hello, i have a problem with manually updating avast free 8-it won’t update. i turned on my pc and avast gave me the message that auto-updates failed and i should try manually updating as soon as possible. i click on manual update under the maintenance tab, and that is where the problem is-i am shown a screen with : updating…,Step 1/2, initializing, please wait, overall progress(black bar that does not show any progress). and that is the way it has been for 35min. i tried again an hour later, let it run 20min-nothing 
any suggestions?
Set avast! to: Direct Connection (No Proxy)