Hi,Folk, like myself, who rely on AVG FREE EDITION (ver 7.0) will be well aware of problems currently being experienced as we have been attempting to download and install updates. :(Sadly, there is a lot of negative comment out there which, as ever, says more about those individuals who choose to react in this fashion and whose behaviour, in this instance, probably only serves to irritate those at Grisoft who, I am quite sure, are doing their level best to rectify this issue ASAP.As ever, a little time and research produces positive and helpful results, for there is a workaround:Please regard this as being a temporary solution which should resolve matters meantime. For those of you running Windows XP or 2000: Search for a file called 'hosts' on the same drive as your operating system.Open it with Notepad and add the following lines:193.86.103.19 guru.grisoft.com # 212.67.74.214 guru.grisoft.comThe bottom of your hosts file should now look something like this:# For example:## 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server# 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host127.0.0.1 localhost193.86.103.19 guru.grisoft.com # 212.67.74.214 guru.grisoft.com(N.B. There should be at least one free space between the IP address and the host name - I have 7.)Save the file (don't 'Save As') and check that the extension .txt has not been added.You will note that I have added 2 lines. The second (which has been commented out with the #) is an alternative to try if the first fails.Hopefully you should now be able to use the AVG **FREE** update service again :)Now, open a Command Prompt Window and type - ping guru.grisoft.com (press RETURN/ENTER)It should return a few lines starting with: Pinging guru.grisoft.com [193.86.103.19] with 32 bytes of data: Reply from 193.86.103.19: bytes=32 ..... If you see this then all is well. If not, then you will have to recheck what you have added to the hosts file.I did say this should be considered a temporary solution. It is possible that once this problem has been resolved on the Grisoft servers the above workaround will no longer work. That being the case, all you need do is remove the added lines to the hosts file and save it again in its original state.Hope this helps.Mike

Thanks, Mike. I've been scouring the forums at grisoft and wondered what the problem might be as none of the solutions there seemed to help. Up to now, I was attempting manual updates, but those were sporadic at best. Either I got lucky with the latest update or your trick forced the connection for the update to work. At any rate, your help is very much appreciated.Best Regards,Jim

The downloads have been slow but other then that its been working fine, just might sit there for a few minutes trying to download the update.

Hi Jim,Glad to have helped. I take no credit for this advice. I merely put it all together from various sources.Mike

Some more useful info to shed further light on this topic.The following was copied from the Grisoft forum:"If Grisoft were to move their server functions around (which they might if they make changes to address this problem), then updates could stop working for anybody who has altered the hosts file. For everybody else, ie. those who haven't altered the hosts file, then any such changes by Grisoft would be accomodated automatically. Because ... AVG7 looks to guru.grisoft.com for its updates. Your PC goes to a DNS server on the internet, to find the IP address for guru.grisoft.com. At the moment, you are directed to 193.86.3.34, and as we know, that server is very busy. You have overridden this DNS lookup, by adding an entry to the hosts file. The PC looks at the hosts file first, before going to the DNS on the internet. If it finds guru.grisoft.com, it will take the IP listed there, and not look to the DNS. This 'workaround' works by entering an incorrect IP for guru.grisoft.com, which directs your PC to 193.86.103.19, which is a (update) server which is not (yet !) too busy. (It is also not where Grisoft intended you to be !) The reason Grisoft (and nearly everybody else) specifies a name for their servers (ie. guru.grisoft.com), and not an IP address, is so that they can change the IP address easily. They just update the IP address listed on the DNS server on the internet, and when your PC looks up guru.grisoft.com, it gets the new IP address and heads off to whichever actual server they want you to be at. You never know it changed. The hosts file workaround has fixed the IP for guru.grisoft.com, in your PC. If Grisoft remove 193.86.103.19 from service, or change its function away from serving updates, then your updates will fail. Everybody else, who hasn't 'interfeered', when they ask for guru.grisoft.com, will be directed to whatever new IP Grisoft have entered into the DNS. So, keep this in mind if your updates start to fail."Interesting stuff!MikeDNS : Short for Domain Name System (or Service or Server), an Internet service that translates domain names into IP addresses. Because domain names are alphabetic, they're easier to remember. The Internet however, is really based on IP addresses. Every time you use a domain name, therefore, a DNS service must translate the name into the corresponding IP address. For example, the domain name www.example.com might translate to 198.105.232.4. The DNS system is, in fact, its own network. If one DNS server doesn't know how to translate a particular domain name, it asks another one, and so on, until the correct IP address is returned.

Thanks for the tip. I have another question, for auto-checking of downloaded files which one of the various exe files should be specified in Download Accelerator?ThanksShez

Hi Shez,Not sure about Download Accelerator but here is a capture from Star Downloader:http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/105578.jpgI imagine it would be a similar setup in DA.Mike

Thanks let me try that.Shez

Mine copy continues to update just fine how weird.

have only been using it a few months (Norton subscription ran out, FINALLY!), but have been updating with no problems (XP Home) Fitz

As I stated, this should only be considered a temporary solution.Following 2-3 days of using this workaround successfully I checked the forum at Grisoft yesterday and found that the problem has now been resolved. Consequently I deactivated the line in my hosts file meantime by simply commenting it out and, for the moment, all seems well.Mike

Have you had any luck updating from a folder Mike?With the earlier version you could d/load the current update, save it to a folder and update from there but I can't get this to work with V7.The reason I ask is that I have 2 PC's networked and the one without direct Internet connection I used to update AVG by pointing it to the AVG folder on the other PC.If I try that with V7 it tells me there is no updated file available.

Hi Vulcan,"Have you had any luck updating from a folder Mike?"...I'm afraid I haven't tried as yet so can't comment. Perhaps I'll have a go tomorrow and report back.Mike

Well I tried without any luck. Brick walled at the first fence, if you'll forgive the mixed metaphor!Made several attempts to download the priority >4MB .bin update dated 7/02/2005 with the intention of performing a manual update, but no link was established, so gave up.Anyway, Grisoft's usual updating procedure, which generally involves KB rather than MB downloads and is very fast with broadband, is back to normal and is definitely up to speed, so it looks like this temporary difficulty has been sorted out.All's well that ends well :)Mike