Avira AntiVir Personal Free Edition

Avira AntiVir Personal Free Edition

Avira AntiVir Personal from Avira GmbH protects you computer against viruses,
malware, adware and spyware, unwanted programs and other dangers. This
manual
deals with viruses and software in brief.

Basic Protection

Protects your computer against dangerous viruses, worms, Trojans and costly dialers. New: Basic Anti-Spyware
– Extremely high virus and malware detection via innovative scanning technology
(scan engine) including heuristic scanning method
– Detection of all conventional archive types including detection of nested archives
and smart extension detection
– High-performance multithreading function (simultaneous high-speed scanning
of multiple files)

System requirements

For Avira AntiVir Personal to work perfectly, the computer system must fulfill the
following requirements:
– Computer as from Pentium, at least 266 MHz
– Operating system
– Windows 2000, SP4 and update rollup 1 or
– Windows XP, SP2 (32 or 64 Bit) or
– Windows Vista (32 or 64 Bit, SP 1 recommended)
– At least 100 MB of free hard disk memory space (more if using Quarantine for
temporary storage)
– At least 192 MB RAM under Windows 2000/XP
– At least 512 MB RAM under Windows Vista
– For the installation of Avira AntiVir Personal: Administrator rights
– For all installations: Windows Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher
– Internet connection where appropriate (see Installation)
Information for Windows Vista users
On Windows 2000 and Windows XP, many users work with administrator rights.
However, this is not desirable from the point of view of security, because it is then easy
for viruses and unwanted programs to infiltrate computers.
For this reason, Microsoft is introducing the "User Account Control" with Windows
Vista. This offers more protection for users who are logged in as administrators: thus in
Windows Vista, one administrator only has the privileges of a normal user at first.
Actions for which administrator rights are required are clearly marked in Windows Vista
with an information icon. In addition, the user must explicitly confirm the required
action. Privileges are only increased and the administrative task carried out by the
operating system after this permission has been obtained.
Avira AntiVir Personal requires administrator rights for some actions in Windows Vista.
These actions are marked with the following symbol: . If this symbol also appears on a
button, administrator rights are required to carry out this action. If your current user
account does not have administrator rights, the Windows Vista dialog of the User
Account Control asks you to enter the administrator password. If you do not have an
administrator password, you cannot carry out this action.

