If the user of Avast Free Antivirus ignores Avast’s confusing attempts to sell its Premium product, is the free licence still renewed automatically when the renewal dead-line is reached?
up to now, yes ,licence will be renewed , look at MartinZ post
This does not prevent avast from doing everything (legally) to direct users to their paid products, this is the commercial strategy called the “Sales Force”.
It is up to users to be aware
I would accept that if there were a ‘No Thankyou’ button to click somewhere on the form. An offer of a trial or a price is acceptable but the absence of a ‘No Thankyou’ option looks like attempted entrapment. In some cases it might have the effect of putting off potential paying customers.
Yeah this looks really flaky! I get a pop up every reboot that my license is going to expire, then I select the free, the next pop up say I am activated but still nags for the premium (and I get that), but there is no “NO THANK YOU” buttons so you have no choice but to close the popup with the “X” in the upper right corner. Next reboot? Same thing. Tried to go online to get an activation and that was a mess also.
So… hmm… uninstall and reinstall I guess, or uninstall and do not reinstall, and go with Windows Defender. I have that working on one of my Windows 10 laptops for about a year and never a virus issue (knock on wood). I forgot to install Avast free on it when I reinstalled Windows last year.
I can’t remember when I started using Avast… many many years ago. Do not remember seeing a PUP-LIKE nag strategy like this before. I would pay for the software, it is that good, but I really do not need all the extra features at all. And I never felt so much like I was taking advantage of a free ride as I do now either. Time to move on I guess since I already involuntarily and unknowingly tried that route anyway.
This should help:
Renew Avast Free for Another Year: https://youtu.be/Gdf-U45nrQc
I have this problem too, my free license expired yesterday and i had the popup asking to choose whether to stick with free or pay for an upgrade but it still shows as expired and now i have the red popup saying i am unprotected. The universal key posted here - https://www.avast.com/registration-free-antivirus - also doesn’t work. So what do i do now?
ETA: I just noticed the universal key is if you’re using version 7 or older but the automatic reactivation for the free version is still borked.
ETA2: Ok, well through some convoluted series of options and studiously avoiding the trap of accidentally selecting to upgrade (very easy to do) i seem to have been reactivated for another year. This has been discussed extensively in the other recent thread on this topic but it is extremely confusing with two different reactivation screens which may or may not work and having to select the X to ensure you don’t go through with the upgrade which is very counter-intuitive.
There is no “no thanks” button because it is a bug (read again the explanations given by MartinZ #15).
Until last week it was enough to follow the procedure given by the video of bob3160, but now, you could realize it, there is not the “select” button for avast free, it is replaced by a greyed and not clickable button “your current free protection”.
Of course we can still wonder if this bug is unintentional or not :-
The best is to re-install avast properly, so the history of the old subscription will be deleted and spread over a period of one year.
we are working on a fix. but don’t worry if you will be less than 6 days before expiration the button will work on that screen. we now just need to fix that the button is available earlier
That selection should always be available.
But it is not (no longer), at least when there are between 13 and 6 days left.
And that’s precisely the main topic in recent days from concerned users.
Already acknowledged by Avast. 
Note that at the “5 day expiration warning” no suggested methods for extending the free license is working with my installation. I guess I should not have been surprised when I logged into my Avast Account and was greeted by the message, “You don’t have any licenses. How about getting one?”. Of course there was only one button on the page labeled “Buy Now”. Nope, I’ll say “ByeBye” now.
Open the Avast User Interface and check for you license here:
Menu> Settings>
https://screencast-o-matic.com/screenshots/u/Lh/1555444104726-52752.png
Yes, my license is there along with the 5 day countdown.
Is this the only license listed?
Yes, that is the only license listed.
I have never said the contrary 
should be available ,right , but it’s not in recent days
rfconnelly screenshoot proves that it is still not solved despite the latest avast information (< 6days)
Just to clarify, these are the steps I used unsuccessfully to “Extend/Renew” the Avast Free software, which is now announcing expiration in 4 days:
- Press the “Extend” button in the 4 day expiration warning banner. This brings up a page with no SELECT button for the Avast Free Antivirus.
- Press “Activate” button in the lower left of the Avast menu screen. Press the SELECT button for the Avast Free Antivirus. Hit the X in the upper right for the next two screens (note that there aren’t any “No Thank You” buttons present on those two screens). The main menu screen pops back up with the expiration banner and 4 day countdown still present.
- Use the Windows 7 Programs and Features area and select “Uninstall”. This brings up an Avast menu screen that says my license is about expire, but no worries, just press the Activate button and the license will be renewed. Press the button, the menu screen stays there for about 3 seconds then closes. Nothing else happens. Bring up the Avast menu again, the expiration banner is still present.
- Use the Windows 7 Programs and Features area and select “Uninstall”. From the Avast menu screen that pops up select “Repair” This downloads and unpacks fresh files and installs them and prompts for a Restart. Restart the computer, bring up the Avast menu, expiration banner is still present. Try steps 1 and 2 above again, no success.
- Use the Windows 7 Programs and Features area and select “Uninstall” and remove Avast. Restart the computer, then use the Web installer to install Avast again. When the menu is brought up, the expiration banner is still present with the 4-day warning. Try steps 1 and 2 above again, no success.
At this time, it would appear that (at least for me) Avast Free is currently broken. I’m game to wait and see for the next 4 days to see what happens…
Again reported to Avast on the developers forum.
We’ll see if that makes a difference.
In spite of the obstacles that Avast Sales Force puts in my way, Avast is still my preferred anti-virus package.
My wife however is driven up the wall by the nagging she is getting at the tail end of the Avast free annual licence period on her Windows laptop. She is not technically enlightened and expects things not to pester her with peculiarities. She is slowly getting used to the daily rundown to the presumably automatic licence renewal and then hopefully things will quieten down for her.
I guess that the most competent developers are engaged on the nitty-gritty Avast functionality and that those who concoct the Sales Force inspired distractions do not work to the same standards. The non-technical user is not amused by such distractions and I am not amused by the grumblings of 'er indoors, or more correctly the issues which give rise to her justified grumblings.