thanx for the suggestion - didnt get chance to try it cos it has fixed itself.

I think the error was being caused by an email (or amount of emails!) i had in my in queue. heres what i did:

I removed the 127.0.0.1 loop back - re-entered my servers POP3 details (i needed to check my emails urgently)

downloaded my emails unprotected (38 genuine - god only knows how much spam!)

re-entered the avast 127.0.0.1 settings

all working fine again

Ill keep you posted if future emails manage to crash avast

cheers
rob