1. AvastUI, Settings, Status Bar, uncheck the ones you don't want avast to monitor (see image, click to expand). However, if you don't use an application that is covered by the Shield, why not uninstall the shield.
2. Personally I thing it a mistake to disable/uninstall the Mail Shield even if don't use an email program, but use web mail viewed through your browser. In fact I would suggest you leave it installed as it isn't using resources unless it is actually running and I would go further to suggest that you set the sensitivity to High. The reasoning for this is, if you have a trojan spambot (they have their own SMTP program), which has got past your defences, either undetected or hidden; then your first indication could be the alerts from the Mail Shield of this activity.
