Avast free occasionally blocks PC during login

[Ueli]

This is for info only. I have uninstalled Avast in the meantime.
I installed setup_av_free_ger50594.exe on my PC with WinXP SP3 which has 3 user accounts. Most of the time it ran very well. But occasionally, after starting Windows and after login, the PC froze suddenly before all apps were ready. I couldn't even reboot. The only way out was a hard reset. After restarting, the PC froze again exactly the same way. Hard reset again, restart Windows and login as a different user. Now the login was successful. I could log out as the different user and login as the one I actually wanted.
Although it happened only occasionally, it was so annoying that I am now using another antivirus tool. I post this message to help Avast developers improve the software, because I liked Avast as long as it didn't stumble.

[superhacker]

Okay welcome here,if you want later to reinstall avast! you may try this:
From the main GUI->"settings"->"Troubleshooting"->tick the option "Load avast! services only after loading other system services "
From help file::

Load avast! services only after loading other system services - The avast! service is normally loaded quite early in the boot process. Sometimes this can cause problems when loading other system services e.g. the system may appear to "freeze" temporarily after starting. Checking this box will delay the loading of avast! services until after the other system services are loaded.

I wish this will be good and solve the problem.

[Ueli]

Hello, I'm back!  
I installed avast again on my PC. The option "start avast after other system services" was ticked. In addition, I ticked "check all files" in the section Live scan / Check on open. Initially it ran very well. One day later, however, I ran into startup problems again. They looked slightly different, but I ended up having to do a hard reset again.

Could this be related to avast trying to update too early? Also, I'm not sure if the avast start is delayed enough. The spinning icon in the system tray appears before all other icons are there.