Ive just downloaded Avast, and instead of the icons being blue, theyre grey.
A box popped up saying that Avast was waiting for something, but went before I had a chance to find out what it was waiting for?
I know this sounds like a stupid query, but I`m afraid I really am a techno idiot. :-[
This is more likely to be a Blue Grey colour as the sheen effect of the ball makes it look Grey ish in some monitors (and graphics cards) depending on the background also.
Provided the ashDisp.exe is running in the Task Manager and your providers are active you should be OK.
Try an replicate the ‘waiting for something’, but I believe it is waiting for sub system, which is likely to be waiting for MS Outlook to be opened if you have the Outlook/Exchange provider/plug-in running. You only need this if you are using MS Outlook not Outlook Express (which user the Internet Mail provider).
Thank you very much DavidR. 
No problem, did the suggestion about ‘waiting for sub system’ resolve your problem?