Why is this happening ?

As a satified fairly long term user of Avast free I naturally suggested my grandson should have this protection on his laptop, and he agreed, so I installed it for him about five weeks ago.

Today he rang me wanting to know why suddenly his free version was saying only a certain number of days left, and requesting a payment to restore normal operation.

I visited him at home and found a completely different user interface than mine which I didn’t recognise at all, and having read here about a Repair option, I went through it but the outcome was just the same.

Again by searching and reading posts I realise it will be necessary to uninstall and reinstall the program and register for the second time.

Ok I can do all that, but what about young people who may not have the experience, without asking grandad.

Regards Bizet.

Sorry to hear about your issue. That said it is a known issue with many complaints posted here on the forums.

If you need to make a “clean” install here’s how…

  1. download and save http://www.avast.com/uninstall-utility
  2. download and save http://files.avast.com/iavs5x/avast_free_antivirus_setup.exe
  3. run the uninstall utility from step #1 You will be prompted to run in “safe” mode, do so.
  4. install avast from step #2
  5. reboot and register 8)

Hello Para-noid thanks for your reply, and I will follow your instructions, which I’m sure will sort it out for him, but and I don’t really expect an instant answer as to why it happens, but hope some research at Avast HQ will eventually stop this inconvenience.

Regards Bizet.

It was a bug and has been fixed meanwhile.

Thank you Asyn, that’s good to hear.

Regards Bizet

You’re welcome.

Hi Para-Noid just to confirm I followed your good instructions, and have now restored my grandsons free Avast version, he also sends his thanks.

Regards Bizet.