Frequently Asked Questions

The 'Lite' version is $12/month, and supports a maximum of 500 sweepstakes at any given time.

The 'PRO' version is available both as a monthly ($19/month) and yearly membership ($179/month), supports an UNLIMITED amount of sweepstakes, and by default, has approximately 2,000+ sweepstakes preloaded/updated on a regular basis.

While the software is designed to run on a Windows computer, it can run on a Macintosh if you have something called a PC emulator. Alternatively, we have plans for a native Macintosh application in the near future. Read more for details.

Two popular 3rd party PC Emulators for Macintosh are called Parallels Desktop, and  Codeweavers Crossover Mac.

We also do have plans for a native Mac application. If the above solution does not work for you, and you are interested in the native Macintosh version when it becomes available, please use our contact form and send a message saying that you'd like to be added to the waiting list for a native Macintosh version.

Here are the steps for installation.

1. First, double click the file to install it when it has finished downloading. Then, click 'next'.

2. Review the license agreement. Then, click on 'accept agreement', and click 'next'.

3. If you wish to change the default installation folder, do so here, otherwise click 'next'.

4. If you wish to change the program group name, do so here, otherwise click 'next'.

5. Click next again. This will create a desktop icon, and a quick launch icon.

6. Finally, click the install button, and you are good to go!

7. IMPORTANT NOTES:

a) If you are RE-INSTALLING the file - make sure you have exited the software before re-installing. Otherwise, the software cannot install properly, and you will need to do the above again once you have exited the software. (You may wish to re-install the software, for example, if a new version of the software is available, and you have not told any anti-virus software you have installed to give the software permission to do auto-updates).

b) You need to install this as an ADMINISTRATOR. By default, the software will attempt to do that. If it cannot - you will need to explicitly give it permission, by right clicking the install file, and then clicking 'Run as Administrator...'.

c) If you get any message, something along the lines of "Component in Use.... [i]gnore [r]etry [e]xit", click on "Ignore". You may have pre-existing software on your computer that uses certain 'software components' installed on Windows, in which case you can safely click on 'ignore' and proceed with the installation.

As soon as you get a license key (for both the free 7-day trial, as well as the full version of the software), the software will attempt to automatically install it. If successful, simply click on 'Start Software' when you see the splash screen.

If the 'start software' screen is grayed out, you will need to enter the license key. To do this, click on 'Enter Key', then cut & paste the two lines. The first line will most likely consist of your name & e-mail address (i.e., "yourname, youremail@whereever.com"), and the second line will be the license key. (I.e., X8392-ZZZZZ-etc). Cut & paste this two lines, then click submit.

1. When the software starts up, click on "Enter Key".

2. Next, enter your username/license key pair into the software, and click okay. It should start up.

PLEASE NOTE: The "top line" consists of your "first name", and "lastname", with a "comma", then a "space", and then your e-mail address. If you change any of this, it will not work - so please use the key EXACTLY as sent to you.

Some Windows machines will automatically show a 'blue screen' saying 'Unrecognized App'.

1. If/when it pops up, first click on the 'More Info' item.

2. Then, click on the 'Run Anyways' button that appears, and the software will run & start the installation process.

If for some reason, you do not see the "Run Anyway" setting, you most likely have Windows Defender set to super strict settings, in which Windows makes decisions for you, instead of letting you decide what to do.

You'll need to change the settings in Windows Defender (in the control panel) from "Block" (which automatically blocks things, without letting you decide), to "warn", which will show you a "warning" like this, but allow you to decide whether or not you run an application. You can do a search engine search for something along the lines of "how to change windows defender settings to warn". You want to change this, in the image below:

For some strange reason, certain installations of Microsoft Windows don't install software correctly. This may include something known as an "active x" control, or "ocx" control. Sometimes Microsoft Windows installs .ocx controls correctly, sometimes it doesn't. There are several different options.

1. You can install the latest service pack (VB6SP6) from Microsoft's website here. If that link doesn't work, you can directly download this Microsoft installation package here. After installing, you may need to restart your computer and then restart the software.
2. Another solution involves manually 'registering' the .ocx file.

• Hit the Windows Start button
• In the search box, type "command" (do not presss ENTER yet)
• While holding CTRL-Shift, hit ENTER.
• You will be prompted with a permission dialog box.
• Click Yes.
• Type this command: regsvr32 /u msflxgrd.ocx
• Hit ENTER. This process will UN-register your file, allowing you to RE-register it.
• Type this command: regsvr32 /i msflxgrd.ocx
• Hit ENTER. This process will RE-register your file.
• Close the command prompt window.

Try running the software. It should work.

Microsoft Windows has something called "code pages". In most native English speaking countries, i.e., Canada, USA, UK & Australia - currencies are formatted with a "period". In other countries (i.e., Europe), currency is formatted with a ",". I.e., "$79.99" versus "$79,99".

