I found that there seems to be a bug in the installation of Avast. Selecting the individual components you want during the installation results in Avast taking about a minute and ten seconds to load during start up (Windows start up that is), while selecting the standard/default/whatever installation option allows avast to start up in about 10 seconds flat. I had no previous AV installed, so I figured the problem was something specific to Avast...and it turns out I was right
So in short:
If you have the AAVM subsystem detected error, and AVAST is taking around a minute to start up and happens to be bogging down your access to anything else (any other programs), try uninstalling, and selecting the standard or default selection for the protection services. Then, if you need to remove a few services later, you can do so without having to worry about that nasty 1 minute start up time. Thanks to all who assisted!