My avast protection was disabled and I get the above message in my attempt to activate it.
You can try to update avast manually.
Better, try to repair your installation: go to Control Panel > Add/Remove programs > avast! antivirus > Remove. Then choose Repair function in the popup window (Repair). You must be connected to the internet while repairing.
If this does not help, can you uninstall / boot / install / boot again? 8)
Tech,
Thanks for the help! It worked by updating manually! 
marcosson