Buyer Be Ware, Do not buy anything from PassMark!

All the software that are on my computer are legit and paid for. I support developers and never use any cracked software (warez) but that's the penalty of being honest these days I guess....

you see, I am a person just like @Mr. Fox who refuses to buy software licenses which have a limit on activation. That's why I stopped buying any Kaspersky or Cyberlink products because 3 activations and your license key is blacklisted and money is gone down the drain!

In 2014, I purchased PassMark Performance Test. Yesterday I tried installing it but my license key wouldn't work. So I contacted their support who then told me that yes, my license was blacklisted because I installed it on more than 100 computers across multiple countries

I then sent them an email expressing my disappointment and also explaining that I am a systems tweaker and thus I format a LOT especially since the introduction of Windows 10 and I have changed 4 computers in the past 4 years so yeah. I also use a VPN so thus, sometimes the registration may appear from a different country! This is still my license and I am using it for my own personal use!

Another company to be added to the list of companies I'll never do business with. My money is gone

 

Idiotic... They should know people are going to use their software for benchmarks on multiple systems.

 

yeah sure, but then they want you to buy a new license for each new system

 

At least I should be wary of these companies.

I've had no issues with Sony/Magix for their software though. I bought Pro 10 a long while ago now and after it said I activated too many times; I hopped onto Sony support, told them my issue and on the spot they reset my software key and I can use it many times.

For Magix, I bought Movie Studio thinking that I'll be making use of my Nvidia card. Well, it didn't really work brilliantly. It crashed, and never made use of the Nvidia GPU in my laptop. To my surprise, CUDA is kind of useless in Vegas software and actually bad in most Adobe products since they changed the CUDA API. They refunded me 6 hours later, so I'm thankful for that.

Isn't it true that Windows has an activation limit? Adobe software on perpetual licences have it too.

 

Windows doesn't have an activation limit, it has a hardware change limited to 3 major changes (ie. motherboard) after which you can still activate but you'd have to call the Microsoft automated phone system to get an activation ID

 

It boggles my mind the way companies work these days. I don't have anything similar to say about software licenses, but I do buy music online. It pisses me off to no end when a particular site won't let me download anything just because of where I live. Sad when they actually make it easier to pirate something than to legitimately purchase it (or simply use it in Phoenix's case)

 

Not a big loss, bruh. PassMark have never been my favorite. Mowe on.

 

First I download *cough cough...* version if I like it I buy it otherwise, I never touch it again. Pure simplistic approach. Those measures are taken to avoid problems in Third World where a single license will be used for 1000 PCs or more.
Doesn't your credit card allow you to apply for charge back for misleading info or scam?
Use AIDA64 or Sandra instead.

If there was such a limit, then Phoenix will buy Win 10 daily from China.
I'm thinking what if MSFT introduces same thing and force us never to Clean install.

 

Not sure how it's handled by MSFT for Windows 10, but I hit activation issues requiring calling Microsoft for Windows Vista, 7, and 8.1, when I do hardware upgrades - not from multiple installs.

I've had motherboards die, or upgrade, and even GPU and storage changes cause activation issues. I also do development using network cards and storage cards, and when I change the MAC address due to different cards, I've had activation issues.

It's tough as a software developer / seller, to know when someone is installing software on lots of machines, or just the same one over and over, and so far I haven't run into the issue of reinstalling and getting denied activation - but then again I minimize my actual install count by imaging my OS and then restoring it, so it's not really a new install.

I realize that's not as easy with Windows 10 constantly changing the Base install, and the benefit / necessity of doing a clean build from each "reset point" when Microsoft rolls out a new base release of Windows 10.

IDK what the answer is, but I would suggest paying for it a few times and then pointing that out after the 2nd time, letting them know I am for real just building new base on my same computer.

Given the software company is needing to track installs, and "catching" you doing this - even though it's for an innocent reason - I would consider it part of the cost of doing business with that company and hope after a while, a few payments, that they see you are really telling the truth.

But, then again, money is money, and a fair price is paying once for one computer (or whatever the install limits are), so I guess it's a matter of how much you like the software

I got frustrated when Everest => AIDA was sold and the new company wanted yearly payments for being able to upgrade to new versions, but I got over it

Too bad Microsoft is balling things up every 6 month's creating a new base and starting over again each time. I think this is really a problem introduced by Microsoft, and they should provide a way to assist software developers on validating installs are on the same computer.

I believe like Phoenix in paying for software, and we all have our own limits on interpretation of what that means at any point in time. Pay once, twice, three times, yearly updates, developer induced version limits requring a new payment, it's all fluid and changing.

IDK if I would go so far as to suggest people stop buying a certain software product, more like giving a heads up that this is their policy, so watch your install count.

 

Yeah, happend similar thing with me as well! I finally decided to buy the Thaiphoon burner and installed it on my old laptop to prepare RAM sticks for the new machine. Yes it worked once on my old laptop, but not on the new one, because it was licensed for the old machine, which I sold.

 

Agreed. Probably one of the crappiest, if not the crappiest, among benchmarks. Not a definitive product or a game changer by any stretch of the imagination.

But, the reason @Phoenix posted this thread still sucks. As he mentioned, I do not support businesses that operate in this dishonest, shady manner. They deserve to go belly up for this... filthy shysters. I do not expect free updates and version upgrades forever, but I do expect to be able to use what I have paid for as long as I feel like using it.

Micro$lop is a big offender. I purchased retail versions of Office Pro 2010, 2013 and 2016, and it was purchased directly from the Redmond Mafia, on their web site. They have blacklisted my keys on all of them due to hitting activation limits. I called them to try to get the keys reinstated or replaced and they basically blew me off and offered to sell me new licenses. They do not care that I do frequent OS reinstalls. Not their problem. So, I don't buy Office any more. I activate what I have already paid for using an alternative means. It is neither stolen nor pirated, it has never been shared. It's for me only. They've got my money, but they're not getting any more of it. I don't forgive or forget this kind of behavior.

 

Better you call ratiborus and never have to bother again

 

Not worth a single penny. And where can they see that you use it on +100 machines simultaneous?

 

@Phoenix uses the best security software, so he must have been hacked. I use nothing, so I am safe.

 

Maybe his wife and kids made a PoC to scare him!
Use Onedrive or MSA to store all your license and once you login all license are put back into place.
I feel its rather obnoxious way to reject customer(s) who don't use MSA and reach multiple activation limit. I'd recommend using Josh Cell's Windows Activation Backup and KMS tools to backup your licenses.
I never faced activation limit since I was reinstalling W7 every month like Phoenix does. Now, I don't do it due to lack of time.