I really doubt a VPS update could cause similar problems.
Did you receive a program update as well? (you'd be asked to restart your computer)
Did you install anything else shortly before?
........
Don't think there was a program update as far I'm aware of
My current build number is (Sept 2007) 4.7.1074
This problem occurred immediately after Avast was updated today on 11/03/07
As a matter of fact this system needed to be restarted 3 times after the update was installed
No other downloads or other updates were done besides the Avast update
As stated earlier the problem is coming from the Standard Shields
Once the Standard Shields are disabled all is well