I did some more testing, and avastsvc.exe size is definitely related to what else is running. For example if I start process explorer, avastsvc.exe immediately jumps to 30MB. If I shut down process explorer, avastsvc.exe is down to 4MB.

Now process explorer is monitoring everything running including open/closed ports, etc. I suspect avastsvc.exe is increasing it’s number of handles, etc. when it encounters monitoring/disgnostic and other types of software that access TCP/IP ports.

I guess if I had limited memory, I would be concerned. I have 8 GB. Bring it on avastsvc.exe! 8)