I used the Uninstall Utility, yet Avast says I've a previous version

[bigspanner]

Try this settings top right in gui,updates set vps to auto set progeam to manual, my computer is allways connected, proxy set to direct connection no proxy. Then try right click tray icon check for vps update.

Sorry, don't understand you at all.

[mchain]

hi bigspanner,

Have a look at the .jpeg attached below.  Even tho the gui (program window) is from avast! Internet Security, the pic is from:

avast! program window>Settings>click Settings>navigate to Update.  Make the changes suggested by Arizona by clicking the appropriate radio button.  Close your settings window. 

Right-click the avast! icon in system tray and try to update now.  Or, try to update as you have been trying to do via the usual way.

(You can only see the .jpeg below if you are currently logged on to avast! forums.)

[bigspanner]

Thanks mchain,

This is where the problem is.....



For my PC, it has to be direct connection for the updates to work.

Don't have to touch anything else. What I didn't understand from him is that there is no VPS icon or whatever in the control panel.

Anyway, Avast 8 is a dampener. Every time I change the proxy settings, Avast will break my internet connection by deleting my network device driver. I've experienced it a few times already and I was wondering how which software is making my network connection fail and no matter what manner of recovery I did, it still fail, until I roll back my system restore point to the last working configuration.

Now I know why.

If this intermittent failure of my network connection occurs too often when Avast updates its virus definitions or by some strange behaviour it is screwing my network connection, I may seriously consider dropping Avast. It's getting to be a bloatware anyway. Really do not know what Avast is trying to achieve with all these upgrade from version 7 to 8, it's becoming more and more unpredictable in its behaviour, especially deleting my network device driver.

[bigspanner]

The Avast Control Panel for Update hides the Proxy setting under the scroll. And if we didn't know the Proxy setting is scroll all the way down and open the arrow, we will never find it.

Why don't just use direct connection without proxy in all instances? What is the usefulness of the proxy feature, I really don't get it.

[DavidR]

You can't use a function that assumes the user has a direct connection, not everyone has a direct connection, though the majority probably do.

That is why the option is set to use the Auto detect (IE settings) and for many people that works just fine, in some instances avast is unable to retrieve that information from the IE settings.

[bigspanner]

In all my decades of using 1,000 over software that most of them are still installed in all my computers, I've never come across one that has problem in updating itself, when the updating function is there. Only Avast and Chrome.

No problems with IE, Maxthon, Opera, Safari, Adobe, Java, Microsoft, Avira, Anvir, Malwarebytes, etc, etc, etc.