AVG users will know that you have a colored icon down in your sys tray.
When it turns black/gray, it means your dat files are old.
Mine never turns that color as I have on auto update of my dat files.

However yesterday all three of my PCs (two towers, one laptop) the icon was gray/black, yet I had the newest dat files.
However when double clicking the icon to launch the control center, there was an option to upgrade to 8.5 via the interface.

Do this if you are having the same snafu I was.
It will give you a new license key which is different than your old one.
Mine is still good until next September, then I have ante up more $$$ to extend the subscription.

This indeed did fix the black/gray icon.
They want you to upgrade to the newer engine.
The interface is way different, will take a bit to get use to.

This new version also has a root kit detector, very nice.

I have been using AVG for years now, I got tired of the bloatware that Mcafe became, and it slowed down my PCs.
I can not even tell AVG is running hardly when it scans every morning when I get up.

 

Whether you had 7.5 free or paid, AVG offered free upgrades to the new version.

We have competitions at our store to sell the most AVG Internet Security Suite licenses.

You'd be amazed at how many people switch to AVG from Mcaffe or Norton.

 

Yep, my new one was free, but the thing is the little message when you mouse over the icon in the tray should say:
"Hey, free upgrade, check your control center to get rid of this black/gray icon."
But instead it makes you think your database files are out of whack.

You can not pay me to run Norton.
Serious bloatware, even more so than Mcafe.
I have pulled Norton off of many a friends machine in the past.

 

I've been running avira for a couple of years now, it seems even more lightweight then AVG, but that might just be in my head. Works well also, I use the Free version with the once a day advertising pop up.