Thanks to those who posted a solution to the Chrome fiasco during the update to Avast 7. I am SO disappointed in the folks at Avast. They BLEW it with this upgrade. I will be more careful next time.
Be more careful....how?
I upgraded a program that I trusted and had used for years. My first warning that it would attempt to install a web browser program that I had previously tried and discarded as not for me, was a screen on boot that gave me a couple seconds to reach for my mouse and uncheck "install chrome" before it proceeded to do exactly that, without my consent. I was too slow. Had I been completely away from my desk I certainly never would have seen it at all.
That the upgrade proceeded to fail and destroy my installation of Avast requiring a system restore and multiple boots to safe mode to clean up the mess, was a further, and unrelated annoyance.
While this might seem harsh, a program that installs third party software without warning or consent, is itself, by any reasonable definition, Malware. Even if you happen to like Google Chrome, this is the case.
Which brings me back to the question of how I would have been more careful. Before agreeing to upgrade Avast, I should have been a regular forum reader and taken note of all the V7 problems that others have been having? I guess. Then again, my time is not without limits. Personally, I'd be more happy with a program that simply did what I wanted it to do. If it also happened to include an "OPT-IN" option to install somebody's browser, I doubt that would bother me unduly.