To fix that error - and run this software correctly, you need to make sure you are running the software with an English speaking codepage. (I.e., "English (USA)"). To do so, you go into your control panel, then click on Region, then make sure you have "English (United States) selected. Click on 'Apply' once you've made the changes, then restart the software, and it should work 100% correctly.

To make things easier for you, the software (WinningPrizeSearchPRO) from time to time will do automatic updates. Automatic updates usually consist of additional features, bug fixes, better ease of use, and so forth. Automatic updates are designed to make it super easy, so you always have the latest & most current version of the software, to make sure everything works perfectly. Basically - the software checks the website server to see what the current version is, and if the version on your computer is less than what is on our website server, it will download that update to your computer.

However, some anti-virus (AV) software does not like that, and may 'flag' and/or 'quarantine' the software. The software is perfectly safe to run. Just some AV software doesn't like automatic updates, and flags that.

So there are a couple simple solutions.

1. Do a direct download from our website to get the most current version of the software.
http://winningprizesearch.com/downloads/WinningPrizeSearchPRO.exe

When there is an update, if you directly download the latest version from our website - it always has the most recent version of updates installed. So there is no need to automatically update, and the anti-virus software will allow it to run 100% a-okay.

2. Tell your Anti-virus software to give WinningPrizeSearchPRO permission to do automatic updates.

Generally speaking, most AV software has settings to allow certain programs to automatically update. So you will need to launch your AV software, and usually look for something along the lines of 'custom permissions' for specific software applications. You will then find WinningPrizeSearchPRO - and tell the AV software to allow it to do automatic updates, and then it should work. Also, make sure it is removed from "Quarantine".

Since there are so many different types of AV software, it is beyond the scope of this FAQ (and our tech support) to describe specifically how to do that for each application. However, generally speaking your personal AV software will have an FAQ section of its own how to do that. You would simply do a search engine search for something like "(name of your AV software) + custom software permissions", or "(name of your AV software) + remove from quarantine", and they would usually have step by step instructions on what to do.

If your AV settings have been set correctly to allow the software to automatically update (as in FAQ point #7), there may be other things that are preventing it from running correctly. This should assist you.

1. Firewall Settings

Again, the software needs permission to to run. If you have a very strict firewall, it may be preventing the software from downloading/communicating with the website. The software also periodically does license key checks to make sure the license key is valid. To find out how to change your firewall and give the software permission to do this, please do a search engine search along the lines of "change firewall" + your operating system (i.e., Windows 7/8/10/11). So for example, "change firewall settings in Windows 11". Usually you'll find step by step instructions on how to do so.

2. Network Connection

Please make sure you have an active internet connection. If somehow you become disconnected from the internet, you may get this issue. Also - sometimes if you are running a wireless internet connection in different locations (i.e., you are traveling), Windows operates differently if you select "Home Computer" as opposed to "Public Computer" connection. Please do a search engine search for "How to change network connections" + your operating system. Try changing it to a "Public Computer" network connection, and see whether that works for you. An example of a visual/step by step example is here.

3. Automatic Windows Updates (I.e., Windows 8/10/11/etc).

From time to time, Windows will install automatic updates that affect programs. Microsoft is quite well known for this, making "mistakes" that cause installed programs not to function correctly after a Windows Update (which is actually one of the reason most people don't like Microsoft Windows updates). If this happens to you - simply re-install the software using this link http://winningprizesearch.com/downloads/WinningPrizeSearchPRO.exe and it should fix things.

4. Administrator Mode

The software by default attempts to run in Administrator mode. This is because sometimes it will do automatic updates, as well as when you start the software it will download a list of promotional entries (i.e., sweepstakes/contests/competitions/etc) to your computer. If for whatever reason it is not running it Administrator mode by default, it may not work correctly. To resolve this, when you go to launch the software, instead of clicking the first mouse button - use the 2nd mouse button (right click) and you will see a little popup menu that has the option of "Run As Administrator". Click that, and the software should work. If any popup menu appears saying "Are you sure you want to run as an Administrator?", say yes. And it should work.

5. Other software may be interfering

Sometimes if you install new software (after this software), it installs what is called a "re-usable component".  A "reusable component" simply means that different software applications on your computer use portions of the same 'code' to perform their functions. Unfortunately, some software does not do this correctly, which may affect other software. If that happens, simply re-install the WinningPrizeSearchPRO software from this link, and it should fix it: http://winningprizesearch.com/downloads/WinningPrizeSearchPRO.exe

You can always download the most up-to-date current version of the software here:
http://winningprizesearch.com/downloads/WinningPrizeSearchPRO.exe

When you install the software and run it, there is then a "License Key..." section. Click on that - and there will be an option for you to retrieve your license key information. Simply enter your e-mail address, click send, and it will re-send you your license key information. You may also re-generate a new key from that console if you need it as well.