here is one of the treads on the AVAST forum issued today about the new update for version 5 that is supposed to fix some of the problems, but as you can see many are still experiencing problems. I know several people have just gone back to 4.8 for now till they get the bugs worked out. I am still on 4.8 for now. Avast 5 pre-release program update [5.0.393] in case anyone needs it this seems to be what they are suggesting as the removal tool on the forum avast 5 removal tool

Owbist, than you for the valuable suggestions you have given me in the past. You wondered why I do manual updates rather than automatic. I remember only too well the "old days" when updates often caused problems after installation. I learned it was better to check here first before updating. Someone here usually knew about the problem (probably learned the hard way!) which gave me the chance to wait until the problem was solved. Since I turn the PC on only about once a week, manual updates work fine. Incidently, in case there are any more "Nervous Nellies" like me who are concerned about inadvertantly getting Avast's paid version, there is an option given about three steps into the update. And I kept my eyes open for that other stuff Avast wanted to install that you warned about. Thanks to all who offered suggestions. Cheers, J .

Dadoes, I must be running the latest version as the date was Nov. 2014. I have Silent/Gaming Mode UNchecked. I also have Enable Avast Sounds checked. I still don't have sound or the box that comes up. Strange. Greg, it is updating because when I check it has updated after I turn on the computer. I just don't have the box and sound come up like I have had for years. I have the latest version. I guess I will just live with no sound and go into Avast every day to make sure it is updating.

I'm not sure I understand the problem, Gringo. Are you saying that the recovery partition/reserve is completely gone from your system? That it was accidentally removed/deleted? Off the top of my head here are a few of thoughts. > Perhaps the hard drive is failing. If that's the case...back up your system asap and get a new hard drive. > If the hard drive is OK...the only way I know to get the recovery partition back is to do a reinstall of your operating system...from scratch. If this is required...again...back up to a disk whatever you want of your existing system because a reinstall will return your system to what it was when it came out of the proverbial box. > You can try sfc. /scannow from Command Prompt as Administrator. It might help but I don't give much hope for it. However...the end result of this type of scan might give you an answer...or a clue...as to what's wrong and why it disappeared. If you get more facts...please post them. I doubt that this problem had anything to do with Avast but I wasn't looking over your shoulder over the last several days when you've been dealing with the Avast issue. Translation...I don't know what you did before you ran the Avast tool I posted.