Avast! 5 free and registration - why?

[rfe777]

Hello everyone

I have just started to use Avast! 5 free and really loving it. What I don't understand is why do I have to register a free product? And why just for one year? And after this one year, do I need to buy Avast! pro or Internet Security? Some clarification could help.

TIA   

[Hermite15]

hi,

no you don't need to acquire the paid version after a year ...just to register again...for another year Avast is using these registrations for stats.

[DavidR]

<snip>
I have just started to use Avast! 5 free and really loving it. What I don't understand is why do I have to register a free product? And why just for one year?
<snip>

Registration helps avast to plan the number of update servers it is going to need to service the virus signature, engine and program updates without causing update problems for users.

The annual re-registration confirms the number of active users, for the same reasons.

[quecentric]

By having users re-register every year it ensures Avast has an accurate count of active users of their free product. Like the others said, I'm sure thats important in building their infrastructure, building new software releases, and general QA.

[mokkaman]

hey i cant re register till my entire 1 yr period is over right..? there is no option to insert key once u register it..!

[DavidR]

You will get a notification about 14 days before you need to re-register at that point the UI will change allowing for re-registering.

[GloobyGoob]

in the avast blog it mentions that the registration is for the count of the number of users using the product

[DavidR]

Yes and from that they can plan the level of update servers needed to support that number.