I also had this, the first reboot of the latest avast! clean install.
This is what UPHclean (in Windows XP) says about the problem in the even viewer:
Setup for handle remapping for process AvastUI.exe (2276) failed. Reverting to closing handle.
Also:
The following handles opened in user profile hive AMD12ME\Dave New (S-1-5-21-1614895754-1580436667-1343024091-1010) could not be closed:
AvastUI.exe (2276)
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings (0xe8) error 5
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings (0x258) error 5
HKCU\Software\Policies (0x260) error 5
HKCU\Software (0x264) error 5
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings (0x3f4) error 5
HKCU\Software\Classes (0x470) error 5
HKCU\Software\Classes (0x538) error 5
HKCU (0x54c) error 5
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ZoneMap (0x578) error 5
HKCU\Software\Policies (0x594) error 5
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Network\Location Awareness (0x5ac) error 5
HKCU\Software (0x5b4) error 5
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ZoneMap (0x5bc) error 5
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\IETld (0x5c0) error 5
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\FeatureControl\FEATURE_LOCALMACHINE_LOCKDOWN (0x5dc) error 5
HKCU\Software\Classes (0x660) error 5
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\SystemCertificates\Root (0x6d0) error 5
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\SystemCertificates\CA (0x6dc) error 5
HKCU (0x6e0) error 5
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\SystemCertificates\trust (0x748) error 5
HKCU (0x74c) error 5
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\SystemCertificates\My (0x758) error 5
HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\SystemCertificates (0x794) error 5
HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\SystemCertificates (0x7c0) error 5