The ashpopwz.exe is for setting up pop3 email clients under win9x and winME so as it rightly siad it isn't needed.
I don't use MS Outlook so I can't speak from experience, but if the splash screen is displayed and the avast plug-in isn't disabled I would have though you were protected. You can check the Outlook/Exchange provider in avast and check the Last Scanned: and Scanned total: fields, these should constantly change if your email is being scanned.
Have you set it to be stamped ?
Outlook/Exchange, Customize..., Outbound Mail, 'Insert notes to clean (uninfected) messages.'
Insert Clean Notes - Personally I don't feel that the insertion of clean notes is very worth while.
Certainly doing it for inbound email is pointless as if it is infected all hell will break loose with a visual and audible alert so you will know. For outbound email it is more of a good advert for avast, but if the recipient is anything like me they won't trust any clean note as it can be inserted by 'anything.' In fact there are a number of virus attacks that inserted an not that the email was scanned by a well known AV which shall remain nameless, this to lull recipients into a false sense of security.
