There are four basic problems that you can encounter when activating/updating SpyHunter.

1. Username and/or Password mistyped.
2. A Firewall program such as Norton Internet Security, McAfee, Zone Alarm and others that is preventing SpyHunter from accessing the Internet.
3. Internet Explorer Browser is set to “Work Offline”.
4. SpyHunter is being blocked by Spybot or by a Spyware infection.

For problems 1, 2 and 3, please follow the instruction below to RE-ACTIVATE SpyHunter.

You DO NOT NEED to RE-PURCHASE SpyHunter, if prompted.

In order to properly activate SpyHunter, you MUST DISABLE any FIREWALL software program running on your computer, such as Norton Internet Security, McAfee, Zone Alarm and others. They might interfere with the activation of SpyHunter. You can turn your firewall back on after the activation is complete.

Also, make sure your Internet Explorer Browser is not set to “Work Offline”. Open an Internet Explorer window and click File on the top left corner. Make sure the option “Work Offline” is unchecked. If you see a check mark to the left of “Work Offline”, it means it is enabled and SpyHunter will not activate. If you need to turn it off, please click on it and the check mark will disappear.

1. Click the “Options” tab located on the left side menu of the SpyHunter.
2. Enter your username (Email) and password and click on “Activate Now” button.

OUR SYSTEM IS CASE SENSITIVE. MAKE SURE TO ENTER YOUR EMAIL AND PASSWORD EXACTLY HOW YOU SEE IT IN THE ORDER CONFIRMATION EMAIL. ALSO, MAKE SURE THAT THERE ARE NO SPACES BEFORE OR AFTER YOUR EMAIL AND PASSWORD.

If you have activated SpyHunter before, it’s very important that you erase any information previously stored in the username and password fields. Make sure that the Email and Password fields are clear before typing any information in it.

For problem number 4:

Recently, it came to our attention that Spybot and certain Spyware infections are maliciously blocking our website and program updates by inserting instructions in the hosts file, preventing several customers from updating or reaching our website.

This might be the source of your problem if you have or had Spybot installed. We also found that uninstalling Spybot does not fix the problem because when uninstalled, the restrictions remain.

In order to fix the problem, you must clean the hosts file.

Below are instructions on how to clean the hosts file. Please try to look at the instructions below even if you do not have Spybot installed, as the problem could be caused by an infection.

1. Open a Notepad (Located under All Programs-Accessories).
2. Click File on the top the notepad window and choose Open.
3. In the File Name box, type the following:

   FOR Windows XP & Vista type: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC\HOSTS
   or
   FOR Windows 2K type: C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\HOSTS
   or
   FOR Win 98\ME type: C:\WINDOWS\HOSTS

4. Click Open button.
5. Click File on the top the notepad window and choose Save As.
6. In the “File Name” box, type HOSTS-CLEAN and in the “Save as Type” (underneath File name box), choose the option All Files, click Save.
7. Delete all the entries that do not have a # in front of it, except for the entry 127.0.0.1 localhost.

   Note: The entry “127.0.0.1 localhost” should be the only one not deleted.

8. Click File, choose Save and close Notepad.
9. Click Start (the Windows Flag Button on Vista), and choose RUN:
10. In the open box, type the following:

    FOR Windows XP & Vista type: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC
    or
    FOR Windows 2K type: C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS
    or
    FOR Win 98\ME type: C:\WINDOWS

11. Click OK button.
12. In the ETC Window, locate the file named HOSTS (without any extension), right-click the file HOSTS and choose Rename, and rename it to HOSTS-OLD.
13. Locate the file named HOSTS-CLEAN (without any extension), right-click the file HOSTS-CLEAN, choose Rename, and rename it to HOSTS (without any extension).
14. Close all the windows and reboot the computer.
15. Once the computer reboots, try opening a browser window and going to www.enigmasoftware.com and clicking on the button Update Definitions, under the Update tab of SpyHunter, in order to test if the problem has been fixed.

If after following the instructions above, you are still not able to activate SpyHunter, please contact us and one of our technicians will contact you as soon as possible.

You can contact our technical support team by clicking on the link below.

SpyHunter Technical Support