I have been a TotalAV PC Internet security user since late October 2017 and have been reasonably happy with the service. But in mid-February that all changed with the following notices from TotalAV:
This was the first notification that arrived unannounced mid-screen, mid-day. Surprise! but it was not the last – as suddenly, out of nowhere TotalAv was bombarding the screen with warnings:
The worst was yet to come – the following message appeared next:
The message took over my Google browser tab locking in fullscreen mode, not allowing me to Print Screen or access other programs through Shift+Tab and ultimately forced me to reboot.
So I checked my account at TotalAV and verified that fees were paid in full until Jan 2023
So now I tried a reboot. First I uninstalled the existing app, downloaded and re-installed the latest version. But the latest version of TotalAV still insisted that protection had expired.
So I decided to check out the the green button “Enable Protection” – perhaps there was a simple code that I would have to enter to re-enable my TotalAV protection. Uhh, not quite: 
,
Instead I was offered a Special Deal – immediately pay unnecessarily for another year of service. Clearly, it was time to contact TotalAV support. As it turned out, this was a mixed blessing.
TotalAV Support – Badly Lacking
Technical Support is minimal:
The Bottom Line is that TotalAV Tech Support is not helpful at all. My accpeted submission has not been responded to. There is no ticket so I cannot check the status of the support request. But worst of all there was no allowance for image attachments so there was no way to visually demo the problem to the support staff.
So I decided to make my case to TotalAV Billing Support. Because the contact with billing was by email, I could detail the problem with full visual screenshot details. The problem description looked very much like what has been presented in this posting. And the response from TotalAV Billing was prompt and indicated that billing acknowledged that my license was fully paid. But the response on how to solve the impasse is cryptic and incomplete.
“Hi Jacques,
Thank you for your email.
I can see that your TotalAV account linked to jbsurveyer@gmail.com is paid and fully active. As the application is asking you to pay again it would suggest you are not logged in with the correct credentials. [At this point TotalAV is saying we are not going to fix the problem from our end – you are going to have to solve it without our Billing or Tech Support direct involvement or detailed illustrated instructions] Please navigate to the settings menu within the application and you will see either an option to log out, or an “Already have an account” message.
Please select whichever option is presented and then log in with your jbsurveyer@gmail.com email address. Upon logging in, your premium services will be working correctly.
Please note if you are still seeing messages to upgrade or that you have expired, you have not completed the above steps properly.
If you are having trouble with the TotalAV website, this will likely be because you are logged in under the wrong credentials. Please visit login.totalav.com and then log in using your paid account credentials. [This “assistance” added another 2 hours to the already 6+ hours of work spent trying to solve the TotalAV problem.It proved decisive – if this was the kind of help being offered by TotalAV, this customer wanted no more of their service.]
Please let us know if we can be of any more assistance with this issue.
Kind regards
Josh Byrne
Customer Service Representative”
Summary
In doing Google searches on this problems , it became obvious that “Your AntiVirus subscription might have expired” is a known scam. Also CNET describes the mal-practices that have have cropped up in the Internet Security industry including Avast, Kaspersky and executive problems at MacAfee. TotalAV has in the past 10 days proved that it is not worthy of placing any trust in the integrity of their Internet Security Services.
Comments on the topic will be open until March 3 2023.