I’m experiencing a similar issue, although it only occurs immediately after cold boot. It’s only started happening in the past couple of months. Update works okay if I reboot, or if I initiate update manually from the system tray icon.
Try a repair of avast. Add Remove programs, select ‘avast! Anti-Virus,’ click the Change/Remove button and scroll down to Repair, click next and follow.
What is your Internet Connection method, broadband, dial-up ?
Please check if the file C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\Setup\servers.def is displayed correctly, it should contain [servers] on the first line.
You can try and download the servers.def file, http://files.avast.com/iavs4x/servers.def and replace the one in the avast setup folder, disabling the avast self-defense module first.
How do you connect to internet, is it ADSL? And do you have other computers with working avast updates using the same connection?
Try to open avast settings - Update (Connections), press Proxy button, and select Direct connection, press OK to confirm. Then try to start iAVS update manually again.
And do you have other computers with working avast updates using the same connection?
Nope.
Try to open avast settings - Update (Connections), press Proxy button, and select Direct connection, press OK to confirm. Then try to start iAVS update manually again.
I’ve verified the settings time and again. Screenshots attached.
Maybe you should try an installation from the scratch:
Uninstall avast from Control Panel first.
Boot.
Download the latest version of Avast Uninstall and use it for complete uninstallation. If, for any reason, you can’t run it, try booting in Safe Mode and doing it from there.