Do software vendors log your MAC address?

Here is the situation. For the past three years I've had a Spyware Doctor subscription which expired several months ago. When PC Tools launched a new version around a year ago there were horrendous problems and I'd uninstalled it numerous times, even removing leftover reg keys with RegSeeker and RegCleaner, yet every time I'd reinstalled it would recognize my license number. Now I've installed the starter edition on two PCs. On the one that never had a version it's listed in the SD gui as Starter Edition and is supposed to include updates, however, on the PC that had the application previously it's listed as Subscription Expired, so I'm assuming it will not auto update. Any suggestions with this issue! Thank You!

 

If you have not done a clean reinstall of Windows on the PC that had it previously, then its likely that SD recognizes the previous license from leftover registry entries on the system. Try uninstalling SD and removing all registry entries related to it (if you cannot do this manually then I recommend going for a good Registry Cleaner tool, ask around on the forums for this).

 

I'm no expert at this, but might it have left a config file behind
somewhere, like in Documents & Settings?

 

Use RegEdit to search for any keys that include "Spyware Doctor" or "PCTools". Almost all software leaves registry entries behind with the product or company name being the most likely. Registry cleaners can only detect (and remove) corrupt entries or those linked with non-existent files - software registration keys do not typically fall into either category.

If you wish to maintain a clean(ish) registry, you should consider using an installation monitor like Total Uninstall (commercial, but with a free older version available) to keep track of what changes software makes.

 

In my experience Total Uninstall is not so total an added searcher like RegSeeker will complement it nicely.

 

Well, as i previously stated, I have been installing, uninstalling SD for years. lol I always used RegSeeker, even using it in safe mode and installs and uninstalls were done with zsoft. Turns out, a special .dll file had to be added to the Windows System 32 folder to remove the old license number and then an .exe file to allow the change in registration. Took some research but I pulled it off successfully!