Followed instructions. I am a little surprised that avastui.exe still loads and it is not possible to stop it running in Task Manager or disable it in Services/Startup. But it has certainly done the trick. The kettle is barely boiling before I can read my email. Previously, it would have boiled, I'd have made the tea, drunk a mug and leisurely smoked a cigarette before I could do that.
Many thanks for the assistance