How to Disable the Advertising Tiles and Panel in AVG Antivirus 2013/2014

The AVG Free version includes multiple buttons/tiles you can click
- some on the main interface and some on a drop-down Notification panel.

But many of these are not features of the AVG Free version
- instead they open all sorts of adverts and sales pitches for non-free upgrades and addons.

I find this very annoying and it also confuses many inexperienced users into upgrading or buying extra options.
It is possible to remove these advertising buttons - but previously posted methods no longer work.

This is a summary of the current working fixes.
This has been tested as of December 2013 and has no apparent side-effects

The quickest way to disable the Notification Panel and Advertising Tiles in AVG Free 2013/2014
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1. Disable AVG self protection:

Right click the AVG icon in the taskbar (near the clock)
Select to Temporarily Disable AVG Protection
Agree the default timeout - usually 10 minutes?​

2. Open My Computer or Windows Explorer and Navigate to:

C:\Program Files\AVG\AVG201x\ ...... for 32bit systems (201x means 2013 or 2014)
C:\Program Files (x86)\AVG\AVG201x\ for 64bit systems​

3. Delete the following three folders: Awacs, Banners, Tuneup

Do not delete anything else you see inside the AVG201x folder.
If you accidentally delete anything else go to the recycle bin and restore it.
Note: If you have already paid for the Tuneup addon then keep this folder​

4. Close the My Computer/Explorer window
5. Enable AVG self protection:

Right click the AVG icon in the taskbar (near the clock)
Select to Enable AVG Protection - takes 20 seconds or so to fully activate.​

Open the AVG program - you should now have a clean AVG interface.
This fix survives the AVG daily updates and minor program updates but
after each major program update you will need to redo the fix.