Although I am not sure if it is avast that starts automatically Outlook 2003, Outlook never loaded itself till I starting use avast.
The above happened when I used either avast 4.1 or 4.5 Pro. Well, here are the details. After booted into XP and everything is loaded such as resident apps and OS services, Outlook 2003 will swiftly loads itself - a short blink of Outlook icon next to the SysTray. And then OUTLOOK.EXE will appear under Task Manager > Processes, and then avast 4.5 will indicate there are 7 providers instead of 6. The weird thing is that I cannt close OUTLOOK.EXE under Processes. When tried to ended it, it will be said that "Operatoon counld not be terminated. Access denied".
I use Outlook for everything except for email. Anyone else is having this annoyance?