Unable to Reactivate Free Avast Antivirus

I’ve been an Avast user for many years- and while the program seems pushy in getting you to sign up for a monetized version, I’ve always appreciated the free version. However, I am currently rather upset in that it seems impossible to ‘Reactivate’ my free version of Avast.
My License expired within the last week, and I have multiple buttons asking me to reactivate. I attempted to do so by clicking them and it took me to a screen asking me if I wanted a free or paid version. I chose the Select button under Free, the program hangs up and freezes for a short time, then takes me to a screen that says “Thank you for activating Avast Free Antivirus” and asks me if I want to upgrade. I close this screen out- but my Avast Antivirus continues to say that it has expired.

I attempted to follow the steps in this guide:
https://support.avast.com/en-us/article/Activate-Free-Antivirus
and got the exact same result.

I even attempted to uninstall and reinstall Avast. Same result. I’ve restarted the computer as well. also the same result.

Can someone tell me how to reactivate my free Avast? or is it impossible and I need to stop recommend this product to people?

https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=231883.0

Not a whole lot of help there from Avast except a request for a support package. :frowning: