G'day Toucher,
given this happened "overnight" (if I'm reading things right) it may have been after a m$ "update tuesday". Where I'm going is there may have been an 'update" from m$ that has conflicted with something else in the machine. Check system restore to see if there is still a restore point from before the time the problem started. If so, retorn to that restore point and see what happens. This should be a safe procedure as if all else fails, you can undo the restore.

The other place to look is how Avast is scanning incoming files. Of course, there's always the usual clean up processes like deleting .tmp files etc.


--=-- My credo: If it's worth doing, it's worth overdoing - just ask my missus, she'll tell ya laugh --=--
You're only paranoid if you're wrong!