I have followed all of the instructions in the previously submitted fixes. I have uninstalled (multiple times) and reinstalled using the new .exe file. I have disabled the firewalls. I have done everything short of sacrificing a lamb...and I still get the "error" message, although without the 5% indication.

What's next Lavasoft?

Please see the sticky posted at the top of the Ad-Aware SE forum:
Solution For " Error Retrieving Updates. Interrupts At 5% Download Completion "
http://www.lavasoftsupport.com/index.php?showtopic=8253

That gives the complete, accurate description of how to uninstall and then re-download a fresh copy of Adaware.
It also gives the correct download link for the corrected version that is needed for those having this problem.

The instructions for users of the Plus and Pro version are a bit different from Ad-Aware SE Personal.