Antiviruses and antimalware products are necessary for every user who is a part of this digital world. These programs are there to protect us from infections that linger in the online world.
Many of the companies that manufacture these antiviruses and antimalware applications, provide them for free. However, they also provide paid versions of these products that contain additional useful features.
To activate these applications, we need to have an activation key that is provided when we purchase the product. The problem that arises is that many times we are unable to activate the products and that leaves our system vulnerable to attacks.
We have discussed some points which may be helpful in activating the antiviruses and antimalware applications you have purchased. By reading this article you will be able to fix antivirus activation issues.
1. Check the name of the product you have purchased
Antiviruses and antimalware developing companies release different products like internet security, complete protection, pro version, enterprise version etc. We have to check which version we have purchased.
Many times, what we do is, we use the activation/license key of the product we have purchased to register a different product. Name of the product purchase will be mentioned on the invoice or the receipt received after purchasing antiviruses or antimalware.
2. Make sure that you are connected to the internet
Many of the antiviruses or antimalware programs use online activation system, in which the license key you are using to register the product will be checked on the server for validity and authentication and if everything checks right then product is activated otherwise you will get the error message.
Note: If you are connected to the internet and still get the internet connection error then it may be possible that your firewall denied internet access to the application. In this case, simply whitelist the program and fix antivirus activation issues.
Also Read : Top 10 Antivirus For Windows
3. Check if the key you are using is correct or not
Most of the time when registering the product, we use the wrong key or incorrect key to activate the product. This mistake generally occurs when we type the key instead of copy pasting it.
To resolve this type of problem copy / paste the key in the respective fields.
4. Check validity of the purchased product
Different antiviruses / antimalware programs come with some validity. Validity means that after a certain amount of time these products expire.
We try to activate the product with the activation key we have previously used to activate the product. In this case, you have to either purchase the new product or if it is already renewed you have to use new activation key to extend the validity of the application.
5. Check the number of systems on which the product is activated
Most of the times, activation key of a program is valid for a single user or single system. When we try to activate them on other machines the application shows the error which says something like: maximum numbers of users reached, maximum exceed, or Limit reached.
This problem also occurs if we reinstall OS on our system, in this case, our system remains same, however, the count on the server for the activation will be increased by one.
So, to resolve the issue some of the antivirus companies provide the option to remove the previous system from history and some may reset the key for you.
6. Check the date and time of the system
Activation of the programs depends upon the date and time of the system. If the date and time of the system are not correct then your program will not get activated and you will receive the error every time you try to activate the product.
Therefore, it is always recommended to check date and time of your system and always make sure that it is correct.
These are some points which you can check and follow if you are unable to activate your antivirus, antimalware and, spyware product. These are the general steps that you can follow to Fix issues in activating antivirus. However, if you still face the same problem you can contact antivirus companies on their support help desk.
Must Read : 10 Best Anti-Malware Software for Windows
Below you will find support links for top Antivirus products:
Norton:
Avast:
Avira:
kaspersky:
McAfee:
Activation of a product is necessary as it keeps the program in working condition and allows you to remove all the infections found on your system. There can be different reasons for activation issues of a program, however, we have listed some points following which you can solve activation issues in antivirus.