I recently noticed that my virus protection does not seem to be working (I use Outlook). I used to get many found virus notices with my incoming messages. Lately, I have gotten none.

The only thing I can see that raises questions is on the On-Access Scanner page for Outlook/Exchange. Instead of saying “The provider is currently running.” it says “The provider is waiting for a subsystem to start.”

Any ideas what it is waiting for?

Do you use (full) Outlook, or rather Outlook Express?

Make sure the Avast plugin is enabled in Outlook.

If Outlook plugin says it’s waiting for a subsystem to start, it usually means that it’s waiting for Outlook (e.g. because the full Outlook is not installed).
If you really have the full Outlook (e.g. from MS Office), try to check the plugins as Eddy suggested - avast! may be on the list of disabled plugins.