It does not respond to my question or my problem, it’s just an assertion.
Read my posts.
The Hardened Mode (Aggressive) Add an exclusions… option (in the alert window) doesn’t appear to be creating an exclusion.
However, I missed it first time round and used the ‘Show last popup message’ option on the avast tray icon - when that alert window was displayed again and I used the Add an exclusions… - I don’t know if using in these circumstances (re-displaying the popup) the Add an exclusions… is active.
Slightly better news is that copying and pasting path into the Hardened Mode exclusions appears to remain after having closed down the UI. Will have to see if this stops the repetitive popup.