Since AVG introduced automatic updating for its free software, the system seems to have worked reasonably well, but recently the update site has gone down occasionally. When this happens, AVG now whinges that it cannot update itself and puts a big "x" on its iconthat usually appears in the bottom RHS of the screen (oh what do you call that place?) This appears to indicate that AVG is dysfunctional and tries to make you panic that your virus protection is no longer available! It is however still there, AVG will continue to try and contact it's update website and when normal service is resumed, the "x" disappears so that the icon regains it's normal appearance. Of course this problem does not happen to Avast, it just seamlessly updates itself in the background and the only time you realise that you have got a problem is when your annual renewal certificate runs out, the software thus fails to update itself at all, and when it is out of date by a month or so, the Microsoft icon indicating that viris protection is not working appears.
I have just checked and my AVG(free) update system is still working normally
P.P.