First of all, please accept my apologies for the (deafening) silence regarding the Free License issue. I wasn't sure how to respond and I first talked to the team about how we are going to address this.
The problem
In build 125 of Hitman Pro we added a feature that allows embedding a product key in the binary (for corporate/enterprise users). An embedded key is automatically activated for these binaries. In order for this to work, we made a few changes in the licensing module. But as you've seen, it also introduced a bug. The new feature auto activates the Free License for the standard binary inadvertently!
Build 126
Yesterday’s build 126 was a stability release with fixes from Winqual (this is where the Windows Error Reporting (WER) and Crash Data end up). Build 126 does not yet contain a fix for the Free License bug, but rest assured, the Free License bug will be fixed in build 127.
Compensation
Many of you run the inactivated version and these all got activated due to the bug (trial started). Problem is though, we cannot revert the Free License (it’s a database back-end thing)
In the meantime, if you run into malware, send me a PM and I will give you a free 30-day license to remove the malware.
Trial software
We never wanted Hitman Pro to run as regular trial software. The scan is always free: only malware removal requires a license. In our opinion this should always be the start of the trial, unlike most trial software.
We are sorry for the inconvenience and we hope for your understanding.