Adobe Flash won't update after updating from Avast Free

Hi, I have Avast Antivirus 2015 Free and about 2 weeks ago received a notice that several programs on my computer (like java and flash) needed updates.

For the Flash, there were 2 that seemed to need updates, a browser plugin and some sort of Flash runtime, I think. Anyway, I updated 1 of the 2 Flash items and the other vanished from the list. I later started to get notices in my browser that i needed updated Adobe Flash to view things like YouTube videos.

Windows XP PC. I have tried uninstalling Flash from Add/Remove Programs. I have used Adobe clean uninstall. However, every time I download a copy of Adobe’s Flash Player installer and save it to my Downloads, I run the exe and it says downloading, runs through the entire install and says the install failed.

I have tried to guess exactly when I attempted to update Flash through Avast and attempted to do a system restore to that time, but still can’t install Flash. I can’t say for certain that the issue is caused by avast, but looking for any insight anyone may have on clearing out Avast’s software updater cache/list. I’ll keep trying other things in the interim, but wanted to explore possible steps to resolve through Avast’s end.

download the Flash installs from here and give them a try:
http://www.adobe.com/uk/products/flashplayer/distribution3.html