Please try to run this executable and post the output here:
http://public.avast.com/~glucksmann/chklink.exe
(either the input it prints to the console, or just a screenshot; I put a message window at the end to pause the execution)
All it does it try to determine the target of the “C:\Documents and Settings” link, and it tries to start the file enumeration in this “folder”. I’m not sure if it reveals anything, but maybe…
Thanks.
Any news? 
Hi there. I have exactly the same issue as the OP.
I have run as admin with the same result. I ran your exe and attach it along with a screenshot of the error itself.
Cheers.
Interesting (though if you get the same results even when running as Admin, I doubt it’s actually the same problem)… do you have the drive S: on your machine?
I have C: with the OS on it and most of the computer, D: mainly with movies and the DVD drive. When I say I ran as admin it was right clicking and “run as admin”, not logging into an admin profile…
Well, the link C:\Documents and Settings resolves to S:\Users on your machine (normally, it’s C:\Users, of course). So, it’s really no wonder that avast! can’t enter that link…
However, I have really no idea why the link is that strange (but the path is returned by the system itself in response to the question to resolve the link - i.e. I don’t think it’s a bug in avast!, as it’s not avast!'s code). ???
Ah ok. I do remember reading something a while ago about phantom s: on vista machines… not sure.
Regardless, I hit repair on avast in Control panel, Ran as admin again and went to bed. This morning… no error message! Looks like it is all better. 