So true tech...I also have instaled avast on many systems and not one dial up error. Its a shame that thru an experince so rare as this one that avast has to called the culprit here. If I had to take a shot in the dark, I would say there was some leftover AV on comp, or a firewall issue, or AOL is involved somehow, or perhaps all 3 or more.
I want to state for the ones who may be new to avast and see this thread, that this is an extremly rare error, that I have never encountered thru many installs and suggestions to install to others. Only good words from them all. So dont let a rare circumstance, which I do NOT believe was directly caused by the program, and to not let it scare you away from the best AV I and others have ever used
Some things you may want to try:
Reinstal your network card drivers and or modem drivers.......If you have a firewall installed, disable it and see what happens. You say you are using xp, go to control panel, right click on network and tell it to repair.....
Thats all I have, good luck to you sir......