I've only had Avast installed as anti-virus, it's actually been working for quite awhile except recently, other anti-malware/ spy programs I have installed are: Spybot, SuperAntiSpyware, and HijackThis.
Since you have had avast for some time I presume that you first had avast 4.8 ?
If so it might be worth doing a clean reinstall, see ~~~ below.
The program just says "Your system is not protected," is that what you meant by the element that's unsecured, or is there a way to get more details? Thanks.
No, that appears to be the Tool tip when you hover over the avast icon. Left click the avast icon and that opens the avastUI, Summary section, which gives more information on what area isn't working, Shields, Update process, etc.
~~~
- Download the latest version of avast, 5.0.545
http://www.avast.com/free-antivirus-download and save it to your HDD, somewhere you can find it again (if you didn't save your last download). Use that when you reinstall.
- Download the avast! Uninstall Utility, aswClear5.exe
find it here and save it to your HDD (it has uninstall tools for both 4.8 and 5.0).
- 1. Now uninstall (using add remove programs, if you can't do that start from the next step), reboot.
- 2. run the avast! Uninstall Utility from safe mode, first for 4.8 if previously installed and then for 5.0, once complete reboot into normal mode.
- 3. install the latest version, reboot.