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NETGEAR Armor Frequently Asked Questions
With cyber threats becoming more and more prevalent, it’s important to know that there are options to help keep you, your family, and your data safe. NETGEAR Armor is designed to help keep you safe online from threats such as ransomware, malware, botnets, and more. Here, we’ve compiled the top Frequently Asked Questions about NETGEAR Armor. This post may include regular updates, so feel free to subscribe to this thread.
What is NETGEAR Armor?
NETGEAR Armor™ protects your connected home from Internet threats. Multi-layer cyber security is built into the WiFi router to protect all devices on the home network. Includes Bitdefender® Total Security to provide complete anti-virus, data theft, and anti-malware protection for all Windows, macOS, Android and iOS devices for an unlimited number of family devices.
How many devices does NETGEAR Armor cover under the trial period and the yearly subscription?
The trial period and the yearly NETGEAR Armor subscription protects an unlimited number of family devices. In addition to personal devices, all smart home devices, such as your smart thermostat, security cameras, smart lighting are covered.
What is Bitdefender Total Security?
Bitdefender Total Security is software on your router that works against all internet threats – from viruses, worms and Trojans, to ransomware, zero-day exploits, and spyware to keep your data and privacy safe. Bitdefender Total Security is included with your NETGEAR Armor subscription and can be installed on all your devices (Windows, macOS, Android and iOS). With NETGEAR Armor, you can then remotely locate, lock, and even with a device in case of theft.
Which NETGEAR products currently support Armor?
At this time, NETGEAR Armor is supported on the following products:
Orbi Mesh WiFi System - RBK50, RBK50V (Orbi Voice), RBK53S
Nighthawk Router - R7000P, R6900P
Click here for learn more about NETGEAR Armor
What are some questions that you have about NETGEAR Armor? Let us know in the comments below!
27 Replies
I've already paid for a BitDefender subscription. Will I get a credit for the time not used?
Hi pedrseymour, thank you for your inquiry. The NETGEAR Armor is separate subscription from your other Bitdefender products. You may also check with Bitdefender support linked below for your additional subscription queries.
https://www.bitdefender.com/consumer/support/
Dexter
I'm using Netgear's Armor with my Orbi mesh router. Armor told me that I had a number of vulnerabilities on an older shared network drive that was considered "legacy" by the manufacturer so I replaced it and removed it from my network. The problem is that the vulnerability list is not updating to remove those vulnerabilities from the removed device. How do I force an update?
I had the same question, called and talked to both Netgear and Bitdefender, you won't get any credit.
How do you turn it OFF and disable it?
Hi SimonBelgium, you can use the Nighthawk/Orbi app (whichever supports your device) then go to Settings > Security > Toggle if Off.
Dexter
There is no such toggle in my app, or on my Orbi admin page.
please help me disable this theftware!!,
- This trial seemed like a great idea, but only with the added value of relatively unlimited Bitdefender subscriptions. After activating a trial last week and following the instructions to download and install Bitdefender on 5 of my Android and Windows devices, Bitdefender now reports that only my router security trial is still active, and that my other trials have expired, in some cases after only hours. To say I'm thus far unimpressed would be an understatement. Other than to direct me to Bitdefender support, any suggestions to resolve this issue? Thanks.
Word of warning for Mac users. I recieved a notification to upgrade my firmware on my Orbi router. After i updated it, I activated the Netgear Armor trial on my Orbi router and installed Bitdefender on my Mac. After that I wasn't able to print to my Canon printer. I called support and I was told that I need to disable both Armor and Bitdefender. Once I did, I was able to print. The support agent told me that this was the initial release, and I needed to keep it disabled until they fixed it (really!). He said the software thought the printer software was a virus and was blocking it, buit there was no way to create an exception for my printer (it was already listed in "My Devices" and assigned to "household")
Funny thing, after disabling everything and printing. It enabled everything again, and I was still able to print. What a waste of time.
