Spybot Home +AV License

[snightlinger]

First, congratulations and thank you for version 2.3. I am once again recommending this program to friends and family.

I have an issue.

I built a computer for my nephew. He is 14 years old and into many games. I do not have reliable physical access to his machine and must remotely connect to it, so need a strong antivirus/antimalware solution so I do not need to rebuild his system every 6 months while he is learning the internet. This is why I installed Spybot Home Edition and purchased a license for real-time protection. I did not expect to receive the +ANTIVIRUS component and your +Antivirus does not yet have a reputation to allow me to rely on it as the sole antivirus on a machine I maintain. For this reason, it was combined with BitDefender AV and Malwarebytes.

I have found that Spybot finds things that Malwarebytes doesn't but Malwarebytes realtime protection is something I do not wish to be without. The two seem to work together very well.

[Problem 1] Spybot with realtime protection and the +Antivirus was seriously slowing down the various large game downloads and updates. This led me to uninstall it from his computer, and lose the White List from the new install (I assume). I then installed the Spybot Home paid license key on my own computer so I could monitor program performance over time.

[Problem 2] But I still want Spybot protection on my nephew's computer. So I installed it again, expecting the free version but it reverted to the paid license version that was previously installed. Now Spybot tells me I am using the license on more than one computer.

How do I turn off the paid license version and revert to the unpaid Home version?

Any other thoughts on my situation will be appreciated. Thank you.

[snightlinger]

...
[Problem 1] Spybot with realtime protection and the +Antivirus was seriously slowing down the various large game downloads and updates.
...

I suspect this was due to Antivirus collisions between Spybot +Antivirus and BitDefender. My solution was to remove the Spybot Antivirus, by uninstalling the paid version of Spybot. After the uninstallation, this same license was then installed on my computer so I could monitor and test it over time.

[Zenobia]

If you go to C:\Program Files (x86)\Spybot - Search & Destroy 2(or C:\Program Files\Spybot - Search & Destroy,if your nephews computer operating system is not 64-bit)and remove license.key,Spybot should open as the free edition on your nephew's computer,it did on mine.
However,I`m going to refer you to the Spybot people to handle the rest,since looking over the files in the Spybot - Search & Destroy folder,I`m almost certain there is more involved with Spybot saying it`s installed on more than one computer,and I`m thinking it`s probably best if they handle it(I don`t want to mess up things,is basically what I`m saying.) The contact page is here:
http://www.safer-networking.org/contact/

Any other thoughts on my situation will be appreciated. Thank you.

The Live Protection can be paused,disabled or uninstalled,if needed/preferred.If you rightclick the Spybot icon down by the clock and remove the checkmark from Live Protection,Live Protection will show as paused.
If you open Spybot start center,checkmark Advanced Mode,click Settings,the Live Protection tab,then click Show Live protection Advanced Controls,there are options there to Deactivate or Uninstall Live Protection.

[snightlinger]

Thank you very much Zenobia. That is all helpful.

[Zenobia]

You're welcome.

[snightlinger]

I rebuilt my system this past week, which removed trace of the Spybot license from my computer. On my nephew's computer, I plan to leave Spybot +AV running and disable the Live Protection. If I get the chance, I will try re-enabling Live Protection at some point when I can monitor a game update download, and then see how it works from there.

I see that my initial decision to uninstall Spybot was hasty but I needed to act quick at that time and was not aware of the possibility to disable the Live Protection.

Thank you again for your assistance, Zenobia. Your help showed me the options available.

[Zenobia]

You're welcome.