Hello SafeSurf:
Thanks for the info. I actually did use the Avast Uninstall Utility, aswClear5.exe, during my 'rollback'. My steps weren't as detailed as you've listed though. But I booted into safe mode, ran aswClear5.exe, rebooted into normal mode, installed my older version of avast, then rebooted to see the effect on the boot-time. (I'm running Windows XP Home SP3 by the way). Lots of rebooting, lol.
Yesterday the result of rolling back seemed to be a definite improvement, today however, after a few tries, my boot up was again on the slow side. (So sorry for any misinformation my original post may have caused.) I guess the correct approach, as was suggested earlier in this thread, is to use a boot profiler to first identify the problem. I'll try to play with that when I have some more time.
Best of luck brian890, like you I find slow boots are really annoying.
Cecil.