Monty Python

This happens to me a lot with AVG. It may be that malware has delibarately messed with it, or it just went bad on it's own.

What I do is run a "Repair" via Add/Remove Programs. That usually fixes it. If you don't get that option, try uninstalling it & then reinstalling it.

however, on the chance that malware did cause the problem, I would cross-check your status with either trendmicro's housecall or kaspersky's on-line scanner.