's a 30 day trial.  I don't want it, and I never wanted it.

i removed the Nighthawk app from my phone, but do I really need to do a factory reset to get rid of this Armor software completely?

What a sleazy company!

Mosen

If you look at the warranty information that comes with your product the Netgear devices come with standard 90-day free phone support. If you wait more than 90 days after you got your product and call support after that they will pitch you a support contract. If you don't want that then you can use other support options, email, community, or KB articles. So it's not ransomware if you are told the warranty and support terms upfront. Also, the hardware warranty is different from the phone support so it should not be confused.

As far as Armor goes you can fully disable it using the app by going to Settings/Security and toggling Enable NETGEAR Armor. If the option does not work as you mentioned make sure you are using the latest app version and FW version. Sometimes depending on what's going on with the connection the API communication between app and router could be the reason why you have some issues as described. You can clear the app cache if on android to help with some of these issues. Otherwise, you can report the problem in-app by shaking your device and submitting an instabug log to the app support team.