Hello Sam,
Thank you for reaching AVG Support Community.
We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this may cause.
We request you to repair the AVG Secure VPN and check the status.
Please follow the steps as mentioned in this article and try it on the AVG Secure VPN.
Make sure that the following options are enabled in your AVG Secure VPN.
1)Open AVG Secure VPN and go to ☰ Menu ▸ Settings and select "General".
2) Mark a tick on "Start secure VPN when the computer starts".
3) Select Network Security and turn on 'Automatically when connected to internet'
4) Restart your PC and verify it.
Also please refer this article to enable it.
Thank you for your understanding.
In the last few weeks or so, the VPN has decided it does not want to auto-connect, despite the "auto connect" setting being on. I have to manually do this every time. Please explain.
It's not the first time I've seen this type of weird behavior with AVG software. I remember some months ago the AntiVirus Kit deciding suddenly it would not turn on after boot up, and i would have to do it manually.
How can I trust the programs that I pay for when they do not do what they're supposed to? It makes me nervous that this can happen, because you don't get any warning that it hasn't connected. i.e. i'm unprotected.
We apologize for the inconvenience, Sam.
Please disable/uncheck the "Exclude private networks" option in the AVG Secure VPN settings, restart your computer & check for the issue.
Keep us updated.
Hello Hari, thanks for the response.
Sadly the "repair" process made no diference. The Program still waits for me to manually switch on the VPN, even though i am connected to the internet.
Even though the settings pointed out in the "article" are applied. (They were switched on before performing the repair, and remained switched on after it too).
I'll await your next advice.
Hello Sam,
Thank you for reaching AVG Support Community.
We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this may cause.
We request you to repair the AVG Secure VPN and check the status.
Please follow the steps as mentioned in this article and try it on the AVG Secure VPN.
Make sure that the following options are enabled in your AVG Secure VPN.
1)Open AVG Secure VPN and go to ☰ Menu ▸ Settings and select "General".
2) Mark a tick on "Start secure VPN when the computer starts".
3) Select Network Security and turn on 'Automatically when connected to internet'
4) Restart your PC and verify it.
Also please refer this article to enable it.
Thank you for your understanding.
Hello Sam,
It's good to know that you have managed to resolve the issue. If you need any help with AVG, feel free to contact us at anytime. Thank you.
Much appreciated Midhun. That has resolved the issue. 
Much appreciated Midhun. That has resolved the issue.