When you say in your post above,
No other virus guard is on this laptop. The one that was on it was removed from Add or delete programs, all but the trial version of avast.
it's the meaning of the text that I've bolded that I can't work out.
You seem to be saying three things: 1 -There has never been an AV on the laptop,
2 -There was an AV but that was removed through the control panel
3 -There was another I removed but the trial version of Avast is still there. But not updating.
So I'm having trouble working out how to help.
The brand of the "other" AV that may/may not have been installed is important, the solution might depend on it.
I'm just going to offer you a generic solution that might work. Please be methodical.
-Download the Norton removal Tool:
http://majorgeeks.com/Norton_Removal_Tool_SymNRT_d4749.html-Download the Avast uninstall utility:
http://www.avast.com/eng/avast-uninstall-utility.html-Download the Avira registry cleaner, no. 6 here:
http://www.avira.com/en/support/support_downloads.htmlSave these to your desktop.
-Disconnect from the net. If applicable, uninstall all and any AV from the control panel "add/remove programs". (And if this happened, reboot.)
-Run the Norton Removal tool. Reboot into safe mode.
-Run the Avast uninstall utility. Reboot into normal mode.
-Run the Avira registry cleaner. Reboot if prompted.
-Try re-installing Avast from the disk you purchased. (If I've read you correctly, the content of this disk
has been successfully installed on another system, has it not? If not, maybe the disk is suspect.)
-If this works, reconnect to the net, get updates, go, post back.
Good luck.