Avast 5 Internet Security not accepting licence file.

[johnubis]

I purchased Avast 5.0 Internet Security because I really liked the free product. Upon the purchase I received a licence file from along with a link to download the product. Upon downloading the product I have found it will not accept my license, though the program doesn't state a reason as to why it failed.

There were no answers at all on this issue with any help on the sites FAQ. I immediately found a thread which had no helpful answers and a few others experiencing this problem and it said to contact support.

So I contacted support and they sent me answers out of the sites FAQ. So I tried removing avast with AswClear and reinstalling (a second time). Two reboots later it appeared Avast had accepted my licence file, but decided that it had EXPIRED despite the fact it was brand new. Clearly, there is something horribly wrong with the program that direly requires an update.

.

Even someone with the most basic experience with computing could conclude from this screenshot which I emailed to support that the product is DEFECTIVE. Then I emailed support again to which they told me I should DO EXACTLY WHAT I DID BEFORE WHICH DID NOT WORK.

I don't believe I am the only person who is experiencing this problem or the lackluster support. Simply, I have been defrauded. I paid for a product which I did not recieve (a working licence). Sales@avast.com just redirected me to support, and refuse a refund. However, perhaps it can work, and since Avast have forced my hand I might as well try and make use of my withering time licenced.

That is what is even worse, they won't even attempt sending me a new licence file to see if that works despite the obvious fact that it would be fair I am compensated for not getting to use to product and thus time that was licenced to me was lost.

[Lisandro]

johnubis, we're (users) sorry for the lack of support.
If I'm seeing correctly, the subscription will go until 2011... It shouldn't be showing it has expired.
I bet on a GUI trouble, not the license itself. Maybe I'm wrong.
Please, check your system time and date (specially the year) and try to insert the license file again.

[johnubis]

My system is synchronized with ntp servers on my local network that synchronize with the typical internet servers. In the screenshot I provided I copy-pasted my windows clock at the time into the screenshot so you can see my current time and date are not the issue.

[Asyn]

My system is synchronized with ntp servers on my local network that synchronize with the typical internet servers. In the screenshot I provided I copy-pasted my windows clock at the time into the screenshot so you can see my current time and date are not the issue.

Where did you get the license file from..??
asyn

Edit: Info about known fraudulent sales here:
http://support.avast.com/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=viewarticle&kbarticleid=460&nav=0,90

[igor]

The license file is fine, that's not the problem.
Right now, I can't think of anything that could cause this... it's the latest build of the program (5.0.545), right?

[Basil Fawlty]

You banned my account but that doesn't matter because banning me is impossible anyway. I am sorry about the swearing I didn't realize its against the rules, most forums just filter in that case. You must understand this is very frustrating.

I purchased the product from your website.

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Dear Valued Customer,

Thank you for placing an order with element 5.

Your credit card (Visa) has been debited with AUD    49.97.
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You will receive detailed information on the delivery in a separate e-mail that was sent at the same time as this e-mail.

All I really want at this point is my money back, but your sales staff have probably banned my email as well. I have contacted Consumer Affairs Victoria. As you agreed to doing business with an Australian the purchase is covered by Australian Law. Thus, I am legally entitled to a refund for a defective product that isn't what was advertised.

Please just refund my money and I will leave you all alone to freely evade facts and run customers in circles with the same flawed resolutions for problems you created.

[Basil Fawlty]

Nevermind, I might actually be the arrogant fool myself. I think I've been using AswClear4 not 5. I'll try this.

[igor]

Are you installing the latest build of the program? I think there were some problems with inserting the license file (though the symptoms should be different in that case) - but it was quite a few versions back.

[Basil Fawlty]

5.0.545 is what I have installed.

I tried uninstalling and reinstalling as trial, and although the trial key was installed it said it had already expired when it had not (expiry date was a day in advance) with no luck. It still wouldn't accept my licence file. How can I tell if a licence has been blacklisted?

[Hermite15]

may be it doesn't make sense, if there's a bug I don't know where it is, that's not my job. But when do you insert the license key, after the install, or during the setup, just when it starts...I've reinstalled AIS a few times and always inserted my license when the setup starts, and it always worked fine. Just as said, do that on a clean install. Run the "normal" uninstaller first, it cleans a million times better than the utility. The utility should be used only if the normal procedure fails.
 This might change nothing in your case, so consider this as just a suggestion...

[Basil Fawlty]

I tried what you said earlier, which is what produced the screenshot of the license being expired.

[Vlk]

Basil Fawlty,

we'll try to create a simple test app that will dump all the relevant licensing info to a text file. Running this on your rig should give us a pretty good understanding of what's going on.

I apologize for the problems - but this is obviously some kind of anomaly we haven't really met before.

Thanks
Vlk

[Vlk]

Alrighty, please do the following:

1. in the avast settings, troubleshooting page, disable avast self defense module.
2. download the following program http://public.avast.com/dev/aswDataTest.exe and place it to the avast folder (c:\program files\alwil software\avast5)
3. run that program (elevated if you're using UAC)
4. send me the resulting file aswData.log (should get generated in the same folder).


Thanks
Vlk