I get this error message on startup or when I manually check for updates:

Could not load the latest version number.
", hexadecimal value 0x1f, is an invalid character. Line 1, position 1.

This started when I upgraded to v3.1.10 from v3.1.9. I tried a full uninstall and reinstall and still get the same error.
I'm running on Windows 7.

Thanks
Mike

Jon,
I am still getting the same error message. I can force the error by opening the settings window and selecting the "check for upgrade" button.

Mike

I'm on a home network. No proxy required. I administer the everything and even shut down the personal firewall to make sure that was not to problem. I just did an un-install of the program and will be re-installing fresh following a reboot.

Well, I started playing around with my AV and firewall. Using Vipre Anti-virus premium. Disabling the firewall did not fix the issue, but disabling the web filtering function fixed the problem. I ended up adding www.binaryfortress.com to the web filter exceptions list and now the check update function works correctly.

Thanks for your help
Mike