Netgear Armor as a standalone app on the router works fine for me. I removed Bitdefender Total Security from both Win10 PCs and Macs; and have it running on one iPod Touch in order to have continued access to email leaks.
In my experience, AV software is useless on a Mac, except perhaps for ClamXav.
But I tried BD Total Security on my Mac any way, just to see how it would perform; and the outcome was not satsifactory at all. Although I had no issues with the network printer, the App Store suddently became inaccessible for both purchases and updates; and iMessages became unstable. Removing BD Total Security from the Mac brought everything back to normal.
In light of your experience and mine, I think that we can all agree with the tech support person you dealt with: YES, Netgear Armor is indeed a work-in-progress, and we are the guinea pigs.
- Update: Since resetting BD and re-enabling Armor on the router, everything seems to be working okay now. I haven’t run into any more issues. Not sure if there was an update that fixed it, or it’s just buggy, but so far so good.
While having Armor running on my Orbi sounds like a good idea, I have absolutely NO interest in BitDefender on my computers (or other devices).
My question is: Is Armor available as a stand-alone product (at a stand-alone price, not part of a bundle with an AV company)?
Hi Stev3D . This is an older post, so perhaps you already found your answer elsewhere. As far as I know, there is only one price which is inclusive of Bitdefender Total Security. But as I pointed out in an earlier post, Armor can be used as a standalone application on the router only, which will protect all your computers and other devices WHILE CONNECTED TO YOUR NETWORK.
Thank you for the clarification.
I have the Nighthawk R7000 AC1900. I purchased the Armor coverage at the end of the trial period, however, on the app, and if I login from my laptop, it shows "Expired". I have not found anywhere to put in an activation code. Both modes (app or laptop) simply take me to the sight that says "Thank you for purchasing Netgear Armor!" and then offers me an opportunity to purchase it again.
Any wisdom is welcome. I appreciate it. Thanks.
riodwardlx
Hello riodwardlx,
May you send me a private message with your email address and serial number and confirm if you purchase your Armor subscription using the app or web portal.
Thanks,Christian
I have the same issue. Paid for the Armor subscription, got the email and it works online, but when you go to the router with the ORBI interface, it says expired and continues to take me to buy it again.
- To bad it dosent work on Rbk850.
I am about to jump wagon, ditch NETGEAR my R8000P, and get UniFi Dream Machine because it offers much more feature-wise and security-wise than NETGEAR stock firmware. I care about hardware-based features, such as creating my own Netfilter/IPTable rules and VLAN isolation.
If NETGEAR Armor is a router-based app, then does it add stronger device isolation or stringest packet inspection? Is NETGEAR Armor anything other than a gimmick that adds an easy-to-use app to bloat the router?
- I notice that online threats are in waves, 5 to 6:30 pm then sporadic after that. Does anyone else have a similar issue?
- Just purchased an R6700AX to replace an R7000 which has failed. I have 8 routers altogether m to provide guest internet coverage on a property that is roughly 3 football fields in size. 4 of the routers are for our secure camera network, and the other 4 provide guest internet. Of the 4 on each network, one functions as a router, and the other 3 are access points. We tried Netgear Armor a couple years ago, but it created a lot of problems, so we deactivated it. Whenever one of my routers goes down, and I have to factory reset it and reload the config file, it always asks if I want to install Netgear Armor (and Disney Circle, whatever that is) I alway say no, and don’t ask me again. After installing the R6700AX, it heavily prompted me to use the Nigththawk app instead of using a web browser to set up the router. Unfortunately the Nighthawk app went ahead and installed Netgear Armor without my permission. And, so far as I can tell, there does not seem to be anyway to turn it off!! Now it is scanning all the computers phones have the devices and by our customers that are connected to the network. This is a privacy violation. Please tell me how I can turn off Netgrear and armor immediately!
Even if it worked great and had no bugs, at $70 per year (per router) there is no way I can justify $700 per year for this.
