Latest Version of Malwarebytes

ThrashZone said:

mbam should have a more reliable system to track current/ active installations.

"More reliable" than what?
When the user hits the maximum, then they've hit the maximum, regardless of what that value might be.
That's not "unreliable", that's reliable.

AFAIK, most/all paid software vendors -- Adobe, MS, the security software vendors, etc. -- use a system that, at some point, will require the user to contact support to reset activation counts.
Over the years, I've had to contact Adobe and MS for this same reason.
Personally, I've never maxed out the count on my MBAM licenses, despite multiple clean MBAM reinstalls.
But I don't reinstall Windoze every week, either.

I'm sure that the Win10 rollout (with all the upgrades/rollbacks/reinstalls/uninstalls/clean reinstalls) has added a layer of complexity to the situation.
But problems with the MS Win10 OS causing users to have to reinstall or uninstall the OS multiple times isn't something over which Malwarebytes or any software publisher has direct control.
They cannot be expected to lower their anti-piracy safeguards to accommodate MS.

And none of these systems -- regardless of the software publisher -- can be 100% error-proof.

Contacting support to reset a license is the small price one has to pay to help combat piracy.

Cheers,
MM

mbam should be smart enough to know how many installs are phoning home for updates....

ThrashZone said:

mbam should be smart enough to know how many installs are phoning home for updates....

They do, and that's a separate, but related, issue.
The number of times a license has been reactivated, and the number of times it is being used at a given time (contacting servers) are not quite the same thing.
And yes, it is controlled at both levels.

Having said that, the only folks who can directly address your concerns are the folks at the help desk here
No one else has access to the transaction info, license info, activation servers, developers and other data.

No need to blow this out of proportion or to turn this into a problem where there is none.
I've never had to reset a count on any of my MBAM licenses.
But I've had to do it several times with MS and Adobe.
I expect the same is probably true for many people here, for Adobe, MS and other software.

If you must reinstall MBAM (or Adobe or MS or other software) or Windows very often, then, yes, it's a bummer, but you might have to sort that out with Support.
Nothing I or anyone else can do about that.

"Fact of life" for licensed software, regardless of the vendor.

Cheers,

No kidding that is exactly why I use email support or phone support instead of forum support for products I have paid for

Hi:

I do not speak for the company.
I am not a lawyer or an intellectual property expert, but here is the EULA.
I cannot speak to whatever you perceive to be changes to your specific licenses.

I do know that 1-PC, lifetime consumer licenses continue to be honored.
If you run into problems with the license control system either from having reinstalled it too many times or from having it simultaneously activated on more than one OS at a time, then I cannot resolve that.
Only the Help Desk can do that.

If you have other concerns or feedback about the product, the licensing terms, the license control process or any other serious matter, then, yes, please do take them directly to the Malwarebytes staff.

I have only tried in good faith, as an uncompensated volunteer, to assist users here at this forum as best I can, explaining how any software publisher (not just Malwarebytes) must balance protecting their intellectual property from thieves/pirates against the occasional inconvenience to customers whose computing practices might fall outside of the norm for most home users.

If you feel that you have been somehow wronged, then I respectfully suggest contacting the folks best able to resolve your issues.

Here is the link to the MBAM Senior Technical Product Manager, @bdubrow.
She will personally address your concerns and forward them to the appropriate staff members.

HERE is the link to contact Support. They will assist you, one-on-one, for free, via email.

Thanks again,

MM

I have two lifetime Malwarebytes on two different computer and I did have a small problem one time.

I went on the forum and it was suggested to remove Malwarebytes with their tool and reinstall. I did as suggested and had no other problems.
I really don't know what caused the problem.

I just read the EULA again and it is long but understandable for me and I'm no lawyer I'm happy to say.

I've read this the past page and this page but I'm not sure if there is a real question in here or not. Most seems to just be statements made by members.

If the question is how many activations can one use or where I can try to answer that a bit generically.

First off let me say that companies like Microsoft appear to manage it similar to how we do. We do record the activations and we do see some users abuse it but we choose to allow some leeway for users so that the average user is not affected by a possible accidental misuse of the license. There are however those that either through testing or flat out "I'm going to try and get over on them" or other means are not the "average" user and sooner or later most will run into an activation denied issue. The forums cannot help you with activation issues. Only members of the Help Desk have access to records and to make changes as required for activations. Originally the value was floating around 5 but was not set in stone. That was a long time ago and the system has since stabilized and is more mature now days. We still allow leeway but I don't believe it is 5 anymore. The "average" user typically will not ever run into this because changing computers, rebuilding their computers, testing VM etc is not the "average" user. We have double digit millions of users and the activation information shows us that the vast majority of users install, activate, and remain on that same computer and same activation and don't change.

I have some software from UltraEdit that allows me 2 installations period. Once I hit a 3rd computer I have to deactivate the others. I have Adobe software that will not activate on another computer if I'm logged into more than 2 computers running the software. I have to quit or log out of the program on one of the computers. Activations and how much leeway one has works similar from many companies. The overall idea is how best to slow down piracy without affecting the majority of your customers. I was actually one of the ones at MBAM that had the most reservations about using activations. However overall for the most part it has worked reasonably well considering the number of customers. I can tell you I've had numerous issues with both Microsoft and Adobe with their activations and many hours on phone support to get it fixed, so it happens. But I am not the average user either and is to be expected. I know dozens of home users that never run into these issues as they install, activate and leave it alone period, end of story.

If there is a specific question that I can answer please let me know and if I know or it's not proprietary information I'll do my best to answer you.

Thank you