New Install 5.0 AIS. Firewall not working. Service not working

[phylo]

I'm on XP SP3. Have been on free 4.8 but decided to pay for 5.0 AIS.  Not sure it was a good idea at this point. 

Install said it was successful but on reboot got a blue screen and had to start with last known good config.  When I got in I noticed white cross and "system is not secured" message on icon and nothing seemed to be working.  Clicked "Fix" and it reported "The following component could not be started: Firewall".  Forum advised repair through Control Panel and Repair which I did but it said I couldn't "Firewall driver couldn't be installed.  The installation will proceed without the avast! Firewall component" (this error was not reported in the original installation). Installation continued but still nothing was working.  I also got a message like "avast service is not active".

I have since used the clean unistall in safe mode and reinstalled with the latest download but same result (even the blue screen). Can anyone help with a futher suggestion?

[Gargamel360]

Any other previous firewall would be a good start.

[phylo]

I had Windows Firewall on the first time I installed but I've had it turned off since after seeing this indicated as a possible issue in a forum post.

If this is a problem shouldn't the install messages or instructions highlight this?

Reinstalled 4.8 - no worries.  Turned off Windows Firewall, manually uninstall ed 4.8.  Installed 5.0 fresh.  Same problem - blue screen on restart, etc.

I've returned to good old 4.8 again.  No problems with that!  But I need to know whether to cancel my payment for 5.0.  Advice would be very much appreciated.