Initial version installed here were 6 or 7, current version is 8.0.1497 (internet security trial, last update was done through vnc and it does not displays free/trial selection window, so I apparently blindly clicked at bigger button), all program updates proceeded without problems.
Issue with definitions updates have been the same with free version. I am not 100% certain, whether this problem occurred in 7 version, but it certainly occurs in all minor versions of 8. Maybe this is by design?

About HDD, yeah, i am aware of PIO, this HDD is not in good shape and has many reallocated blocks. Before previous restart it was possible to get it to DMA mode, but it dropped back to PIO (and probably will do so over and over again). In DMA mode it got ~40MB/s. (This HDD has been in use almost 24/7 since march 2005)