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The first thing that springs to mind is that a lot (A LOT) of this software is bundled with other software that installs itself at the same time. An ethical company will explicitly tell you this in the open and actually give you the option of whether to install. Most companies aren't that ethical. Legitimate companies will include information, in some form, regarding this other software in their EULA, which few people bother to read or even scan and so don't notice it, but this meets legal requirements. Still, not all companies are legitimate.
And, one of those common types of software to come bundled with shareware, demos, or freeware detects as a trojan because that's basically what it does, acts as a trojan. It may not be entirely malicious (although it might be), but it's still gathering info about you and your system and opening an avenue for attack on it by others who may or may not even be associated with the original program.
And example of this is TGSOFT and its StyleXP software. It's a good software if you like eye-candy and have grown bored with the standard themes of XP, like most people. The installer for the software itself is fine, although limited to a 30 day trial period. However, start downloading themes, which you need for the program itself to be of any real use, and the first few pages of "new" stuff on themexp is always wrapped in an installer that is a bundle of both the theme and a marketing trojan. Any decent virus checker won't let you install it.
Another possibility is that you're getting this software from a bad source that has had its collection of files corrupted, intentionally or not, by malicious code.
Yet another possibility is that the part of the program that implements the time restriction presents itself as a trojan in the way it acts. If so, it probablly phones home on a regular basis, IOW.
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