Avira AntiVir Personal – Free Antivirus User Manual
Trademarks and Copyright Trademarks AntiVir is a registered trademark of Avira GmbH. Windows is a registered trademark of the Microsoft Corporation in the United States and other countries. All other brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. Protected trademarks are not marked as such in this manual. This does not mean, however that they may be used freely. Copyright information A code provided by a third party has been used for Avira AntiVir Personal.
Table of Contents 1 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 1 2 Icons and emphases ................................................................................................ 2 3 Product information............................................................................................... 3 3.1 3.2 3.3 4 Installation and uninstallation ..............................................................................
Table of Contents 9 Viruses and more.................................................................................................. 39 9.1 9.2 10 Info and Service ................................................................................................... 45 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 11 Extended threat categories .................................................................................................39 Viruses and other malware ..............................................................
1 Introduction 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. The manual describes the program installation and operation. Please go to our website http://www.avira.com/free-av where you can download the Avira AntiVir Personal manual in PDF from, update Avira AntiVir Personal , get information on the version of Avira AntiVir Premium available for purchase .
2 Icons and emphases The following icons are used: Icon / Designation Explanation Placed before a condition which must be fulfilled prior to implementation. Placed before an action step that you implement. Placed before an event that follows the previous action. Warning Placed before a warning of the danger of critical data loss. Note Placed before a link to particularly important information or a tip which makes Avira AntiVir Personal easier to use.
3 Product information This chapter contains all information relevant to the purchase and use ofAvira AntiVir Personal: – see chapter: Delivery scope – see chapter: System requirements – see chapter: Licensing Avira AntiVir Personal is a comprehensive and flexible tool you can rely on to protect your computer from viruses, malware, unwanted programs, and other dangers Please note the following information: Note Loss of valuable data usually has dramatic consequences.
Avira AntiVir Personal – 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) 3.
Product information 3.3 Licensing and Upgrade In order to be able to use Avira AntiVir Personal, you require a license. You thereby accept the license conditions of Avira AntiVir Personal. The license is provided in the form of an activation key. The activation key is a letter and figure code which you will receive after purchasing Avira AntiVir Personal . The activation key contains the exact data of your license, i.e. which programs have been licensed for which period of time.
4 Installation and uninstallation This chapter contains information relating to the installation and uninstallation of your Avira AntiVir Personal: – see Chapter Installation: Conditions, Installation types, Install – see Chapter Installation modules – see Chapter Modification installation – see Chapter Uninstallation: Uninstall 4.1 Installation Before installing Avira AntiVir Personal, check whether your computer fulfils all the minimum system requirements.
Installation and uninstallation – Using the configuration wizard, you can define custom settings for AntiVir Personal and initiate a short system scan which is carried out automatically after installation. 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.
Avira AntiVir Personal 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 and uninstallation The license wizard is opened. In the license wizard you have the possibility of registering as a customer of AntiVir Personal and of subscribing to the Avira GmbH Newsletter. Your personal data are required for this purpose. If and when necessary, enter your data and acknowledge by clicking Next. In case of a registration, the following dialog box will display the result of the activation. Click Next. The program features will be installed.
Avira AntiVir Personal If you have enabled the Short system scan option, the Luke Filewalker window opens. The Scanner performs a short system scan. Resume: Express installation und user-defined installation If you selected the Restart computer option in the final installation wizard, the computer reboots. After the computer restart, the AntiVir Personal Readme file is displayed, if you selected the Show Readme.txt option in the installation wizard.
Installation and uninstallation – Shell Extension The Avira AntiVir Personal Shell Extension generates an entry in the context menu of the Windows Explorer (right-hand mouse button). Scan selected files with AntiVir. With this entry you can directly scan files or directories. 4.4 Uninstallation If you wish to remove Avira AntiVir Personal from your computer, you can use the option Add or Remove Programs to Change/Remove programs in the Windows Control Panel. To uninstall Avira AntiVir Personal (e.g.
