Where to look
Open the dashboard. The panel at the top reads Protection is active when all is well, and Protection is off when the license has stopped it. For the exact status, go to Settings and look under License & version: License status shows one of Trial, Active, Expired, Deactivated on this PC, Not active on this PC or Revoked.
While protection is off, AdFender stops blocking but keeps everything else: your apps, your lists, your own rules and your settings are all there when it comes back on.
Trial mode
If this PC is eligible for a trial, a new installation runs a 14-day trial with every feature available, and the dashboard counts it down: Trial mode — 5 days remaining. Before the end AdFender reminds you in a window titled Keep them out.
To carry on, buy a license, then click Already purchased? Activate license on the dashboard and enter the code from your order email. Protection carries on without a break.
“Trial expired”
The trial has run its 14 days, so ads and trackers are no longer blocked. Buying a license and activating it turns protection straight back on; activating your license walks through it.
“License expired”
A license covers a year. Before it ends, the dashboard says Your license expires in 12 days with a Renew license button, and a reminder window titled Don’t lose your protection appears. After the end date, protection stops and the window says License expired.
To renew:
- Buy the renewal, with the same email address as before — once the license has expired, that is how AdFender matches the renewal to your old code. Click Renew license on the dashboard, in the reminder window, or in Settings, or go to the pricing page.
- Find the new code. A renewal comes with a new activation code, in the order email from orders@adfender.com (AdFender calls it your renewal confirmation email). Your old code will not renew the license.
- Enter it once, on any one PC.
- Before the end date: in AdFender’s Settings, choose Manage license (or Renew license from the tray icon as the date nears).
- After it has expired: choose Activate license from the dashboard, Settings or the tray icon.
- That is all. The other PCs on your plan pick up the new end date by themselves the next time they check in, which is within about a day of being online. There is nothing to enter on them. If the renewal covers fewer PCs than you are using, the ones it has no room for keep working on the old code until its end date.
Renewing before the end date adds the new year on top of it, so renewing early does not cost you the days you have left. After it has expired, the new year starts from the day you enter the code. If AdFender says that license is already active on this PC, you have typed the old code — use the one from the renewal email.
“Trial not verified”
A new trial has to be confirmed with our license server. If AdFender cannot reach the server for too long after it is installed, it stops blocking and says we could not reach the license server to verify your trial.
That is about the connection, not about you. Once AdFender gets through, protection resumes on its own — there is nothing to click. If your PC is online and the message keeps coming back, write to support@adfender.com and we will look at it.
“License not active on this PC”
The license is yours, but this PC does not currently hold one of its places: support freed it, or its hardware has changed enough that it looks like a different PC. Click Re-activate this PC and, if your plan has a PC free, filtering resumes here.
If you chose Deactivate this PC here yourself, the status is Deactivated on this PC and AdFender says This PC is deactivated. Click Activate this PC to use it here again, if your plan has a place free.
If all the PCs your plan covers are already in use, free one first: choose Deactivate this PC in AdFender on a PC you no longer need, or, if that PC is dead or lost, write to us and we will free its place. If the message says the code has reached the limit on how many different PCs it can be used on over its life, write to us. How many PCs one code covers explains both limits and what we can do about them.
“License revoked”
A license is revoked when the order it came from is refunded or the payment is reversed. Protection stops, and AdFender says this license was revoked. If that is unexpected — you did not ask for a refund, say — write to support@adfender.com with the email address you bought with, and we will find out what happened.
A license message when AdFender starts
Occasionally Windows shows one of these as AdFender starts: AdFender license file appears to be corrupted, Error matching license file attributes or Error verifying license file. Each one ends Please reactivate your license, and that is the whole fix: AdFender opens with protection off, and activating with your code and email address turns it back on. On a PC the license has been on before, that does not use anything up.
When activation is refused
- That code or email wasn’t accepted. Check both. The email address must be the one you bought with. A code from a version prior to 3.0 is not accepted here — see upgrading from AdFender 2.x.
- All the PCs your plan covers are in use, or the code has reached its limit of different PCs. Free a PC, or write to us about the limit; see how many PCs one code covers.
- Couldn’t reach the activation server. Activation needs an internet connection. Check that the PC is online and try again.
Lost your code?
It is in the order-confirmation email from orders@adfender.com — check your spam or junk folder too. If you cannot find it, look up your order and, while your license is active, we will send the code to the address you bought with.