It also seems that I have to change e-mail settings to get e-mail scanning to work.
No you don't have to. Just run the mail protection wizzard and it will take care of it.
I also SOMETIMES get 2 icons in systray, this time 1. And I see no obvious way to get the "VRDB" database generated without that icon.
You can merge the vrdb icon with the main one. To run the VRDB manually, just right click the blue ball. It is there in the menu.
It looks like me and the software won't be getting along too well.
Avast is so easy to use that you think to difficult :D

Are you one of those people who don’t read the manual? It really helps if you do ;D