5 Overview of AntiVir Personal This chapter contains an overview of the functionality and operation of AntiVir Personal. – see Chapter Interface and operation – see ChapterHow to...? 5.1 User interface and operation Your operate AntiVir Personal via three program interface elements: – Control Center: Monitoring and control of AntiVir Personal – Configuration: Configuration of AntiVir Personal – Tray Icon in the system tray of the taskbar: Open the Control Centre and other functions 5.1.
Overview of AntiVir Personal – Navigation area: In the navigation area, you can easily swap between the individual sections of the Control Center. The individual sections contain information and functions of the program components of AntiVir Personal and are arranged in the navigation bar according to activity. Example: Activity Overview - SectionStatus. – View: This window shows the section selected in the navigation area.
Avira AntiVir Personal The Status section lets you see at a glance which Avira AntiVir Personal modules are active and provides information on the last update carried out. You can also see whether you own a valid license. The Events section enables you to view events generated by certain Avira AntiVir Personal modules. Die Reports section enables you to view the results of actions executed by Avira AntiVir Personal.
Overview of AntiVir Personal The Configuration opens a dialog box: You can save your configuration settings via the OK or Accept buttons, delete you settings by clicking the Cancel button, or restore your default configuration settings using the Restore defaults button. You can select individual configuration sections in the left-hand navigation bar. Accessing the AntiVir Personal Configuration You have several options for accessing the configuration: – via the Windows control panel.
Avira AntiVir Personal To hide configuration subsections, click on the minus symbol in front of the expanded configuration section. Note To enable or disable Configuration options and use the buttons, you can also use the following key combinations: [Alt] + underlined letter in the option name or button description. Note All configuration sections are only displayed in expert mode. Activate expert mode to view all configuration sections.
Overview of AntiVir Personal Configuration of email using SMTP Extended risk categories for on-demand and on-access scan Security: Update status display, full system scan status display, product protection WMI: Enable WMI support Event log configuration Configuration of report functions Setting of directories used Update: Configuration of connection to download server, set-up of product updates Configuration of acoustic alerts when malware is detected 5.1.
Avira AntiVir Personal The dialog box Name and description of job appears. Give the job a name and, where appropriate, a description. The dialog box Type of job is displayed. Select Update job from the list. The dialog box Time of job appears. Select a time for the update: Immediately Daily Weekly Interval Single Note We recommend that you update Avira AntiVir Personal regularly and often. The recommended update interval is: 24 hours.
Overview of AntiVir Personal 5.2.2 Start a manual update You have various options for starting an Avira AntiVir Personal update manually: When an update is started manually, the virus definition file and search engine are always updated.
Avira AntiVir Personal In Microsoft Windows Vista, the control center at the moment only has limited rights, e.g. for access to directories and files. Certain actions and file accesses can only be carried out in the control centre with extended administrator rights. These extended administrator rights must be granted at the start of each scan via a scan profile. This icon starts a limited scan via a scan profile. Only directories and files that Windows Vista has granted access rights to are scanned.
Overview of AntiVir Personal Select Scan selected files with AntiVir in the context menu. The Luke Filewalker window appears and an on-demand scan is started. When the scan is completed, the results are displayed. 5.2.6 On-demand scan: Automatically scan for viruses and malware Note After installation, the scan job Full system scan is created in the Scheduler: A full system scan is automatically carried out at a recommended interval.
Avira AntiVir Personal Select the Shut down computer option if you want the computer to shut down automatically when the scan is finished. This option is only available if the display mode is set to minimized or maximized. Click Finish. Your newly created order appears as activated (check mark) on the homepage of the section Administration :: Scheduler. Where appropriate, deactivate jobs which are not to be carried out.
Overview of AntiVir Personal – Interactive In interactive action mode, the results of the Scanner scan are displayed in a dialog box. This option is enabled as the default setting. In the case of Scanner scan, you will receive an alert with a list of the affected files when the scan is complete. You can use the content-sensitive menu to select an action to be executed for the various infected files. You can execute the standard actions for all infected files or cancel the Scanner.
Avira AntiVir Personal Avira AntiVir Personal takes no further action. The infected file remains active on your computer. Warning This could result in loss of data and damage to the operating system! Only select the Ignore option in exceptional cases. – Deny access Action option for Guard detections: Access to the infected file is blocked. The detection is only entered in the report file if the report function is enabled).