Installation
Before installing Avira AntiVir Personal, check whether your computer fulfils all the
minimum system requirements. If your computer satisfies all requirements, you can
install Avira AntiVir Personal.
Note
From Windows XP, Avira AntiVir Personal generates a restore point of your computer
before installation of Avira AntiVir Personal. This enables you to safely remove Avira
AntiVir Personal if installation fails. Note that for this the option Turn off System
Restore under: "Start | Settings | Control Panel | System | Tab System Restore" must
not be marked.
If you want to recover your system earlier, you can do so with the function "Start |
Programs | Accessories | System Tools | System Restore". The restore point generated
by Avira AntiVir Personal is indicated by the entry AntiVir Personal.
Installation types
During installation you can select a setup type in the installation assistant:
Full
AntiVir Personal is completely installed with all program components. The program files
are installed into a given standard folder under C:\Program Files .
User-defined
You can choose to install individual program components (see Chapter Installation and
uninstallation::Installation modules). A target folder can be selected for the program
files to be installed. You can disable Create a desktop icon and program group in the
Start menu.
Before starting installation
 Close your email program. It is also recommended to end all running applications.
 Make sure that no other virus protection solutions are installed. The automatic
protection functions of various security solutions may interfere with each other.
 Establish an internet connection: The internet connection is necessary for
performing the following installation steps:
 Downloading the current program file and search engine, and the latest virus
definition files via the installation program (for internet-based installation)
 Registering as a Avira AntiVir Personal user
 Where appropriate, carrying out a AntiVir Personal update after completed
installation
 Have the license key for AntiVir Personal ready, if you want to activate AntiVir
Personal.
Note
Internet-based installation:
Avira GmbH provides an installation program for the internet-based installation of Avira
AntiVir Personal, which loads the current program file prior to installation by the Avira
GmbH web servers. This process ensures that AntiVir Personal is installed with the
latest virus definition file.
Installation with an installation package:
The installation package contains both the installation program and all necessary
program files. No language selection for AntiVir Personal is available for installation
with an installation package. We recommend that you carry out an update of the virus
definition file after installation.
Note
For registration, Avira AntiVir Personal uses the HTTP protocol and Port 80 (web
communication), as well as encryption protocol SSL and port 443, to communicate with
the servers of Avira GmbH. If you are using a firewall, please ensure that the required
connections and/or incoming or outgoing data are not blocked by the firewall.
Install
The installation program runs in self-explanatory dialog mode. Every window contains a
certain selection of buttons to control the installation process.
The most important buttons are assigned the following functions:
– OK: Confirm action.
– Abort: Abort action.
– Next: Go to next step.
– Back: Go to previous step.
How to install AntiVir Personal:
 Start the installation program by double-clicking on the installation file that you
have downloaded from the internet or insert the program CD.
Internet-based installation
The dialog box Welcome... appears.
 Click Next to continue with the installation.
The dialog box Language selection appears.
 Select the language you want to use to install AntiVir Personal and confirm your
language selection by clicking Next.
The dialog box Download appears. All files necessary for installation are
downloaded by the Avira GmbH web servers. The Download window closes after conclusion of the download.
Installation with an installation package
The installation wizard opens with the dialog box Avira AntiVir Personal.
 Click Accept to begin the installation.
The installation file is extracted. The installation routine is started.
The dialog box Welcome... appears.
 Click Next.
Continuing internet-based installation and installation with an installation package
Installation continues with the dialog box Extended threat categories. The dialog
box provides you with information on the protective functions of AntiVir Personal and
on extending the protective functions of AntiVir Personal.
 Click Next.
The dialog box with the license agreement appears.
 Confirm that you accept the license agreement and click Continue.
The dialog box Private use appears.
 Confirm that AntiVir Personal will be used exclusively for private purposes and not
for commercial purposes and click Continue.
The dialog box Generate serial number appears.
 Where appropriate, confirm that a random serial number has been generated and
transmitted during update, and click Continue.
The dialog box Select installation type appears.
 Decide whether you want to perform a full or a user-defined installation.
 Enable the option Full orUser-defined and confirm by clicking Continue.
User-defined installation
The dialog box Select destination directory appears.
 Confirm the specified destination directory by clicking Continue.
- OR -
Use the Browse button to select a different destination directory and confirm by
clicking Next.
The dialog box Install components appears:
 Enable or disable the required components and confirm by clicking Continue.
In the following dialog box you can decide whether to create a desktop shortcut
and/or a program group in the Start menu.
 Click Next.
Continue for full and user-defined installation.
The license assistant is opened.
In case of a registration, the following dialog box will display the result of the
activation.
Click Next.
The program features will be installed. Installation progress is displayed in the
dialog box.
In the following dialog box you can choose whether to open the Readme file after
installation.
 Agree where appropriate and complete the installation by clicking Finish.
The installation wizard is closed.
Where appropriate, the Readme file is opened.
In the following step, the configuration wizard is opened. The configuration
wizard enables you to define custom settings for AntiVir Personal. If you cancel the
configuration AntiVir Personal is started with default settings.
Custom settings in the configuration wizard
The Configure AHeAD dialog box enables you to select a detection level for the
AHeAD technology. The detection level selected is used for the Scanner (On-demand
scan) and Guard (On-access scan) AHeAD technology settings.
 Select a detection level and continue the installation by clicking Next.
In the following dialog box Select extended threat categories, you can adapt the
protective functions of AntiVir Personal to the threat categories specified.
 Where appropriate, activate further threat categories and continue the installation
by clicking Next.
 Enable the required option and continue the configuration by clicking Next.
In the following dialog box, System scan, a short system scan can be enabled or
disabled. The short system scan is carried out after the configuration has been completed
and before the computer is rebooted, and scans running programs and the most
important system files for viruses and malware.
 Enable or disable the Short system scan option and continue the configuration by
clicking Next.
In the following dialog box, you can complete the configuration by clicking Finish
 Click Finish to complete the configuration.
The specified and selected settings are accepted.
If you have enabled the Short system scan option, the Luke Filewalker window
opens. Scanner performs a short system scan.
A Close installation dialog box appears.
If you have installed AntiVir Personal on Windows XP and disabled the Windows
Firewall, a message window appears instructing you to reboot your computer.
 Agree where appropriate and complete the installation by clicking Finish.
After a successful installation, we recommend that you check AntiVir Personal is up-todate
in Control Center under Overview :: Status.
 Where appropriate, update AntiVir Personal to ensure the virus definition file is upto-
date.
 Then perform a full system scan.