Hi Tech,
My copy of avast! has been reliably updating itself throughout the years.. so it did update itself automatically from all the old versions to the latest 4.7. In fact, that's the reason why I've been quiet on this discussion group for a while, because avast! hasn't caused me any problems!
It's like a reliable old friend.
The problem I'm experiencing with Windows Security Center remains after booting. It doesn't really bother me now, as I just told Windows XP to stop bugging me about not running an anti-virus program... (stupid Windows!) I have confirmed that my copy of avast is working perfectly well... so it's just Windows XP being dumb. (I even tried to uninstall /reinstall avast! and my Windows XP is still not recognizing it).
Cheers,
Starfighter