Security software that has lifetime licenses

ah ok thanks

 

Yes, i agree. I just said in general. Personally i hate online activations since i swap hardware very often and i hate the "email us and we will fix it". Some programs are "clever" enough to automatically deactivate your old config and activate the new one without such hassle. Twister was such an example. It just informed you that if you activate it will deactivate the old hardware license, you clicked "ok" and you were good to go. WinPatrol Plus is also probably in the same category, it doesn't tell you anything if you change computer, just activates and works. Those that at some point just won't activate unless you contact per email, i now avoid like the plague.

The dumbest activation scheme i 've seen is with Sphinx. When you activate the firewall, there is no screen that shows you that you 've put the code correctly. And if you import rules, it deactivates, but you won't get notified. Simply some days later you get a message. And all this ruins my Macrium images, which are supposed to have everything working. So now that i found Tinywall, i prefer it to the paid Sphinx program, just for that actually.

Of course Microsoft beats all at the inconvenience level, with XP i had to phone MS, where some people with terrible accent were replying and they were making you "police-like" questions like "why did you format?" "Is this the only computer you install?". I mean, lady, if i wanted to fool you, i 'd install a pirate copy and get over with it, i wouldn't wait a weekend for you to go to back your office so that i can call you... Duh...

Fortunately with 7 i make activated images and so i have reduced the number of activations.


Honorary mention goes to Rollback Rx, which isn't happy enough with its activation, it also tries at every single reboot to phone home before Windows (and your firewall) loads, in order to re-check the activation. This borderlines spyware for me and was good enough reason to stop using it and not even thinking of buying an update.

 

Didn't even occur to me as I thought support was dead with the disappearance of "Fredric".
I guess it's worth a shot, thanks for the suggestion.

 

One never said anything about lifetime upgrades for a faronics license,it does have a perpetual license (confirmed with core company and distributor as well).

as to the license terms please check number 3 in safeguy's list above.

 

Hmm i did , i said they did not have Lifetime Upgrades....

For Faronics DeepFreeze and AntiExecutable :

You are right.. And i think it is like this, please correct me if i am wrong.. that would help me at least

The perpetual license in this case can mean:
- you can keep using the current version ("perpetual") , but get no updates/upgrades (when you purchased a license only)

- you can keep using the current version ("perpetual"), and get updates and upgrades for the period of your maintenance contract purchased aditional on the license.

In the first case , it is possible you need to pay extra within a few months to have the latest version

In the second case , you need to pay for an upgrade after your maintenance period has expired.
In the past this was always 1 year, but i heard you can pay for a longer period now.

The words "perpetual" and "Lifetime" might suggest Lifetime upgrades,
That is why i thought it would make things clear by bringing this up.
I hope they will change this one day, in licenses that include maintenance
Just like an antivirus, because i found out, that over the years the
upgrades for these products were just as important as for your AV.
Software and "perpetual" without upgrades doesn't work..
Imagine you had purchased a "perpetual" license of MS Word 6.0 or Sandboxie 2.0 etc

 

I think in light of the thread on problems reactivating software*, there should be a star or some kind of note next to these lifetime products if they are easily reactivated, licensed, whatever if moved to another PC or reinstalled after a fresh install.

* https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=337291

 

It's hard to say. These policies vary. If there are any complaints, I will be more than happy to add a star next to the product.

 

This applies to more than 99% of all available software,be it security software or other stuff.
The main difference between (most) security software and other software,is the fact that for other software the lack of updates and upgrades have much less influence to the security of a system.
While programs like,for example, Appguard,NoVirusThanks or Shadow Defender can be perfectly used in de foreseable future,thus covering the "lifetime"aspect of the license,it's much less obvious for programs that rely on definition updates or signatures.....some security software becomes useless without getting updates after a year,so can those licenses still be considered as lifetime,as the program doesn't reach it's goal anymore?

 

No....

 

That's why I think option 2 from safeguy's list should be rephrased....

 

I agree. However, in my post (specifically the options), I had no intention of differentiating between security vs non-security programs; despite the focus on security on this forum/thread. It was meant as a general note. I aimed to highlight the differences between the licensing models regardless of developers claiming to provide 'lifetime licenses'. Since marketing more often than not resonates that choice of words used can play a role in consumer perception/motivation, I don't blame them for trying...

I should have also noted that the context of my post was purposely limited to refer to programs that do not rely on definition updates/signatures. Reason is it's in my book that any program that relies on such doesn't deserve the term 'lifetime'. I apologize for not making that clear.

 

Easy to fix.. Rename "netreg.exe" to "netreg123456.exe" (or whatever), then Rollback can't dial home, ever again. Yet your license will still work. This is crucial as I do not tolerate dial-home products on my PC, and I found this out pretty quickly when RollbackRX did that - it also slows boot when it dials home, this speeds it back up again.

 

Thanks for the tip! I may try to run it again (although i 've grown accustomed to the idea of using images instead of Rollback and i am not sure if it treats TRIM in a healthy manner).

 

this is the case with deepfreeze,which means that you will be entitled to all the benefits of the license during your maintenance contract and once the term expires you can still keep on using the software but will have to pay extra if you want to upgrade.

This is the most popular software model of all (not necessarily security companies).

lets take Windows as a example,you can keep using your windows version that you bought forever,but you can upgrade to windows 7/8 if you want some additional features that is not available in windows xp.

Same is followed by defensewall,appguard etc.

 

SUPERAntiSpyware Pro

I own a Life-Time License,
but I use it only as a Demand Scanner...

 

It was, it shows now as $29.95 /yr

 

Oh...too bad...

 

I think you should move Rollback RX to "lifetime but paid updates", as it will only give free updates for the same version you first bought. Ex. you buy v9, you get free updates for versions 9.x, but v10 requires paying again.

 

can't seem to do that. the edit button on my first post disappeared.

 

also it seems that outpost firewall pro is no longer offers the lifetime keys only 1 and 2 year.

 

yes just saw that on the website, although the time the earlier post was made it did offer lifetime licenses and that too at a discounted price!

Sorry to know it does not offer lifetime license anymore!

it happened with its security suite too, in the beginning it too had a lifetime license and now its max 2 years from 3 that they had earlier!

 

You can still get it.....

http://www.bitsdujour.com/software/outpost-firewall-pro-lifetime-license/

https://secure.shareit.com/shareit/...64685&random=1856010a3e8c749c9995bf72695ab04f

 

Something similar to Rollback RX but lifetime... MagiCure

http://www.bitsdujour.com/software/magicure-professional-2

 

Too bad they like to turn off lifetime keys randomly.. They magically made mine a yearly after it was clearly a lifetime. Now in the process of charging back the CC I used to buy it. I don't trust them.

Magicure = RollbackRX rebranded. Several companies license this technology. Still uses the hideous dial-home system. After putting in license you can rename netreg.exe to something else and it will never dial home again. Part of the reason RX slows booting is the delay to dial home.

 

I think it is rebranded Rollback....