PSA WARNING: your lifetime licenses WILL DIE

[LordDuckling]

Key generators will eventually generate your license keys multiple times. When that happens, and multiple copies of them are used simultenously, your licenses will get blacklisted by Malwarebyte Inc's system. 5 OUT OF 11 OF MY LIFETIME LICENSES HAVE BEEN "CANCELED" (I.E. BLACKLISTED) as stated on my My Malwarebytes account, despite I have NEVER used those licenses after all these years (as of 2014/2015) I've bought them, and only kept copies of the licenses on offline encrypted storage (so I'm sure that no one has seen them besides I). Mind you: the licenses are all purchased through Cleverbridge. So I'd be very interested in the cop-out reason they'll give this time.

 

But seeing as 'they can't (translation: won't) generate new licenses' (as customer support said to me last May). my investment into Malwarebytes Inc's product will eventually evaporate, despite I've in actuality only used 10% of what I've bought from them. I wouldn't be surprised if this was their plan all along, that when the sale of lifetime licenses were about to end in 2014, they wanted to make a quick buck off of consumers that thought they'd still could get an actual lifetime deal, as RubberDucky stated that his company was going to honor the licenses, while in hindsight it wouldn't sound all surprising that they knew all lifetime licenses sold then, would sooner or later get blacklisted due to piracy anyway, at which they can pretend that they can't do anything about it and the fault lies at the user per usual (despite it's actually their sh*tty implementation of a license verification system and licensing model that's vulnerable as fk).

 

I've asked Malwarebytes Inc in the past to step away from this ancient activation model, and instead migrate to one where a user just signs into the application with his malwarebytes account, rather than has to juggle keys. Keyless activation should be the norm by now. This isn't 2005 anymore. But for Malwarebytes Inc this system is convenient, as it gives them an opportunity to get rid of the lifetime licensees without going against their word. I mean they've directly shown that they regret offering lifetime licenses, as you can only use your lifetime licenses for the Windows version of Malwarebytes, and not the Android and Mac one as well.

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[Porthos]

8 minutes ago, LordDuckling said:

RubberDucky stated that his company was going to honor the licenses, while in hindsight it wouldn't sound all surprising that they knew all lifetime licenses sold then, would sooner or later get blacklisted due to piracy anyway, at which they can pretend that they can't do anything about it and the fault lies at the user per usual (despite it's actually their sh*tty implementation of a license verification system and licensing model that's vulnerable as fk).

I am sorry, But those licenses came from an unauthorized reseller as support already informed you. If those keys were purchased directly from MB or an authorized reseller and the same keys were not sold over and over again to several different victims. They would have been honored.

 

[TempLost]

I don't expect my Lifetime Licence to die. I bought it legitimately from Malwarebytes 6 years ago, kept a PDF copy of my Clever bridge receipt along with the emails, kept a record of the activation codes in my KeePass database.........

I honestly don't subscribe to the hysteria that Malwarebytes would renage on their promise that Lifetime Licences will be honoured. And, as with any other valuable purchase, it's surely prudent to retain the appropriate records? 

[LordDuckling]

3 hours ago, Porthos said:

I am sorry, But those licenses came from an unauthorized reseller as support already informed you. If those keys were purchased directly from MB or an authorized reseller and the same keys were not sold over and over again to several different victims. They would have been honored.

 

Those were from Antivirussales; the problem with these are from Cleverbridge.

[SPDIF]

 Just keep in mind that not Malwarebytes but the seller is the one that betrayed you. You always can try again contact them, there is no harm in doing that. Try to give them as much detail as possible. You never know that they can do something else for you, just be gentle with support. It's easier to reach an understanding if both party's are friendly for each other.

[Porthos]

3 hours ago, LordDuckling said:

Those were from Antivirussales; the problem with these are from Cleverbridge.

Cleverbridge is just a payment processor. Antivirussales used Cleverbridge as their payment processor as well. Unless those keys were purchased directly from Malwarebytes with Cleverbridge as the payment processor they are invalid.

[Charyb]

@Porthos

Please direct me to a list of Malwarebytes authorized resellers. Thanks.

 

[Firefox]

20 minutes ago, Charyb said:

@Porthos

Please direct me to a list of Malwarebytes authorized resellers. Thanks.

 

Best course is to by directly from Malwarebytes

https://www.malwarebytes.com/products/

[exile360]

4 hours ago, Charyb said:

Please direct me to a list of Malwarebytes authorized resellers. Thanks.

I can tell you right off the bat that anyone claiming to have any lifetime licenses for sale at this point is very likely selling pirated or invalid keys that will end up blacklisted (assuming they haven't been already) as Malwarebytes stopped offering lifetime licenses several years ago and the likelihood of any legitimate reseller having any kind of large quantities of 'old stock' is very low, especially considering the fact that the known valid lifetime licenses that remained at the time sold out very quickly once the announcement was made that Malwarebytes would be going to a yearly subscription.

