According to your own posts, you were looking for other alternatives.
If you are still interested, I would suggest uninstalling avast.
Then run the specific removal utility for avast under Windows Safe Mode. Run it several times for each and every version of avast you ever had (like versions 5 and 6, for example).
Then reboot again into Windows Safe Mode and manually delete any (hidden) folders that would include "avast" or "alwil" in their names.
Download the latest stable version of avast and right click -> "run as administrator". After the new install, reboot.
Please delete the firewall rules you had before for avast, so they can be re-created correctly ("learning mode" of the firewall, or equivalent).
Please report back.