I had to make two exceptions for Avast! to stop blocking EQ. I'm guessing it was the second one that I did which actually made a difference though.
Go to Real-Time Shield > File System Shield
Go to Advanced Settings > Exclusions
I added my EQ directory to the Exclusions list here.
If you clicked on Settings at the upper right and entered your exclusion there it will NOT work. That will only exclude the file or directory from being scanned when you manually scan, it does not exclude it from the real-time scanning that happens when files are accessed.
I didn't have to disable Avast! for it to load properly once I made the changes
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