If you have a firewall while you are downloading the AVG, and you are not accessing any other internet resource then you exposure is very limited. Unless you have an unpatched vulnerability I would say your risk is minimal.
Consider what your antivirus would do above what your system without the antivirus. Most of its capabilities are regarding real-time scanning of unsafe files before they are opened. If you are not doing anything except downloading updates then there is nothing additional your antivirus would be doing.
If you are installing a firewall product then the built in windows firewall provides sufficient protection during the download period.
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by: IneptedPosted on 2009-06-13 at 05:21:51ID: 24618867
I'm not sure which AVG product you are installing, but usually once you download the installation you can safely install it while offline. I would recommend simply downloading the install, disconnecting from the internet, uninstalling any other virus software you have installed, then installing AVG. After you install AVG you can then connect to the internet again so it can update itself, and while it is updating itself it can still catch viruses so you should be safe.
Generally, you are being somewhat overly paranoid about virus infections. You'd have to be pretty (un)lucky to get a virus in the 10 minute window between uninstalilng one antivirus and installing a new one. Also keep in mind not every antivirus can catch every virus, they have varying levels of abilities but generally the more updated the antivirus is the better. Another thing to remember is that sometimes instalilng an antivirus while still running another might cause problems similar to what you experienced.