I have a separate firewall program so I don’t want the Avast one running (as it slows down the system and causes conflicts). However, even though I set it to permanent disable, next time I log in I find it is re-enabled. What gives?! ???
It would be best to remove the avast firewall module if you are using another, click on avast in remove programs then click uninstall and when you get the popup screen choose change and untick the features you no longer wish to keep.
OK, but then why have the option to disable if it doesn’t work properly? Design fault…?
Maybe it doesn’t work properly for you because of having two firewalls installed :-\
Not convinced. Anyways, I’ve done what you suggest so thanks for the tip (I must admit I didn’t know you could remove specific components, so good call). 
Well the avast self defence would automatically turn the firewall back on after restarting for safety reasons, but as your not supposed to have more than one firewall installed at any one time and you wanted to use your other firewall then the answer was simple ( uninstall the avast firewall and problem solved )