So, update:
I actually completely uninstalled avast and installed the newest version (10.3.2225) as I had version 2218 installed before and it didn't help... Infact it made my system very unstable. But calmed down after a complete clean install later but the automatic updates STILL DO NOT WORK.
I've been researching by checking multiple different folders and stuff and I have a question for any avast techy here. Are the servers used by the manual update process and the automatic update process the same or different?
Because I checked the logs in Program Data/AVAST Software/Persistent Data/Avast/Logs/Update (2 different pads open to compare each type) and the server names for both are different. When I attempt to do a manual install and check the log afterwards it has a different server name than when I wait for activity from instup to happen from the automated service (which actually does happen) but it appears that when the automatic update happens, it ends with:
END: Avast installer/updater, return code 0 (0x00000000) [The operation completed successfully.]
When I read the log on a manual install log I get this at the end of the log:
END: Avast installer/updater, return code 40965 (0x0000A005) [No update available]
Also... the server names for both are different, as I previously mentioned: Here are the names for both.
Manual:
ChooseServer: selected server 'Download n7270985 AVAST9 Server' with current url '
http://n7270985.iavs9x.u.avast.com/iavs9x' of type 'URL_TYPE_DOWNLOAD_PROGRAM'.
ChooseServer: selected server 'Download b3701573 AVAST9 Server' with current url '
http://b3701573.iavs9x.u.avast.com/iavs9x' of type 'URL_TYPE_DOWNLOAD_PROGRAM'.
ChooseServer: selected server 'Download l0901386 AVAST9 Server' with current url '
http://l0901386.ivps9x.u.avast.com/ivps9x' of type 'URL_TYPE_DOWNLOAD_VPS'.
Automatic:
ChooseServer: selected server 'Download f9673982 AVAST9 Server' with current url '
http://f9673982.iavs9x.u.avast.com/iavs9x' of type 'URL_TYPE_DOWNLOAD_PROGRAM'.
ChooseServer: selected server 'Download g4070624 AVAST9 Server' with current url '
http://g4070624.iavs9x.u.avast.com/iavs9x' of type 'URL_TYPE_DOWNLOAD_PROGRAM'.
ChooseServer: selected server 'Download h9806250 AVAST9 Server' with current url '
http://h9806250.ivps9x.u.avast.com/ivps9x' of type 'URL_TYPE_DOWNLOAD_VPS'.
Is this normal? Would just like to know.
Last thing I wanna mention that is very strange... is that since fresh installing to the latest version of Avast! Antivirus... the instup.exe process seems to run before I can even login to windows, hanging pretty much any other process until it finishes. I find this odd as in previous versions that came before the process always ran after all of Avast's processes (shields etc) had loaded. Is this normal behaviour too?
Some feedback would be appreciated.