So you now have AIS installed with the firewall unchecked (only the AV portion working), and the Windows firewall on.
Is your Security Center registering your Windows firewall? You had said that it does see Avast as your AV fine.
If everything is working OK and your issue is resolved, please go back to the first open post in this topic, click the modify button in that Post and change the title/subject, add [Resolved] to the beginning of the title so this thread can be closed. If you feel that your issue is not fixed, please let me know what other questions or concerns you have. Thank you.