I’ve had problems before upgrading Avast…skipping several upgrade ‘generations’ The PC in question is a 2004 laptop with XP. It’s updated and well protected…[as well as xp can be] with multiple anti-malware programs…all up to date except for Avast 2014.9.0.2021. Can I be reassured that upgrading to the current version won’t break this old laptop. If there’s significant risk, I’ll just stay with the current version.
I know to do system restore points but I have a newer win 7 laptop that can no longer use 32bit browsers and has other impairments due to a problematic avast update…I now use MSE on it and some other PCs but that’s not an option on XPs.
Thanks for any insight you care to provide.
I think that’s an impossible question to answer with any certainty.
There are users that are testing the latest beta 2016 on xp machines (with posted concerns) and some users have the latest Release version installed on xp machines.
Having said that, keep in mind that these days even though most security software will work on xp OS’s, the software is fundamentally design now for the newer/est OS’s available.
So you never know on xp and Upgraded Software.
Just some thoughts. 
Here’s the Beta Topic for more information and user experiences.
https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=177728.0
Thanks for the comeback…I’d never do the beta…just the final. My question is fishing for know issues with version jumping on xp.
My suggestion would be use the “search” function here in the forum as plenty has been posted by xp users.
All XP machines I’m managing with Avast installed, are using either
Avast Free 9.0.2.2021 or [b]Avast Business Security /b 10.2.2505 (current version).
So far, any upgrade to later versions of the consumer product have always led me back to 9.0.2021
After setting up restore points I went ahead and upgraded to the latest version. So far no adverse impacts seen…but this is just a backup PC Since I’m wary of XP’s security issues, I don’t do much like email or searching…so I can’t say I’ve adequately tested the reliability of either jumping multiple levels to upgrade or upgrading an 11 year old [110 in PC years] XP to the latest Avast…Only that it appears to have worked for me and could work for others…with multiple restore points in case it doesn’t.
Thanks to all for weighing in.
There are at least 4 threads on this forum about problems with XP and Vista. Avast versions later than 2218 freeze compters running XP and Vista, especially while vrowsing/surfing. A hard reboot is then required. This has been my experience, too. I am now running Avast 2218 without any problems.
Issues experienced by xp users are not generalized but configuration specific I believe, as many here on the forum running xp are not experiencing debilitating issues with latest Avast installed; myself included as I’ve run every release version and presently the 2233 without issues on xp SP4. 
Having said that, development in software ‘moves forward’ and is not static so older OS become unpredictable as far as compatibility with Security Software is concerned.