After many yeas of owning a copy of CorelDraw Graphics Suite X5, I am getting a message indicating that the copy I have is "illegal"
I opened a support ticket with Corel around mid February (2019) and was given a Registry "Fix" that hasn't really fixed anything. It works two or three times then my copy of Corel X5 gets disabled and I'm prompted with the Option to upgrade to an older (yes older) version of Corel Suite for 50% off.
I was also asked to provide them the software Serial number, which was verified as being VALID but yet, no fix.
I called, at least, every other day to ask for a status and keep being told that my ticket has been forwarded to Level 2, whatever that means. It is now 2 months and no one has reached out.
I also posted a complaint via Twitter and received this reply:
"Hello, sorry to hear about your concerns. If you are referring to CorelDRAW X5, please note this is no longer a supported version hence technical assistance would be limited. We would recommend reaching out to the community forums at : https://community.coreldraw.com/talk/ - if you wish to seek further guidance or discuss a problem related to this legacy version. Thank you."
Is this Corel's way of forcing people to upgrade.
I have the same problem. I started getting "illegal software" popup windows about six weeks ago and contacted Corel tech support. Tech support initially insisted that the problem was my serial number was invalid and the only solution was to pay $249 for the "amnesty" version, and they wouldn't do anything. A couple of weeks ago I stumbled on the email i received from Corel back in 2012 confirming my purchase so I made a copy of it and sent it to tech support. They responded by stating that OK, the S/N is legit, but that I have "reached the limit of the installation of the software", whatever that means (I only have it installed on one PC, but over the 7 years that I have had the software I've gone through 3 different PCs). I asked them what they meant but it's been over 2 weeks and no reply.
I found a patch on the web that supposedly got rid of the messages. The patch was to delete the "Messages" subfolder in the Appdata/Roaming/Corel folder. However, it only worked for a short while--after two or three usages of Draw or CorelPaint, the messages started reappearing. It turns out that the software was re-creating the "Messages" folder and rewriting the Protexis monitoring messages in it. I found that if I set the Messages folder permissions to disable Write permission it solved the problem. When you look at the properties of a folder it will normally have the read-only box clicked, but if you read carefully that box only applies to messages in the folder, not the folder itself. You have to go to the parent folder (.../Corel), right-click on the Messages folder, then disable Write privileges using the Security tab.
To make a long story short,
1. Right-click on the Windows icon on the taskbar and type "%Appdata%" in the "run" window, then click "OK".
2. Open the Corel directory and then open the "Messages" subdirectory.
3. Delete everything in the subdirectory (you can delete everything permanently--SHIFT+ Delete.).
4. Navigate back up to the Corel directory.
5. Right-click on the "Messages" subdirectory and open the properties window.
6. Under the "Security" tab, edit the permissions and delete 'write' privileges for all cases shown (usually three -- everyone, SYSTEM, Administrator).
That's it. Protexis can no longer write the monitoring messages (they can grow to the thousands over time) so the "Illegal software" messages go away. Since the Messages folder still exists, Protexis doesn't try to delete it and create a new one (a big slip-up in the Protexis program). This fix has worked for me now for a week or more, but who knows whether it's a permanent fix. Unfortunately, publishing this fix may also help some actual pirates, but If Corel had been even minimally responsive to a legitimate user complaint I wouldn't have published it.