Also, is there any way to be notified when replies to my queries are posted?
Underneath the box where you type your message > attachments and other options
About the cookies, others don't have that problem.
Go over all the settings in the browser and check them.
If you can't find anything strange, perform a repair of avast and see if it solves the problem.
If not, perform a clean installation of avast as this will set everything back to default.