The easiest way to validate a license key would be to create an account at My.Malwarebytes.com using, if possible, the same email address you used when you originally purchased your license.  Instructions on how to do so can be found in this support article.  If you are not longer able to access that original email address then please refer to the instructions in this support article to add a license key to your account manually.  If there are any problems and they key will not show up in your account or comes back as invalid/blacklisted then your only option would be to contact Malwarebytes Support directly by filling out the form on the bottom of this page and they will assist you.  A key coming back as blacklisted is not a guarantee that you will lose your lifetime license, nor is it definite that the key is pirated or invalid.  It could simply be an issue with the information on file for it or it is possible that someone else got your license key duplicated at some point (like with a keygen that happened to replicate your valid key) and in such instances Malwarebytes Support will cancel your old/invalid key and issue you a new lifetime key to replace it once you provide proof of ownership by answering a few simple questions about the purchase (I know this because they have already done so for many users and in most cases they are able to get the issue resolved very quickly).

I hope this helps and please let us know if there is anything else we might assist you with.

Thanks

[KenW]

My key was blacklisted and there was nothing wrong for years until a new version came on line. It was a legit license and I had read previous problems with keys being blacklisted. That really ticked me off and I guess they found THEIR error and gave me a new key.  So your idea about key gens is very possible. I had a similar problem with SuperAntiSpyware. However it did not bother me because that program turned into junk anyway. You are correct this happens with every new version so something is broken and must be fixed.

[exile360]

The reason this occurred recently wasn't actually due to the new Malwarebytes version; it was actually the result of the new license validation system coming online and Malwarebytes finally enforcing full license validation because for a long time they were letting it slide which unfortunately allowed for a lot of abuse by unscrupulous sellers scamming customers by selling bogus licenses.  It is indeed true that this has led to many valid licenses being duplicated and needing to be blacklisted and reissued to their rightful owners, however once a license is validated in the new system you should never again encounter this issue.  Just be sure to deactivate the license each time you wish to move it to a new system, and I would also highly recommend signing up for an account at My.Malwarebytes.com to manage your licenses as mentioned above if you haven't done so already as this will also enable you to remotely deactivate a license even if the device it was active on is no longer functional (very useful should your drive die or if you should have any other sort of hardware failure and need to migrate your license to a new device).

Edited December 2, 2019 by exile360

[AdvancedSetup]

I have maybe 5 boxed Retail copies that are lifetime license that I bought several years ago and stashed away. I originally was going to give away as Christmas presents but ended up giving other gifts. I still have them in a big box tucked away. I also have 35 of the 1 device, 1 year licenses. In all cases though I do have all of the receipts and emails to prove ownership. The license even says on it that you should keep it in a safe place to show as proof of purchase in the future.

I may have to dig out my copies and sell them off, but again. I have documentation. That is the key difference when you're talking about any type of purchase. I have a couple of other programs (Ultra Edit, being one of them) that has a lifetime license and I have the documentation for it that goes back to 2006 which is 13 years ago. They have asked me a couple of times for proof and I've provided it and had no issue obtaining updates now for many years.

 

Edited December 2, 2019 by AdvancedSetup
updated information

[Porthos]

7 hours ago, Charyb said:

@Porthos

Please direct me to a list of Malwarebytes authorized resellers. Thanks.

 

There is really no published list. But sites like eBay,G2a, and any seller selling Lifetime keys are going to be bogus.

There are some affiliate sellers for example Bleeping computer and Majorgeeks that run subscription specials often.

Edited December 2, 2019 by Porthos

[KenW]

Every time I have a puter die and I have to reinstall Ultra Edit, they have changed my key, so just send an email. This is for a lifetime license. One woman has been there for as long as I have a license.

[unknownguy]

I paid for 3 lifetime licenses in 2012 from a company that had discount on them. The site I used which I don't remember used the payment directly to MB site. I paid for a CD which was sent as a letter to me (from MB). Then I could use the id to get them to my account.

I would never pay from other sites, but the site I used was legit.

[AdvancedSetup]

If they did not send you the full complete Retail box along with the CD and the license card then it would not be a legit site. We have never sold just a CD to anyone. There was a backup CD provided years ago on some digital purchases but again that was directly from us and not from any resellers. All resellers of the Retail package (the only one with a CD) should have sent the full unopened box.

 

 

Edited December 4, 2019 by AdvancedSetup
updated information

[unknownguy]

Yeah it was a backup CD.

Edited December 4, 2019 by AdvancedSetup
removed quote

[Maurice Naggar]

One hates to see allusions like those posted by the OP  at the very top.   Especially on allusions to plans all along that lifetime licenses would be planned to be blacklisted.

Malwarebytes has always honored legitimate licenses  and has gone the extra miles to honor those.

One regrets to see any keys blacklisted in error.   But for those, Support is the one to contact.

What is not called for here is the spread of non-fact based allegations.

By the way, the lifetime licenses were always 1 license for 1 single Windows pc.   Those were the original terms.  One low, one time fee for a permanent license.  That was the best ever software purchase.    Not even mentioning free program upgrades on new releases.