I'm getting the same problem with my dad's computer, except that it wouldn't update even manually. I would click either AVS or program update and nothing would happen except a avast.setup file would be created in the Setup folder each time I tried....so I ended up with avast.setup, avast.setup1, avast.setup2, avast.setup3 etc etc.
So this afternoon I uninstalled the current version using the uninstall program because the link in add/rem progs was broken. I reinstalled with a freshly downloaded version, then did a manual update. It worked properly, and downloaded approx 2.3 or so megs of VPS updates. I left it unattended and either did not leave a confirm message when it finished or automatically rebooted the system. At any rate, after the update took place, the manual update would again not function. I did a reboot and as soon as I connected to the internet again I got another red popup.
Any ideas?