Thanks… I did figure out how to enable PUP scanning so I’m good to go… And yes, my system is far more current than yours and as I said, it appears the PUP’s and malware were at the root of the problem where the Avast icon in the task bar was concerned. And it’s good to know that the normal updating/installation process is longer than others, making my system now as fast as it will be. Yes, I’m also grateful Avast is supporting XP since I don’t see myself going to Win 8 quite yet nor do I have a touch screen, LOL.