no themes (i have the service dissabled) or replacement shells -- standard explorer with no eye candy.
monitor -- i'm not sure what you're after here. LCD at 1280x1024, 32 bit color, 70Hz refresh.
as for IE, i've been running many custom XP installations using nLite over the past couple months. with nLite, there are 2 options reguarding the removal of IE; one just removes access and the other removes the core files (and probably modifies other system files). i've never removed the core files, only access, and avast has always worked like a champ.
trouble is, i can't pinpoint when the problem started. i'm thinking that it started after a program update about a month or so ago on an existing XP install, but i'm not sure. i too suspect that the problem has to do with removing XP components, but then i see a couple others have mantioned the same problem.
if you can provide a list of files that avast depends on, i'll search to make sure i have them all.
BTW, here's a list of all services i dissabled:
DHCP client
distributed link tracking client
distributed trans. coordinator
DNS client
fast user switching
network provisioning service
print spooler
QOS RSVP
remote access auto conn. mgr.
remote access conn. mgr.
remote desktop help
removable storage
smart card
system restore
TCP/IP netBIOS helper
terminal services
themes
uninterruptable pwr. supply
wireless zero config.