There seem to be two delay possibilities which are within Windows and not part of Avast.

Avast slowing down the boot-up also masks any problems with drivers, devices or software. I would like the Updates to be delayed until the whole Boot Up process for my particular machine configuration is 100% complete, and thus avoid slow starts, conflicts and the rest. I therefore have to set the Updates option to Manual to avoid this delay. THE PROBLEM is that this slows down the start up of my whole system very considerably. I can tell this because my NetMeter shows active traffic. When my Virus Updates option is set to Automatic, at Boot Up, Avast almost immediately goes off to the web (as soon as networking is established) to seek updates.

However, unlike some other services, they still appear in 'Services' as 'Automatic' and NOT 'Automatic (Delayed Start)'. I'm using Win 7 64 bit Ultimate, and I have Avast Services set to start after other system services. I realise this topic has been mentioned elsewhere, but I cannot find that it has been satisfactorily answered.