My OS is Windows XP SP1. ashDisp uses almost all of the CPU time (99%), but it does not release it to other applications, so that it becomes almost impossible to work, as any program I use suddenly stops responding and if it even responds, it takes ages. The computer does not lock up completely, but it becomes unusable I don't think it is normal, and if I don't find a solution I will have to switch to another antivirus program.
I agree, this is really annoying.
But, today is Sunday, maybe tomorrow morning you can get some help from the programmers of avast! It seems that a drive (Microsoft's one perhaps) is not interacting well with avast!
Can you low the sensitivity to Normal (Standard Shield)? Does this make any difference?
If not, can you disable the Resident providers for a while to see if they work when re-enabled?
You are free to change your antivirus, but try to find a better support than avast!