I ran Add/Remove program from the control panel, followed by a re-boot and then aswclear.exe because the "alwil software" directory and its content (sub-directories program, dll, etc...) had not been deleted by the Remove procedure
Friday 19 december, 07:38 PM (in Belgium)
Finally, I have an up to date version of the system. How did I get this ?
1. I uninstalled the avast from my pc, making sure that there was no unexpected file or directory left on my HDD.
2. I deleted all registry entries mentioning avast
3. I downloaded 4.8.1296 from avast server instead of using the one I had downloaded from download.com
4. I registered again (same key was generated)
5. I installed freshly downloaded version
And now it works. I first got the message saying that the database was out of date (081204-0) and the program automatically downloaded VPS 081218-0.
So, I am now a happy man, running an efficient antivirus program.
Many thanks to everyone who tried to help me.
Best Regards,
Robert