I've tried rebooting and repairing with no success - the service keeps stopping still
Looking at the service, I can see that upon failing the first and second times it will restart, and upon subsequent failureit runs
C:\Program Files\AVAST Software\Avast\setup\instup.exe with the parameter /instop:repair
which explains why the shortcut keeps re-appearing on my desktop. I am denied access to make it restart on subsequent failures.
If this isn't fixed soon, I'm going to have to go elsewhere for anti-virus