i use avast home edition since last july and i remember that the VPS updates were almost in daily basis but now the updates are rly slow…the latest update at the moment is 0701-0 which added today(3-1-2007) after the previous update(0666-1) which added on 31-12-2006…that means 2days of delay while AVG free has more regular updates…i’m not saying that AVG is better,i’m saying that avast used to have more regular updates than now and the avast team should do something…i have a file with a virus(scanned at both virustotal and jotti),i sent it twice(i have sent virus files lots of times and i’m sure i do it right) and the virus is still unknown to avast(i sent the file 7days ago)…this updates delay isn’t good at all coz my pc is at risk while other AV have the updates to make u have more protection and prevention…i rly like AVAST and i’m not going to switch it but they have to improve the update time…
You shouldn’t take things in isolation
3.1.2007 - 0701-0
New Years Day
31.12.2006 - 0666-1
30.12.2006 - 0666-0
29.12.2006 - 0665-0
28.12.2006 - 0664-0
27.12.2006 - 0663-0
26.12.2006 - 0662-2
Christmas Day
24.12.2006 - 0662-1
I have been using avast for 2 years 9 months and during that period there VPS update have averaged about 4 per week but on some days there have been 4 or more updates and during this time I haven’t felt unprotected, there is absolutely no way I would go back to AVG free AV. The free updates were abysmal, difficult connecting to the servers and very large non-incremental updates, a real pain on dial-up (a major reason for switching to avast).
If they have more frequent updates (I have yet to be convinced of this) it doesn’t seem to be doing much good as avast continually performs better in the likes of av-comparatives or VB100 tests.
avast should be only one piece of your system protection with anti-spyware, firewall and a good degree of common sense.
lol…i didn’t see the date of those updates…i just state what i remember… 
as for AVG free i completely aggree with u and i don’t prefer it…but the updates seems to be faster…i check AV-Comparetives from time to time and i know that AVAST is more effective than AVG…i recommend avast AV to everyone and im not going to switch it…i just mentioned what i remember about AVAST updates…
i use comodo firewall,spywareblaster and Spybot S&D with immunisaion enabled…and i scan with Spybot once per week…anyway…thnx for ur info Davidr 
We all want faster and reliable updates 8)