Starting PostgreSQL on Windows and recent possible Microsoft Security Manager update

Since the 24th I've been receiving reports from number of separate pg
install (8.4.7 and 8.4.2) that postgres is not automatically starting as a
service. Have about 15 sites affected; likely many more as people return
from holidays.

Digging around, problem happens on XP/Win7 32/64 I believe. common
denominator appears to be microsoft security essentials. Appears to be
some sort of race at boot time between MSE and postgresql. Postgresql will
pause in its start cycle until MSE goes through some sort of cycle which is
visually obvious because it flashes momentarily that computer is not
protected. If MSE takes longer than 30 seconds, pg service will not start
at all.

The following I've found so far work around the problem:

1) Manually starting pg after MSE 'warms up'. i.e. net start <service>

2) Disabling MSE Real-time protection.

Are people having similar experiences? Sorry for vague details, win
machines are not a core competency.

Andrew