Hi Nigel and Graham,
Nigel, which version of Windows are you running?
Over the past couple of weeks I have completely wiped and reinstalled Windows 7 on two different computers. This is reformatting the hard disc with the system software and installing the system and then all programs from scratch. My Windows 7 Home Premium disc is pre service pack 1 and hundreds of updates have to be installed. This is a process that involves a lot of bad language.
BACKUP ALL DOCUMENTS AND STUFF TO KEEP BEFORE FORMATTING THE DISC.
There is a problem with the update program itself which happens after an update just after installing service pack 1. The update program stops working properly, it continues searching for updates ad infinitum and never finds anything. This happens with both 32bit and 64bit versions of Windows 7.
The answer is to manually download and install a newer version of update. If you search Microsoft Support it will first point you to the download of the bad update agent.
The newer one is on this page.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/949104
Scroll down to find the version you need. Make sure your bad version of update is not running before installing this newer version.
Nigel, I stopped using Avast or AVG and now just use Microsoft Security Essentials which handles anti-virus for Windows Vista or Windows 7.
Available here:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/hel ... s-download
I haven't had any problems with viruses and it seems to be less intrusive than Avast and especially AVG.
I hope this helps.
Jon