I have been using avast for years without a problem until recently - my Windows 7 machine has been crashing most days

To cut a long story short I narrowed the problem down to Avast

I used verifier.exe to stress the drivers for Avast only and PC crashed every time

I used safe mode to turn off verifier.exe and rebooted no crash - uninstalled Avast and no problems since

I like Avast but think there is definitely a problem with latest version

Try using verifier.exe (assuming a windows machine) check only avast

Instructions

type verifier into search
open program
select > create custom settings (for code developers)
next > standard settings
next > select driver names from a list
when loaded check Avast drivers only - reboot machine
let it run
If it crashes go into safe mode turn off verifier (turn off existing settings), reboot, uninstall Avast- see if that solves the problem- come back to me if you need any more help
I have installed AVG as a temp solution