I ended up getting rid of Avast on all PCs that had it. Then the annoying cycle would start all over again. Finally I would let it expire (not that there was much choice) and within a couple of weeks the thing would magically have renewed for 30 days. It would start reminding you about renewal weeks before but the renewal would never “catch” when you tried it. The renewal process would go into some kind of loop where it would perform a check and then come back to where you started. And just as you remember, when it came time to renew you could click on a button and get a new license key.īut then at some point, this method stopped working. The program worked well and it had plenty of knobs and dials to turn, which I greatly prefer over “simplified” interfaces that actually make it harder to get things done when you need to. I used to have Avast 7 on several computers. I have some vague recollection that something like this was going on, that you could get the free perpetual license but that during installation the 30-day trial was checked by default and you had to make sure to uncheck it. You may want to try uninstalling Avast 9 and then re-installing it, keeping an eye out for a checkbox to select or unselect the 30-day trial vs. I suspect that a chunk of former Avast users on this forum stopped using the software in the wake of recent revelations about its privacy practices. Let’s see if there’s someone else here who has experienced what you saw and knows what to do about it. Thanks in advance for any and all replies and expertise you’re willing to share. Has anyone else had this happen to them and, if so, how did you resolve it? This tried and true method always worked, but in a Microsoft sort of way, Avast “fixed” it so that you can no longer do it like this. In the old days, you used to be able to register Avast Free on their website and they would send you a license key via email to allow you to use the program for another 12 months. In the meantime, this has currently left my system without a functioning AV program. Since I don’t have a current valid, working license key for Avast Free, and contrary to Avast’s statement above, the program is not working and has instead disabled itself with a big red “X” until a new such key is entered. When I enter the “universal key”, I get an error message telling me the license key has already expired. If you’re using Avast Free Antivirus version 7 or older, please use this universal key: W11332244H9900A0420-8MRTR8W5 Newer versions of Avast Free Antivirus will no longer ask you to register, and older versions will keep working even after they’ve “expired”. Good news! You no longer need to register! (Don’t laugh, the engine works just fine and is far less taxing on system resources than the latest and greatest version of Avast Free.)Īnyway, the 30 day period expired and you now have to enter a new license key for it to continue working.

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