How to avoid losing days when renewing your software licence

When should you activate your antivirus licence without losing days?

Have you purchased a renewal or upgrade for your antivirus software? Then it is best to wait with activation until your current licence has only a few days remaining.

With almost all antivirus brands, a new licence is not automatically recognised as a renewal. As soon as you enter the new licence key, the new period starts immediately, even if you still have weeks or months remaining. This causes you to lose days unnecessarily.

How do you avoid losing days when renewing?

1. Check when your current licence expires.
2. Wait until only a few days remain.
3. Only then activate your new licence key.
4. This way, you are never without protection and you do not lose any days.

 Tip: Do you prefer not to keep track of the renewal date yourself? Use our free renew alert. You will automatically receive a notification at the right time, so you can activate on time and never be without protection.

Does this apply to all antivirus brands?

Yes, in principle this works the same for all antivirus software. Some antivirus brands allow immediate activation, even if your current licence has not yet expired. In theory, the new licence should then automatically be added after the existing one.

In practice, however, this often goes wrong. What happens:

• The software does not recognise the new licence as a renewal.
• As a result, the new licence becomes active immediately alongside your current licence, instead of after it.
• The days of both licences run simultaneously, causing overlap.
• Your expiry date is brought forward and you lose days you have already paid for.

To avoid this risk, it is safer to use the secure method: wait until your current licence has only a few days remaining and only then activate your new licence key. This ensures you do not lose any days and remain continuously protected.

If you have purchased an upgrade (for example from Bitdefender Internet Security to Total Security), it is best to wait until the end of your old licence. This ensures you get the maximum value from both licences. The software always treats this as a new subscription, not a renewal.

Antivirus software for which we recommend this approach: Norton, Bitdefender, McAfee, Avast, AVG, ESET, Kaspersky, Panda, (VPN) NordVPN and Surfshark.

When is the best time to activate Microsoft 365?

With Microsoft 365, activation works differently than with antivirus software. Here, you can activate immediately, even if your current licence is still valid for several months.

Please note: Activate the new licence using the same Microsoft account as your current licence.

Entering a new Microsoft 365 code with the same licence: how it works

For example, if you have Microsoft 365 Personal and purchase Personal again, the duration of your subscription is simply added to the remaining time. You do not lose any days if you activate immediately.

Example:

• You have 5 months of Personal remaining.
• You activate a new 12-month licence using the same Microsoft account.
• Result: your subscription now runs for 17 months.

Upgrade Microsoft 365: from Personal to Family without losing days

Microsoft has arranged this neatly:

1. Purchase Microsoft 365 Family.
2. Activate it using the same Microsoft account as your current Personal licence.
3. Microsoft automatically converts your subscription to Family and recalculates the remaining time of your Personal licence. For example:
   • You have 8 months of Personal remaining
   • 8 months × 0.75 = 6 months of Family
   • You receive 12 months + 6 months = 18 months of Family

Microsoft shows your new subscription duration in advance, so you always know exactly where you stand.

When should you activate your Adobe licence (without overlap)?

With Adobe, in some cases you can activate your new licence immediately without losing days, but only if it is exactly the same licence.

Renewing Adobe: this works without issues

If you purchase Adobe Lightroom CC (for 1 user with 1 TB cloud storage) again, and it is exactly the same version as your current subscription, you can activate the licence directly via your Adobe account. The duration will then be extended correctly. Please check the number of users and storage carefully.

Common mistake when renewing Adobe: losing days due to the wrong version

If you purchase a different subscription, such as the Adobe Photography Plan (which also includes Lightroom), Adobe treats this as a new product. Your existing Lightroom licence continues to run, while your new Photography Plan becomes active at the same time. The duration of your original licence is not extended, and you lose days.

Even though the Photography Plan includes the same Lightroom software, it is technically a different subscription.

 Tip: Want to be sure you do not lose any days? Just like with antivirus software, wait until your current Adobe licence has only a few days remaining. You can then activate safely without losing days.

Not sure about the right activation date? We’ll help you for free

Have you already purchased a new licence but are not sure when to activate it? Contact us. Our specialists will help you free of charge and ensure you do not lose any days. With our free installation service and 7 days a week support, you are always assured of the right timing.