Dear John,
I will guarantee it has NOTHING to do with avast!, as I am supporting 4000 networks, and countless versions of Pro / I.S. across the USA. If this were an issue, then I would know about it. I have identified these issues that can cause this to occur:
Windows Genuine Advantage - anything that modifies the O.S. can trigger the reactivation process, including corruption, infection, improper shutdown. Anything that modifies Windows can trigger this, so there are literally millions of possibilities here.
Windows Genuine Advantage will also randomly select PCs for verification for NO reason.
My final statement is the anti-piracy function of the Windows Genuine Advantage. M$ will embed pirated codes into some Windows updates: Windows Genuine Advantage and Service Pack upgrades for sure! Major OEMs like HP use a volume license code from their distribution image (all have the same code) Piraters will suck this code out of the system, and use it until M$ identifies it was pirated and kills it. So, I have seen factory installed OS on HP Enterprise Grade notebooks deactivate due to this. If Windows 7 or XP, then one can usually use the COA on the unit to reactivate. However, I have also seen those codes blacklisted. How is that possible, when the code was only on this computer?
1) The code was hit by a Key Generator (KeyGen) and was pirated and blacklisted.
2) M$ had an unrecoverable corruption on their license database server, so M$ does not always know what is a real code, and what is not a real code. This one took us a year to learn this. My Distributor and I couldn't figure out why brand new legitimate codes would not activate. Finally, the Distributor got a M$ Engineer on the phone to discuss this anomaly. He then admitted to the database corruption and "you didn't here this from me!"
I hope this sheds light on this continual question. The statements are for Windows XP and Windows 7. We don't do Windows 8! It's not ready yet, and the M$ tick tock of good / bad O.S. is a 14 year pattern. 2000 Pro was great, slow and clunky, but awesomely stable. Millinium was generation 1.0 of plug and play: "learn what not to do!". XP "we got it right!" Vista, generation 1.0 of a usable 64 bit O.S. "learn what not to do". Windows 7 "we got it right!" Windows 8, generation 1.0 of a touch screen O.S. "learn what not to do!" Windows 9 "we got it right!" So, for the last 15 years, 95% of businesses stick to the "we got it right!" versions for sanities sake!
Sincerely,
J.R. "AutoSandbox Guy" Guthrie
"At this point in time, the Internet should be regarded as an Enemy Weapons System!"