Overview of AntiVir Personal Highlight the file you want to upload. Click on A dialog opens with a form for inputting your contact data. Enter all the required data. Select a type: Suspicious file or False positive. Click OK. The file is uploaded to a Avira Malware Research Center web server in compressed form.
Avira AntiVir Personal To restore files in quarantine: Warning This could result in loss of data and damage to the operating system of the computer! Only use the function Restore selected object in exceptional cases. Only restore files that could be repaired by a new scan. File rescanned and repaired. In the Control Center, select the section Administration :: Quarantine. Note Emails and email attachments can only be restored using the option have the extension *.eml.
Overview of AntiVir Personal 5.2.12 Scan profile: Amend or delete file type in a scan profile To stipulate additional file types to be scanned or exclude specific file types from the scan in a scan profile (only possible for manual selection ): In the Control Center, go to the Local protection :: Scan section. With the right-hand mouse button, click on the scan profile you want to edit. A context menu appears. Select File filter.
Avira AntiVir Personal – Error – Detection To filter displayed events: In the Control Center, select the section Overview :: Results. Check the box of the program components to display the events of the activated components. - OR Uncheck the box of the program components to hide the events of the deactivated components. Check the event type box to display these events. - OR Uncheck the event type box to hide these events.
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Avira AntiVir Personal 6 Scanner::Overview With the Scanner component, you can carry out targeted scans (on-demand scans) for viruses and unwanted programs. The following options are available for scanning for infected files: – On-demand scan via context menu The on-demand-scan via the context menu (right-hand mouse button - entry Scan selected files with AntiVir) is recommended if, for example, you wish to scan individual files and directories.
7 Updates The effectiveness of anti-virus software depends on how up-to-date the program is, in particular the virus definition file and the search engine. To carry out updates, the Updater component is integrated into AntiVir Personal. The Updater ensures that Avira AntiVir Personal is always up-to-date and able to deal with the new viruses that appear every day.
8 FAQ, Tips This chapter provides a collection of frequently asked questions (FAQs) relating to Avira AntiVir Personal, a troubleshooting section and tips and tricks for using Avira AntiVir Personal. see Chapter Troubleshooting see Chapter Keyboard commands see ChapterWindows Security Center 8.1 Troubleshooting Here you will find information on causes and solutions of possible problems. The error message Connection failed while downloading the file ... appears when attempting to start an update.
FAQ, Tips If no other viruses or malware have been found, activate System Restore if it is available and to be used. The status of the tray icon is disabled. Reason: AntiVir Guard is disabled. In the Control Center in the section Overview :: Status in theAntiVir Guard panel, click on the Enable link. Reason: AntiVir Guard is blocked by a firewall. Define a general approval for AntiVir Guard in the configuration of your firewall. AntiVir Guard only works with the address 127.0.0.1 (localhost).
Avira AntiVir Personal 8.2.1 In dialog boxes Shortcut Description Ctrl + Tab Ctrl + Page down Navigation in the Control Center Go to next section. Ctrl + Shift + Tab Ctrl + Page up Navigation in the Control Center Go to previous section. ←↑→↓ Navigation in the configuration sections First, use the mouse to set the focus on a configuration section. Tab Change to the next option or options group. Shift + Tab Change to the previous option or options group.
FAQ, Tips subject in the contents, in the index or in the list of the search results. Page up Page down Browse through a subject. 8.2.
Avira AntiVir Personal Reports section Shortcut Description F3 Display report file F4 Print report file Return Display report Del Delete report(s) Events section Shortcut Description F3 Export event(s) Return Show event Del Delete event(s) 8.3 Windows Security Center - Windows XP Service Pack 2 or higher - 8.3.1 General The Windows Security Center checks the status of a computer for important security aspects. If a problem is detected with one of these important points (e.g.
