I have a problem here between Avast Free Edition and XP Service Pack 3
Windows XP will freeze at the loading screen. The loading bar stops moving, so I have to do a hard restart and then select "use last known good configuration" for Windows to boot up. Once Windows boots up and Avast loads, it says that my system is not protected because the Avast service has stopped. I cannot turn the service back on.
If I restart, everything is fine, and Windows loads properly. If I go into add/remove programs and REPAIR the Avast installation, it will start working once again, along with the Avast service. But if I restart again, Windows will once again freeze during the loading screen. So I have to then do the "use last known good configuration" all over again, which will then disable the Avast service.
Any idea about what is going on? I am running XP Service Pack 3 fully up to date. Fresh full installation of XP from a few days ago on a formatted drive. I downloaded Avast directly from the Avast web site. There are not viruses or malware on my system as well.
Thanks.