Sorry I took so long to get back to this. Suffice it to just say it has been and incredibly busy and eventful summer. Anyway I ran the support tool. I did not attach it here because it is my understanding that it is automatically sent to Avast. It was run immediately after a reboot with the avast tray icon telling me I was not protected because all shields were not on. The File ID the tool generated was HB7SV. Thank you so much for your time, and again, I truly apologize for my lengthy delay.