I was using a different editor the first time. What kind of weird restriction is that???
Like I said before; i don’t feel like beta-testing an AV. Now that I have disabled Rootkit-detection and Exploit-detection via the .ini I’ll have to see if the sudden pauses are gone. They might well have nothing to do with Avast, but at least I can test it now to exclude them as possible problems 
It has been like that for as long as I can remember and I have been using Avast (and editing the avast5.ini file) for over 15 years. Back then there were many settings that could be set in the avast5.ini file.
My guess would be:
A) it is the default (many will either be using it or it will be on their OS) text editor.
B) it is a bog standard text editor that doesn’t have any formatting, etc. (like some text editors) that could potentially stop the avast5.ini file from working after modification.
Of course you shouldn’t have to edit the ini-file if the UI actually works.
Well there are functions available in the avast5.ini file that aren’t available in the UI even when it is working.
Such as?
You can change the delay of update checks beyond what is available in the UI…
This however is neither here or there in relation to why we got here:
As far as that goes: still no .394 available.
Sadly it doesn’t seem that turning off the Rootkit/Exploit-detection fixes the weird pauses.
.394 finally showed up!
Patience is a virtue. 
I’m very virtuous, but it doesn’t seem to be helping very much
Yup, finally
Well, as I doubt that you’re planning to disable Rootkit detection, it’s probably not that urgent.
For me it certainly isn’t urgent, which help with the patience, but when it is meant to be released, there is very little middle ground (it is or it isn’t).
I received 394 yesterday, but only after update and reboot.