I am using a pirated version am I Avast?!?

My Anti-Virus program, while causing unprecedented delays in Firefox now greets me daily with the wonderful Pirate message.

On the avast site is the link to Cnet to download the free version. Which I originally did.

And when you do, you must register for a pass [guess it’s not THAT free is it] and when I did register I got this

Dear user,

Your registration of avast! 4 Home Edition was successful. You must now insert your license key into the program.

Your license key is:

---------- cut here ----------
W20585824H1400A0411-_______ [I removed a few numbers]
---------- cut here ----------

and after awhile, perhaps a few months you get the daily greeting calling you a thief for using a pirated serial. For a program downloaded from an Avast link and a serial gained from the avast website and sent by the email address register@register.avast.com.

Damn, guess the Avast website and Cnet are a fraud setup amongst the line of other organizations that set up websites to gain your personal info. Thankfully I have a purchased copy of Norton that I installed and am currently doing an indepth scan to see what other problems Avast has… cause if it’s calling a registered user with a CNET download a thief… I doubt very seriously it’s catching any virus written after 1997.

You get what you paid for with free programs, don’t you?

ps: If the serial is bad, why let it run for 9 months…

Maybe a temporary glitch on the key verification.
Go to the SSL page version and register from there: https://secure.avast.com/scripts/register.php?lang=ENG. The Registration key is valid for 14 months.
See the tutorial: http://www.avast.com/files/tutorials/insert_key.htm

Hi Avastier!

Do you have a screenshot fo the message?

kind regards
onlysomeone

How did it gain your personal info?Has it ever ask for your credit card number or your address?

oh well ::slight_smile: ::slight_smile: ::slight_smile:

Lesson: Always try to access software from its publisher (Alwil, in this case) if possible, rather than from 3rd parties. Even if there’s no security problem, quite often the other places’ versions might not be fully up to date. Download.com used to be bad for being several versions behind for a number of their offerings.

Can you post a screenshot of your “About avast!” box, with the “Registration key” part visible?