What operating system? (and what version of avast! 4 or 5? just to be sure)
So, you're saying that even if you stop all real-time shields, nothing changes? In that case, I'd really recommend uninstalling avast! and trying again, because I don't see how the free version of avast! could affect anything if the shields are down.
(And if the uninstallation of avast! helped for some strange reason, my next question would be - is it possible to download that Fred V2 software somewhere?)