Within the last week I purchased and built a brand new computer. Everything is running great and Windows 8.1 is really starting to grow on me. Dare I say that I even like the metro start screen :O
Anyway, I have been a longtime user of Avast and currently have a paid license for internet security through September of 2014.
After installing Windows and getting all my drivers updated, I went ahead and installed Avast's newest version (9.0.2013) and everything seemed to be working just fine. After doing restarts of the system everything still worked with no issues.
The problem came after I shutdown the computer for the night. The next day when loading everything up, after logging in Windows would "hang" as in many of my startup programs, including Avast, would not load. The task manager, control panel, command prompt, etc. were also hanging and refused to even open. Windows updates would not install and after resetting via that app the system was unusable completely (I couldn't even login or get Windows to load) I tried resetting multiple times with no effect. I freaked out and tried system restores and even reformatting. After several attempts I was finally able to determine that the issue is Avast.
I am currently using my PC with only Windows Defender/Firewall running as I cannot use the Avast system. Currently I can shutdown and I ran the Windows updates without any issues. I have 100% confirmed that the problem stems from Avast.
I have sent tickets into support and have not gotten a reply after several days. My next step is what I am doing now, reaching out to the forum community.
I would really appreciate a working anti-virus program and if that cannot be provided, I wish to have a refund processed as I cannot use a program that I legitimately paid for.
Prior thanks to anyone who can help.
EDIT: The problem only occurs when I shutdown the system. After installing Avast, if I do a restart it works fine. I have tested this multiple times and just did another system restore to before installing Avast in the last half hour. Again I can confirm Avast is the issue here.