Avira Support Forum

I am having problems updating my Avira Personal, still. My sister told me to uninstall and reinstall and it would work. So, I recently uninstalled Avira to try to fix the problem, reinstalled with the latest product but uninstalled again because it wasn't downloading the updates. I want to get Avira back because it has been so good about protecting my computer but I'm not sure how to go about updating the VDF. I have read about manual updating but I'm very unsure of how to do this so I won't mess up my PC?

Did I absolutely mess up by uninstalling my old version? Is there anyway to get the old version back if that happened? If I can't do anything else with Avira, is there any suggestions of what to do for a new antivirus? I hate going unprotected.

I'm running Windows XP Professional Version 2002, Service Pack 2, AMD Athlon, 1.11 GHz, 256 MB of RAM. Dialup connection at 26.4Kbps. (Not sure how useful that information may be.)

Hello

Try this command in Command Prompt:

"C:\Program Files\Avira\AntiVir Desktop\update.exe" /DM="0" /NOMESSAGEBOX /receivetimeout=120


Make sure the " is there!

Also please try a fresh install :

Download Avira Antivir Personal again

Click on START

Go to Control Panel

Go to Add and Remove Programs

Find Avira Personal

Click Remove

Restart when asked.

Once booted back up again please disable your internet connection for the time being and run the Avira AntiVir RegistryCleaner (Extract to its own folder)

Go to the folder where you extracted the Archive to and right click on the Icon.

Once the program pops up click on "Scan for Keys"

Let it finish completely

Once completed click on "select all" and then click "Delete"

Reboot once again.

Reinstall Avira Personal

Hopefully this works

I'm not an advanced computer user so I have no idea what a command is or how to do that. Nor do I want to. I don't want to mess with any settings that may interfere with something else on my PC. My ISP messed up another computer of mine by telling me to do the wrong thing.

Quoted from "iRai"

I'm not an advanced computer user so I have no idea what a command is or how to do that. Nor do I want to. I don't want to mess with any settings that may interfere with something else on my PC. My ISP messed up another computer of mine by telling me to do the wrong thing.

As you wish. However I can assure you that this wouldnt damage your System in anyway whatsoever. If you do wish to try the command follow these instructions:


Go to START Menu

Click on All Programs

Go to Accessories

Then go to System Tools

Click on Command Prompt

Copy this command:


"C:\Program Files\Avira\AntiVir Desktop\update.exe" /DM="0" /NOMESSAGEBOX /receivetimeout=120


Right click on the Command Prompt and hit paste

Then hit Enter

An Avira Updater window will pop up. See how long it takes

Is there anyway to update my VDF files without waiting on Avira to automatically update seeing that it's taking a while? A little easier/faster way to get it to update? WITHOUT using the command prompt. I refuse to even mess with that.


Or maybe I should ask, What is a manual update? How do I preform one? Would it be easier to do it with dialup seeing of how the file, as some have said, is a little bigger than the rest?


I refuse to work with the command prompt. I have no idea what that is and I know it's within my system. The problem isn't my system, I'm sure. It's that the VDF is too huge for my computer to update because of my dialup, I'm assuming. I can bring up the "update" window (well, when I had Avira) but after 10 minutes, it still hadn't moved. Usually it updates quickly (within 15 minutes or so). So it's not that I can't bring up the pop up menu to update, I just can't get the file to update... like it won't download or something. So I'm just asking if there's a quicker and easier way to do this without using the command prompt?


Hopefully after repeating myself, someone can understand what I'm wanting and how to help me.

The problem is not with your computer. Avira issued a VERY LARGE update a few days ago and anytime they do that the servers for the free version get badly overloaded and you start seeing complaints in this forum about not being able to update. The Premium users have special, dedicated servers. When there is a very large update they too, for maybe one day and only some users, have trouble getting the update but many have never had a single problem with the paid servers and always get even the large updates on the day they are issued.

Avira has tried to fix this problem. It is a problem that goes back many, many years and is Avira's achilles heel. Recently they increased the number of free servers but that didn't really help because Avira is a victim of its own success as more users are getting Avira...the free version so the servers remain clogged when there are large updates. Unfortunately, starting this year the number of very large updates has increased drastically. That is because of the sheer number of baddies out there this year. So, where in past years, this problem would occur maybe 4 times a year now it is occurring about every two weeks! And all the new users are getting the free version. If most of them were purchasing Avira then there would be less clogging and Avira could afford more servers for the free version if more users bought Avira.

For someone on dialup, the manual update is VERY large and will take hours to download and you run the risk of corruption during a long dialup download. You can try it but there is no good solution for dialup users. I have broadband but I have not been able to update for about 5 days now. Quite frankly, I don't think Avira is a good solution currently for anyone on dialup. Use Avast 4.8 for now. Avast 5 should be out by the end of the year and it will have a much nicer, more modern GUI and behavioral HIPS protection that Avira is just now in beta with and will not be in Avira until Avira 10 next March/April if even then. If you really want Avira, then you should purchase a premium version especially since you are on dialup. You can do a 30 day trial of Aivra Premium to see if you might want to purchase it and you can witness for yourself how much better the dedicated premium servers are. On broadband, the premium servers give you a MUCH faster download speed than the free ones. On dialup, your download speed will be the same slow speed with the premium servers but you should be able to get a download started on the first or second try and you can set Avira Premium to try and update hourly if you want.

If you want to try a manual download follow these instructions. You don't need to put the file on a USB stick or a CD. Just save it to your hard drive. When it is finished downloading, then doubleclick on the umbrella in the system tray and bring up the Avira GUI. Go to Menu, Update and select Manual Update. Navigate to the file you saved on your hard drive and open it. It should update very quickly. The hard part for you will be the long download because of dialup.

You might read this from a fellow dialup user with terrible problems with Avira update.

Hello

Thanks Mele.


iRai,

As Mele said Avira isnt exactly made for Dial-up. I too would recommend going to a new provider or buying the Premium or Premium Security Suite.

Quoted

Hopefully after repeating myself, someone can understand what I'm wanting and how to help me.

I completely understood you iRai

Thank you Mele20 for your wonderful help. You've actually given me more information than I asked for. I'm actually thanking you from the bottom of my heart. You're wonderful. I guess I just haven't been patient. But I thank you sincerely. I really do. I was thinking it wasn't with my computer. So I guess now I can reinstall Avira and update my files a little later when things aren't so clogged.

Quoted from "Mele20"

If you want to try a manual download follow these instructions. You don't need to put the file on a USB stick or a CD. Just save it to your hard drive. When it is finished downloading, then doubleclick on the umbrella in the system tray and bring up the Avira GUI. Go to Menu, Update and select Manual Update. Navigate to the file you saved on your hard drive and open it. It should update very quickly.

Thanks from me, too, Mele20. The manual update worked perfectly. (Good thing I'm not on dialup ... ivdf_fusebundle_nt_en.zip was 29.7 MB.)
Alice

iRai and Alice.Wyman, I am very pleased that I was able to help you. Your kind words are much appreciated.

iRai, I hope you can soon get your Avira updated. If possible, always try to update during the hours that Germany sleeps especially if you are in the USA/Canada as the time difference is enough that you can probably do this without losing sleep. For me, in Hawaii, the time difference is 10-11 hours depending on daylight savings time that Hawaii does not have. Usually, I can get an update at 2AM German time but 1PM Hawaii time.

Alice, I'm glad the manual update went fine for you. It is a big update so would take a long time on dialup. it is really intended for broadband users. It is updated almost constantly so that too can pose problems for dialup users as a change while a dialup user is downloading it could cause corruption of the file.