FAQ, Tips Note Install Avira AntiVir Personal on your computer to protect it against viruses and other unwanted programs! Virus protection OUT OF DATE If you have already installed Windows XP Service Pack 2 or Windows Vista and then install Avira AntiVir Personal or you install Windows XP Service Pack 2 or Windows Vista on a system on which Avira AntiVir Personal has already been installed, you receive the following message: Note In order for the Windows Security Center to recognize Avira AntiVir Persona
Avira AntiVir Personal Note You can enable or disabled AntiVir Guard in the Overview :: Status section of theAvira AntiVir Personal Control Center . You can also see that the AntiVir Guard is enabled if the red umbrella in your taskbar is open. Virus protection NOT MONITORED If you receive the following message from the Windows Security Center, you have decided that you want to monitor your anti-virus software yourself. Note This function is not supported by Windows Vista.
9 Viruses and more 9.1 Extended threat categories Dialers (DIALERS) Certain services available in the Internet have to be paid for. They are invoiced in Germany via dialers with 0190/0900 numbers (or via 09x0 numbers in Austria and Switzerland; in Germany, the number is set to change to 09x0 in the medium term). Once installed on the computer, these programs guarantee a connection via a suitable premium rate number whose scale of charges can vary widely.
Avira AntiVir Personal Studies have shown that the number of working hours devoted to computer games has long reached economically significant proportions. It is therefore not surprising that more and more companies are considering ways of banning computer games from workplace computers. Avira AntiVir Personal detects computer games.
Viruses and more Avira AntiVir Personal detects "Adware/Spyware". If the option Adware/Spyware is enabled with a check mark in the configuration under Extended threat categories, you receive a corresponding alert if Avira AntiVir Personal detects such software. Unusual Runtime Compression Tools (PCK) Files that have been compressed with an unusual runtime compression tool and that can therefore be classified as possibly suspicious. Avira AntiVir Personal detects "Unusual runtime Compression Tools".
Avira AntiVir Personal Adware is software that presents banner ads or in pop-up windows through a bar that appears on a computer screen. These advertisements usually cannot be removed and are consequently always visible. The connection data allow many conclusions on the usage behavior and are problematic in terms of data security. Backdoors A backdoor can gain access to a computer by circumventing computer access security mechanisms.
Viruses and more A honeypot is a service (program or server) installed in a network. It has the function to monitor a network and to protocol attacks. This service is unknown to the legitimate user - because of this reason he is never addressed. If an attacker examines a network for the weak points and uses the services which are offered by a Honeypot, it is logged and an alert is triggered. Macro viruses Macro viruses are small programs that are written in the macro language of an application (e.g.
Avira AntiVir Personal A rootkit is a collection of software tools that are installed after a computer system has been infiltrated to conceal logins of the infiltrator, hide processes and record data generally speaking: to make themselves invisible. They attempt to update already installed spy programs and reinstall deleted spyware. Script viruses and worms Such viruses are extremely easy to program and they can spread - if the required technology is on hand - within a few hours via email round the globe.
10 Info and Service This chapter contains information on how to contact us. see Chapter Contact address see Chapter Technical support see Chapter Suspicious files see Chapter Report false positives 10.1 Contact address If you have any questions or requests concerning the Avira AntiVir Personal product range, we will be pleased to help you. You will find our contact addresses in the Control Center under Help :: About Avira AntiVir Personal. 10.
Avira AntiVir Personal – Send the required file packed (WinZIP, PKZip, Arj etc.) in the attachment of an email to virus-personal@avira.com. As some email gateways work with anti-virus software, you should also provide the file(s) with a password (please remember to tell us the password). 10.4 Reporting false positives If you believe that Avira AntiVir Personal reports something about a file that is most likely "clean", send the required file packed (WinZIP, PKZip, Arj etc.
11 Reference: Configuration options The configuration reference documents all configuration options available in Avira AntiVir Personal. 11.1 Scanner The Scanner section of the Configuration is responsible for the configuration of the ondemand scan. 11.1.1 Scan Here you define the basic behavior of the scan routine for an on-demand scan.
Avira AntiVir Personal Note If this option is enabled and you have deleted all entries from the list with file extensions, this is indicated with the text "No file extensions" under the button File extensions. File extensions With the aid of this button, a dialog window is opened in which all file extensions are displayed that are scanned in Use file extension list mode. Default entries are set for the extensions, but entries can be added or deleted.
