Windows Defender should be disabled by the Windows, when you install Avast (the same for other 3rd party AVs) to prevent conflict.
That said Windows Defender may still have carry out periodic scans still enabled and it would still be updating its virus definitions for these scans. Also some Windows 10 features may still be checking downloads, I read something on that but can't recall where.
I went into the Windows Defender settings, and disabled these periodic scans and any other thing that could result in a scan/conflict.