you are using free...

so, go to Root:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\DATA

then locate the 'avast4.ini' file...

then right click and choose to open with notepad or wordpad...

then find the line of that .ini file that reads 'ZoneAlarmCompatibility='...

delete the whole line...

close notepad, choose to save changes, and turn the program on and see what happens..of course, follow the given advice to make a copy of the avast4.ini just in case things go whacked...in which case you might even have to boot into safe mode to remove the edited version, rename the original back to avast4.ini, then restart in normal mode....

oh, and obviously turn the program off before you start trying to edit the .ini file....