I am grateful for the response I had, and they did lead me to the resolution. I just have to decide whether I dare download the Internet Security again.
You can install the newest AIS with confidence. Please keep in mind that the issues you see posted here on the forums come from
an extremely small, minute percent of 200,000,000 users worldwide. The huge, vast percent who don't have issues very rarely post.
Myself and many others beta tested v2014 without any "real" issues. v2014 is the most "bug free" release of avast that I am aware
of (I started with v5.0).
As Eddy stated if you see the title(s) Administrator, avast team, avast translator, Uberevengelist or Evangelist, you can be assured that you
will receive good solid assistance. We are here to help.
