This may be old news but I noticed the install now shuts off the Win 7 firewall instead of running alongside as in the past. That’s good…
What version of Avast are you using? If it is Internet Security, that behaviour is perfectly normal.
Going by the signature it is AIS 
This is the first time I have ever read AIS turning of the Windows Firewall.
Is this something new? ???
On windows 8 it is automatically turned off
The update to AIS 2014 probably turned of Windows 7 firewall. When I checked mine on Windows 7, it is turned off. Before the AIS update, both firewalls were working together.
Why would both firewalls be working together?
Is the firewall in avast just a front end for windows firewall or a genuine firewall in its own right.
Most security products turn off the windows firewall so it would be safe to assume its normal activity.
Avast firewall in versions 5 thru 8 was designed to work alongside Windows 7 firewall, while it was recommended to disable WinXP firewall when using Avast firewall.
Avast 2014 firewall has been redesigned. http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=136785.msg1000473#msg1000473
•Firewall has been redesigned from scratch to allow for better compatibility with latest Windows, better performance and full support for IPv6 (although its UI hasn’t really changed).