Here's my potential problem. I'm on dialup and ever since I got a dialer installed on my comp a while back I now unplug my phone line when I'm not online. This is my way of making sure that any dialer or spyware/malware cannot do what it needs to do, if such a thing manages to land on my comp. That being said....I manually check for updates daily on ALL of my software instead of using the "Auto Update" options. Well no problems until now. My AVG will not update, todays update shows as being like 74.5kb and the update begins but when I get like 54kb downloaded I lose the connection to the update server and therefore the update aborts and does not complete. I went to the AVG Grisoft website and downloaded the latest update file manually but it was 6.5mb and it save to my comp as a .bin file which I cannot open, so how do I apply it? Any advice would be great, and thank you!

See here

Thank You!
I assume I should download "RescueME" and run it?

Ok, sorry didn't realize at first that "See Here" was an actual link. I clicked on it and it took me to the "How to manually update AVG" topic at "CastleCops". Thanks for that. As for "RescueMe", I assume I should use that only if I can't update the AVG as instructed?

I did the manual update of AVG and even got the message box "Update was Successful" or whatever, but now the control center won't open. I click on "Launch Control Center" and all I get is a "ding" sound and then AVG stops responding, according to the Task Manager. Have not run "RescueMe" because I'm not sure if that is what I'm supposed to do. Help! Thanks!

Still have not run "RescueMe" but I did run HJT because it has helped me alot in the past. I was looking at the "Misc. Tools" section of HJT and decided to generate a startup list, all looked fine to me there (I recognized everything listed as legit). I then opened the "Unistall Programs" and generated a list and I saw alot of stuff listed that I do not see when I look at "Add/Remove Programs" list through the control panel. Here is a copy of that list:

Ad-Aware SE Personal
Adobe Acrobat 5.0
ArcSoft PhotoImpression
a-squared Free 1.6
ATI Display Driver
Autobahn Racing
AVG Free Edition
CCHelp
CCleaner (remove only)
CCScore
Doom 3
ESSAdpt *
ESSANUP *
ESSBrwr *
ESSCAM *
ESSCDBK *
ESScore *
ESSCT *
ESSEMAIL *
ESSgui *
ESShelp *
ESSini *
ESSPCD *
ESSSONIC *
ESSvpaht *
ESSvpot *
Freelancer
HijackThis 1.99.1
HLPCCTR *
HLPIndex *
HLPSFO *
Kodak EasyShare software
KSU
Lexmark Supplies Monitor
Lexmark Z23-Z33
MGI PhotoSuite 4 (Remove Only)
MGI Photovista 2.02(Remove only)
Microsoft Age of Empires II
Microsoft Age of Empires II: The Conquerors Expansion
Microsoft AntiSpyware
Notifier *
OfotoXMI *
OTtBP *
OTtBPSDK *
PCDLNCH *
QuickTime
Security Update for Windows XP (KB883939)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB890046)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB896358)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB896422)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB896428)
SFR *
SFR2 *
SimCity 3000
Spybot - Search & Destroy 1.3
VCAMCEN *
VPRINTOL *
Windows Backup Utility
Windows Installer 3.1 (KB893803)
Windows Installer 3.1 (KB893803)
Windows XP Hotfix - KB873333
Windows XP Hotfix - KB873339
Windows XP Hotfix - KB885250
Windows XP Hotfix - KB885835
Windows XP Hotfix - KB885836
Windows XP Hotfix - KB886185
Windows XP Hotfix - KB887472
Windows XP Hotfix - KB887742
Windows XP Hotfix - KB888113
Windows XP Hotfix - KB888302
Windows XP Hotfix - KB890175
Windows XP Hotfix - KB890859
Windows XP Hotfix - KB890923
Windows XP Hotfix - KB891781
Windows XP Hotfix - KB893066
Windows XP Hotfix - KB893086
Windows XP Service Pack 2
ZoneAlarm

I have put an "*" next to the things that I don't recognize and do not show in "Add/Remove Programs" list.
Also here is a fresh HJT log which I will post in the proper place if needed.

Logfile of HijackThis v1.99.1
Scan saved at 11:51:12 PM, on 6/17/2005
Platform: Windows XP SP2 (WinNT 5.01.2600)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v6.00 SP2 (6.00.2900.2180)

Running processes:
C:\WINDOWS\System32\smss.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\winlogon.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\services.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\Ati2evxx.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\Ati2evxx.exe
C:\WINDOWS\Explorer.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\ZoneLabs\vsmon.exe
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\USRmlnkA.exe
C:\Program Files\Microsoft AntiSpyware\gcasServ.exe
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\USRshutA.exe
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\USRmlnkA.exe
C:\Program Files\Zone Labs\ZoneAlarm\zlclient.exe
C:\Program Files\Microsoft AntiSpyware\gcasDtServ.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\devldr32.exe
C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe
C:\HijackThis\HijackThis.exe

O1 - Hosts file is located at: C:\WINDOWS\System32\drivers\etc\hosts
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [USRpdA] C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\USRmlnkA.exe RunServices \Device\3cpipe-USRpdA
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [gcasServ] "C:\Program Files\Microsoft AntiSpyware\gcasServ.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [AVG7_CC] C:\PROGRA~1\Grisoft\AVGFRE~1\avgcc.exe /STARTUP
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [AVG7_EMC] C:\PROGRA~1\Grisoft\AVGFRE~1\avgemc.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Zone Labs Client] C:\Program Files\Zone Labs\ZoneAlarm\zlclient.exe
O17 - HKLM\System\CCS\Services\Tcpip\..\{E8391498-8C4B-48D9-B1B7-91C7611244D2}: NameServer = 204.157.3.13 205.137.48.5
O23 - Service: Ati HotKey Poller - ATI Technologies Inc. - C:\WINDOWS\system32\Ati2evxx.exe
O23 - Service: AVG7 Alert Manager Server (Avg7Alrt) - GRISOFT, s.r.o. - C:\PROGRA~1\Grisoft\AVGFRE~1\avgamsvr.exe
O23 - Service: AVG7 Update Service (Avg7UpdSvc) - GRISOFT, s.r.o. - C:\PROGRA~1\Grisoft\AVGFRE~1\avgupsvc.exe
O23 - Service: Kodak Camera Connection Software (KodakCCS) - Eastman Kodak Company - C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\KodakCCS.exe
O23 - Service: TrueVector Internet Monitor (vsmon) - Zone Labs, LLC - C:\WINDOWS\system32\ZoneLabs\vsmon.exe

Hi, you only need to run RescueME if you want to run another virus scan on your PC or recover some deleted files or install any of the listed software.

It's main purpose is so I don't have to remember where all the links are to all the AV tools, I simply put it up for download as it might prove useful to others.

My advice is post the above in the hijackthis section of the forum.

Done

Thanks alot for the help, I am greatful!