Spyware, viruses, & security forum: Adaware won't update

I installed the Adaware program several years ago, and haven't had a problem until now. Yesterday, Adaware prompted me to search for and install updates. I clicked on Connect, as I normally do. Shortly after, I got the message "error retrieving update." I tried again and got the meessage that it couldn't connect to the Lavasoft server. I tried again and got this message: "The downloaded definition file could not be read, please try again."

I tried again, but no luck. I tried to get help from Lavasoft, but was told that I needed to enteran email and password to their site, which I never had to begin with. I tried to find out how to register by clicking on "register" in the product's help section, but was brought to the page that asks for your registration information.

Could someone tell me what's wrong with my Adaware, and if it can be fixed? I tried uninstalling and reinstalling, but that didn't help. In fact, I was told that my last update was 500 days ago.

The only things different that I've done with my computer after the last update two weeks ago and now, was to clear my temporary files in the C: drive to get rid of a possible virus, remove McAfee products and install Avast and set up my Windows firewall -- that was performed by a computer repair guy who said McAfee was messing up my system.

Shortly before experiencing problems with Adaware, the electricity went out for a minute, but that never affected my computer before.

I have Windows XP with SP2
Avast Antivirus
Windows Firewall
512 MB of RAM, 502 with video card
Adaware Personal 1.06r1

Any help would be appreciate.