You can turn your firewall back on. I'm using Windows Firewall and it's probably the least robust or all firewalls. It's VERY unlikely to be your problem, though I've seen one person say that was it. But if it's not working with it off, either, DON'T leave it off. Unfortunately, people who can get here and the homepage still occassionally have activation problems, so the two aren't related. Usually, though, it probably works for 90% or better.

Try running the setup as administrator. If it's working in an XP environment and not in Vista, that's a likely scenario, although the problems that doing that solves are usually different than not activating. Still, I'd try that first. Is this the first GOTD you've tried? If so, you're browser might be setup to run through a proxy server, as our on top of things moderator, Bubby, has pointed out in the past. If you're not aware, a proxy server is used in a business/institutional environment, rarely at home, and a lot of people aren't aware that they have the option in IE enabled. I'm not even sure that isn't the default. Go to the Tools menu, then Internet Options>Connections tab>Local Area Networks (LAN) settings and click on the button. Then uncheck the proxy server bubble. That has given problems to more than one GOTD user. This only applies if your not using dial-up.

If you have a backup dial-up account, you could try that. If it works, then you'll know it's a network settings problem, like the proxy server setting. While you're in you're internet options, click on the programs tab, and the manage addons button. You can check and see if you have newer version of Java. That's not a prerequisite, though since GOTD uses some of scripting, it's helped a person or two. You can see the java add-on in one or two of those list. I believe it shows under the "without permissions" option on the drop down menu, but my IE is currently damaged and I can't check. =S

http://www.java.com

I am using Vista Home, no extra firewall.
When i start the setup.exe, i get no extra message - nothing from the firewall.
Now i have deactivated the vista firewall manually - but the problem remains.

I've tried to install it on the same machine inside a VmWare virtual machine with XP.
It succeded, so i have the program now, but inside a test container - it is not really, what i need.

It's probably your firewall. Allow Setup.exe when your firewall asks (you may need to delete the rule for Setup.exe first). What firewall are you using?

Please see this guide for more information: Giveaway Of The Day Manual.

Hello,

I've downloaded the Sothink Tree Menu setup program. When i start it, it creates a window with the title "Activating" : Connecting to giveawayoftheday.com checking key availability - and soon comes an error message: Failed to connect. Please try again later.

As i've tried it about twenty times in the last 6 hours, it cannot be a temporary problem.
I can reach the Giveaway of the Day homepage (and this forum too :-) ) from the same computer, so, i have no idea, what can be wrong.

Zoltan