Avast does not appear to be providing resident protection

I am a relatively new pc user so will be able to talk basics only.
I use avast (advice of friend) on my desktop and all seems to be well. I have 2 revolving icons in my start up tray.

I installed it onto my laptop ages ago and have just realised that there is no icon in the bottom right hand tray. I went onto log viewer/notices and this is what I got:
constant messages saying ‘function setifaceUpdatePackages0hasfailed’
ALSO
‘an error has occured while attempting to update’

I uninstalled and reinstalled right at the beginning when i realised the little ball had gone but it hasn’t made any difference at all.

It does perform a scan when asked but it is soooooooo slow even on a ‘standard scan’

thank you

We will need more information to be able to help you:

  • Which OS are you using? Is it up to date?
  • What avast! version and VPS file (virus database) number?
  • Do you use a firewall? Which one?
  • Do you have any other antivirus installed in your system?
  • Any other security programs that could interfere?
  • Any useful information into Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Events, specially ‘Errors’.

What avast processes are running in Task Manager, they begin with ash or asw, see image ?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v325/for-dwr/ashresources.gif

Since you say you installed avast ages ago on the laptop. I suspect it is a old version and that you have to get a new key for it.