I totally agree that deactivating is not the same as uninstalling, otherwise both words would be interchangeable from a semantic viewpoint. Yes, I was prompted many times to register the application on the same machine as I was trying to go through the updating process, and to be told that I have surpassed the number of activations.

My account shows the same software tied to 2 machines, and I didn't want to deactivate one or the other as I use both machines for different tasks. I took my chance earlier and deactivated the license on the "trouble" machine, and guess what? even after deactivating 18, both of them ran normally. I figured that my copy of Xara would not run, but it did.

I will go ahead and uninstall 18 and not worry about this puzzling licensing process. I am a customer with a CAD software company that basically allows the user to install the same copy on as many systems as one would want to as long as they are not using it at the same time on different systems. If one tries to use the application simultaneously, then it would indicate that there is more than one user behind the stations (desktops/laptops what have you). Thus the license will be disabled on the 2nd, 3rd... They also have a floating licensing system available too. I think it makes more sense in terms of practicality.

Anyway, always learning something new. Thank you again for your input!

Best Regards,