Actually, it did notify me initially. In response, I updated the software and everything appeared fine, but the success of the update process gave me the false impression that my registration also had been updated. Not so. Avast! SILENTLY stopped working, and subsequently my computer was infected with a nasty Trojan that took me a couple of hours to remove.
To me, my experience suggests that the system’s behavior surrounding the topic of registration renewal is not as friendly and helpful as it might be.
When you say you “updated the software and everything appeared fine,” do you mean that you upgraded from a different version? If so, what version did you have and what are you using now?
Where did you get the file from for the new build of avast?
When you do an upgrade, avast prompts you to register the new build – it says “Register Now” in the GUI. Had you done this? Avast still works if your upgrade was done correctly.
But you mention in your post that avast stopped working “silently.” Did you not notice the warning red or white “X” on top of the orange ball in the bottom tool bar? Or did you have a yellow triangle with an “!” on top of the orange ball? These are indicators that something is wrong with avast and you need to investigate it immediately, therefore when you open the avast GUI you would have seen the problem.
Had you done a malware scan just prior to your upgrade to make sure you were clean (not infected)?
Is avast working properly now? Have you updated your definitions (which you should have done immediately after upgrading) and make sure all your shields are up and working. Please post your results back. Thank you.