Keef, you can turn off the audio of that message in "sounds", to disable the blue box, go to program settings, update (basic), details, untick the appropriate (4th down) box. Make any other changes wanted, also.
I don't recommend disabling the "show when VPS update has failed" box. Might be useful to know.
[edit]PS, get a bigger screen. 19'' is good. ;)

Tarq - thanks again - I had assumed it was just the 'demise' of 7.5.

As I posted, I am using Avira at the moment so I am taking a 'rain check' on AVG TFN. I may return. So far Avira looks good if anyone else would like to comment? Scheduled scans etc, missing from Avast as Keef says. 24mb download though.

ParaB - thanks also. I 'fixed' the problerm with a sys restore, but good to know the fix. The 'support' for the Free version is pretty well (understandably!) non-existent. The forum is the only real way to get help and the mods are 'non-AVG' bods but helpful. They walked me through a reset of permissions in the reg (which had been a 'hint' from other Googling) which could have been blocking the reg key creation, but that knocked out Mrs B's User profile on the machine (now restored).

Fun, innit?

Edited for emabarrssing spelling mistake

This post in the Avast! forum explains a way of setting up scheduled scans.

I have been a fan and user of avira since win98 days. Only problem have had is a few (about 2) false positives, which were very quickly fixed when i queried them.

One thing I like about avira is that you can now "lock it down" and specifiy a default action to be taken when a virus is detected that does not invlove prompting the user. Recently had an experience with a friend when their (paid for) anti virus popped up a message saying "xxxxx detected, allow?" and the default button was "ok, allow" which meant the trojan got installed. Quite a "Duh" moment.

So far, though, avira has proved foolproof on kids machines.

Thank you! Job done.

The screen is 21". My eyesight ain't what it used to be ;)

A 'tidy up' post to say I have returned to Avast now due to the lack of email scanner in Avira (Free).

I like the "scheduler" hack - using Windows task scheduler.

I should have thought of that! That's how my laptop and desktop machines turn off their speakers at the memsahib's bedtime, so she isn't woken up by pooter noises.

AVG 8 Update "A .bin file is missing"
 

AVG 8 Update trouble message "A .bin file is missing"

Trouble started this morning (Dec12). I thought it might have come from a flash drive that wanted to install "something". But now I have the same error message on this laptop which hasn't been used for many days.

Has AVG put up another defective update??


Edited to add:
I wonder if my ISP is blocking .BIN files. Some do. AVG ought to think of that possibility.

Farther edited to add that updating again works. Someone fixed something somewhere without any actions from me.

seacue

Just got a pop up window inviting me to upgrade to AVG 8.5.

Anyone done it here?

Is it worth the effort?

Thanks.

BTW I run AVG 8 on my Vista media centre PC and Avast on my XP laptop. Both seem to work well. :ok:

Came just at the right time for me as '8 had got corrupted & causing m/c to do a couple of unexpected resets. Functionality seems just the same, tho' the website tells of obscure magical things that have been added / debugged.
Can't tell the difference - except that the nag screen is gone.

8.5
 

8.5 installation worked fine for me. It's quite a long download.
As to whether it is better or worse - I have no idea. It just works.

I'm running AVG7.5 at the moment. When AVG 8.0 came out I upgraded and found that FS2004 VFR Scenery would not load, or if it did, it was extremely slow. After discussing it here I went back to 7.5 and everything was OK.

Now it looks like I will have to replace 7.5, does anyone know if 8.5 has solved my problem. If not I will try Avast or Avira

I use AVG 8.5 and it works just fine (Vista).
I downloaded Avast and it also works fine. I downloaded a virus program from PC Tools. Now I cannot turn any of them off. I don't want to remove them, just have one running at a time. I cannot find a way to do this for any of them. I used to be able to do it with AVG version 7 but cannot get 8.5 to take a break. So far no interractions causing trouble but it is bound to happen. Anybody know how to shut down any of these programs?

The current AV's use low level drivers that will conflict with each other even if you are able to turn one or more of them off. I believe the only way is to uninstall the one/s you don't want to use. The others can not remain installed as secondary demand scanners. (I believe Avira - which is good- has an ability for installation without the resident.)
Avast and AVG both have removal tools, that should be run in safe mode, to complete the uninstall. Avast uninstall utility. AVG Remover.
What PCTools AV did you install? Threatfire will run well alongside most AV's, being a behaviour blocker. I know from experience it works well with Avast.
For secondary demand AV (or other malware) scanners, I'd suggest MBAM, Superantispyware, or Dr Web's Cureit.

It takes hours to install one of those things and now I have to uninstall. Oh well. Which is better, AVG or Avast? I am happy with AVG 8.5 and have used it for a while, but was told Avast does a better job. I also have PC Tools anti virus free, which I guess I will dump since I know nothing about it (although it seems to be a great program and was also recommended as useful against Cornficker).
I await erudition...

Shouldn't take that long to install or uninstall one (unless there are problems..)
My vote goes to Avast; I think the free version is probably as good or better than the paid version of AVG. But it's all subjective, of course, until you get hit by something and your AV doesn't stop it. (Happens with them all, if you're real unlucky.)
If you're happy with AVG keep using it.
No reason why you shouldn't hang on to the installer files for the other AV's if you later change your mind, if bandwidth is an issue.
AV-Comparatives - Independent Tests of Anti-Virus Software - Welcome to AV-Comparatives.org is a fairly good site for comparing the performance of various paid AV's.

Thanks for the replies all. :ok: