How to know when avast! is updating?

[Jima]

avast! has worked so well for the last year or more, I never come here to see what problems people are having. 
One of the main reasons I installed avast! and a few other security devices was that my ISP status would show continued activity in and out when all windows were "Done."  I got rid of these hijacks and have been content with my situation.
avast!, however, sneaks in with "Updating the virus base" without any indication it is doing so until it is finished.
If I log off while the download is in progress, then avast! chews me out after a few minutes.
How do I make my settings so that I know it is avast! that is hogging my modem and not sometning I don't want?  Windows Task Manager (ctrl-alt-delete) does not tell me avast is working.
Just before logging on again to make this post, avast! was apparently making a biggee, approaching 2 mega bytes, a burden on my 31 kbps and I could not find out who it was.
Thanks for the help.

[timcan]

In program settings >update (basic) ask when update avaliable
Not sure if that is what you want ,but could try it.

[galooma]

Would it be safe to assume that one of the safety devices/ utilities you installed was a firewall pehaps. If thats the case then you would be able to monitor any unidentified traffic through this I believe.
If you dont yet have a firewall then maybe you should consider one .

[DavidR]

avast!, however, sneaks in with "Updating the virus base" without any indication it is doing so until it is finished.

This is something that you must have changed as it would have been happening for a year or more and hasn't just sneaked in. Do as Timcan suggest and switch to ask when update available, that is what I do as a dial-up user.

[Jima]

Thanks for ideas.  I did find I had enabled "Automatic Updates."  I changed to "Ask when," and I'll see if this solves my problem.  I do have ZoneAlarm, but allowed Avast! to bypass it.