Avast SafeZone not working properly

[eco23]

Hi everyone, I posted this question on the Avast Support Forum and have yet to receive help so I'm hoping someone here can provide some assistance.

I upgraded from Avast Free to the Avast Internet Security yesterday. When I load up my PC everything works fine including the new SafeZone feature. The problem is when I switch users and attempt to activate SafeZone under their screen name, Avast stops responding.

It is not an issue with a particular user account because it works fine for whoever logs in first, it only occurs for whichever user logs in second and attempts to activate Safe Zone. Also, I am not attempting to run safe zone simultaneously, just after I switch users.

I spent nearly 3 hours on the phone yesterday with support who tried to sell me a $169-$399 service contract to get it working. I told them I bought a product that doesn't work and they need to fix it, so the Supervisor told me they'd do a 1-time repair for free. But after talking to a total of 6 different people they came to the conclusion that they would need to charge me regardless of what the Supervisor said. Obviously I was livid.

The Tech told me he thought it was a conflicting program that was still installed on the PC (like AVG or Symantec), but I have gone through and removed every single trace of any antivirus program that was ever on my computer (other than Malwarebytes which I understand doesn't conflict with Avast). I have also performed full scans, boot scans, Malwarebytes scans and there is not any type of infection on my PC which is what the Tech's also said could be the problem.

I'm running Windows XP Media Center Addition SP 3.

I upgraded to the Avast Internet Security 6.0.1000 yesterday.

I have 3 user accounts on my PC, all are computer administrators.

I have no other security software installed other than Malwarebytes (not the full version). I removed traces of previous a/v programs first through control panel (add/remove programs), vendor uninstall utilities, also checked using Revo Uninstaller, searched and deleted any folders with the search function on XP and also went through the registry.

The option to switch to SafeZone is there (not grayed out), just when I click it for whichever user logs in second it freezes Avast and the computer becomes very slow. Then when I try to click restart it tells me that the "Avast tray icon is not responding", and I have to click end now to exit the screen.

Any help someone can provide is sincerely appreciated, it's obviously frustrating to purchase a product that doesn't function properly and be told I will have to pay them hundreds of dollars more to make their product work. I was also told I could not be refunded because "the product performs up to their standards" as far as they are concerned, even though software that freezes when you click one of the buttons on it should not be up to anyone's standards.

Thanks