See Techie101’s three files used at start up (mentioned in his post above). From the Windows Start button, run “msconfig” and look at the startup tab to makes sure those three files are listed. If not, than you need to uninstall Avast using the Avast uninstaller (utility) found on the main Avast website. Now, you can do a clean install of Avast and those three files should show up under the above mentioned startup tab. Now, you can run misconfig again and check off (remove the check mark) one or more of these three files so they don’t start with Windows without having to actually remove them from the start up routine.

Also, you can perform a search of this forum for these three files to get a better understanding of them. You seem to need a customized start up based on your needs so understanding these three files will point you in the right direction.

You can get real crafty and create batch files or macros to start Avast components after Windows start up when you need them. I’m not going to question on why you don’t wan’t Avast running on start up. That’s your own business. Nevertheless, I would like to talk you out of it if possible.