Hello Joecool, Welcome to the Avast Forum!
Most of the times when someone is having difficulty with an Antivirus ,that might be because of other things.
May I know which version of Avast product are you using ? Do you have any other Anti-Virus installed in this system (or were you using any other antivirus before Avast ?), if so what was it and how did you remove it (the vendor's uninstaller's tool or another way)?
Have a wonderful day.. Good karma!