thought this was worth mentioning since I'm hearing about such an issue for the very first time:
http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=72792.0the guy is actually saying that he can open the safe zone but there's no visible browser inside. When he clicks on the browser shortcut, he can see something shiny , most likely a windows frame telling him that the browser is there.
Sounds to me like an interference of the show desktop function in Seven.