User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:109.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/116.0

Steps to reproduce:

Disable Anti-spam in bitdefender
Try to turn off toolbar in Thunderbird
Also tried on safe mode and tried deleting bitdefender extension file

Actual results:

Toolbar is re-enabled on restart of TB, Bitdefender still shows anti-spam disabled
Bitdefender extension file is recreated on restart of TB
TB profile file shows enterprise policies active and one for bitdefender

Expected results:

Toolbar should stay disabled.

Sounds like bitdefender is using the Extensions enterprise policy to install their extension.
:mkaply, can you take a look?

I'm assuming you don't work for a company that made you install BitDefender?

Oddly, I just tried to install bitdefender and it failed, but it put this in the policy registry:

{"bdThunderbird78@bitdefender.com":{"installation_mode":"blocked"}}

Which doesn't make any sense.

When you go to about:policies, what is the ID of the extension?

(In reply to Mike Kaply [:mkaply] from comment #2)

I'm assuming you don't work for a company that made you install BitDefender?

No, I don't this is a home install.
I could not find any WIN10 group policy that had been set for this either.

(In reply to Mike Kaply [:mkaply] from comment #3)

Oddly, I just tried to install bitdefender and it failed, but it put this in the policy registry:

{"bdThunderbird78@bitdefender.com":{"installation_mode":"blocked"}}

Which doesn't make any sense.

When you go to about:policies, what is the ID of the extension?

The file name in the extensions folder is bdThunderbird78@bitdefender.com.xpi and this file reinstalled from the BD file depository if I delete it.

Also, I contacted BD and they say that " because of the way TB is designed they cannot uninstall the toolbar".
And, my BD toolbar cannot even be disabled, it reactivates on a TB restart.

Can post the exact contents of about:policies?

Once I have the info I need, I can explain how to get rid of it.

(In reply to Mike Kaply [:mkaply] from comment #6)

Can post the exact contents of about:policies?

Once I have the info I need, I can explain how to get rid of it.

Where is "about:policies " located?

(In reply to Dave from comment #7)

(In reply to Mike Kaply [:mkaply] from comment #6)

Can post the exact contents of about:policies?

Once I have the info I need, I can explain how to get rid of it.

Where is "about:policies " located?

Here is the info from enterprise policy page

Active
Policy Name Policy Value
ExtensionSettings bdThunderbird78@bitdefender.com install_url "file:///C:\Program Files\Bitdefender\Bitdefender Security App\bdThunderbird78@bitdefender.com.xpi"
installation_mode "normal_installed"
updates_disabled false

So because they did "normal_installed", you should just be able to disable it in the addons pane and it will stay gone.

If you want to remove it completely, you can go to the registry (regedit), and go to

Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies

and remove the Mozilla subkey.

We're working on figuring out the right thing to do here.

(In reply to Mike Kaply [:mkaply] from comment #9)

So because they did "normal_installed", you should just be able to disable it in the addons pane and it will stay gone.

If you want to remove it completely, you can go to the registry (regedit), and go to

Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies

and remove the Mozilla subkey.

We're working on figuring out the right thing to do here.

Cannot be disabled from addons in normal or safe mode, it re-enables on TB restart.
Even if I delete the XPI file it is regenerated.
THE TB dialog option to remove is greyed out.
Given the interaction with the TB API I am reluctant to do it through the registry without understanding how that would affect the virus scanning .
I tried replacing the BD XPI file with a blank file and then setting the file permissions so it could not be overwritten.
The BD plugin still showed in TB, but seemed to be inactive, so some part of the plugin code was still loading.

This doesn't sound like our problem - a problem that Thunderbird can solve.
John, do you agree?

Yes. Looks like BitDefender forcefully installs the add-on via enterprise policies and forces the policy to stay in place. Users should get in contact with BitDefener for support on their product, I think.