Reference: Configuration options Important The option does not include any shortcuts, but refers exclusively to symbolic links (generated by mklink.exe) or Junction Points (generated by junction.exe) which are transparent in the file system. Search for Rootkits before scan If this option is enabled and a scan is started, the scanner scans the Windows system directory for active rootkits in a so-called shortcut.
Avira AntiVir Personal If this option is enabled, the results of the Scanner scan are displayed in a dialog box. When carrying out a scan with the Scanner, you will receive an alert with a list of the affected files at the end of the scan. You can use the content-sensitive menu to select an action to be executed for the various infected files. You can execute the standard actions for all infected files or cancel the Scanner.
Reference: Configuration options The option Secondary action can only be selected if the setting Repair was selected under Primary action. With this option it can now be decided what is to be done with the affected file if it cannot be repaired. delete If this option is enabled, the file is deleted. rename If this option is enabled, the Scanner renames the file. Direct access to these files (e.g. with double-click) is therefore no longer possible.
Avira AntiVir Personal Note In order to find a virus or an unwanted program in an archive, the Scanner must scan up to the recursion level in which the virus or the unwanted program is located. Maximum recursion depth In order to enter the maximum recursion depth, the option Limit recursion depth must be enabled. You can either enter the requested recursion depth directly or by means of the right arrow key on the entry field. The permitted values are 1 to 99. The standard value is 20 which is recommended.
Reference: Configuration options Delete The button deletes a selected entry from the list. This button is inactive if no entry is selected. Note If you add a complete partition to the list of the file objects, only those files which are saved directly under the partition will be excluded from the scan, which does not apply for files in sub-directories on the corresponding partition: Example: File object to be skipped: D:\ = D:\file.txt will be excluded from the scan of the Scanner, D:\folder\file.
Avira AntiVir Personal 11.1.2 Report The Scanner has a comprehensive reporting function. You thus obtain precise information on the results of an on-demand scan. The report file contains all entries of the system as well as alerts and messages of the on-demand scan. Note To enable you to establish what actions the Scanner has carried out when viruses or unwanted programs have been detected, a report file should always be created.
Reference: Configuration options Scan when writing If this option is enabled, the Guard scans a file when writing. You can only access the file again after this process has been completed. Scan when reading and writing If this option is enabled, the Guard scans files before opening, reading and executing and after writing. This option is enabled as the default setting and is recommended. Files The Guard can use a filter to scan only those files with a certain extension (type).
Avira AntiVir Personal Note This option is deactivated by default, since the process puts heavy demands on the computer's performance. It is generally recommended that archives be checked using an on-demand scan. Maximum recursion depth When scanning archives, the Guard uses a recursive scan: Archives in archives are also unpacked and scanned for viruses and unwanted programs. You can define the recursion depth.
Reference: Configuration options Processes to be omitted by the Guard All file accesses of processes in this list are excluded from monitoring by Guard. Input box In this field, enter the name of the process that is to be ignored by the real-time scan. No process is entered as the default setting. Note You can enter up to 128 processes. Note The entries on the list must not result in more than 6000 characters in total.
Avira AntiVir Personal With this button, you can add the file object entered in the input box to the display window. Delete With this button you can delete a selected file object from the display window. Please observe the following points: – The file name can only contain the wildcards * (any number of characters) and ? (a single character). – Directory names must end with a backslash \, otherwise a file name is assumed. – The list is processed from top to bottom.
Reference: Configuration options *.exe *.xl? *.* C:\Program Files\Application\application.exe C:\Program Files\Application\applic*.exe C:\Program Files\Application\applic* C:\Program Files\Application\applic?????.e* C:\Program Files\ C:\Program Files C:\Program Files\Application\*.mdb 11.2.1.3. Heuristic This configuration section contains the settings for the heuristic of the Avira AntiVir Personal search engine.
Avira AntiVir Personal If this option is enabled, Avira AntiVir Personal identifies far more unknown malware, but you must also accept that there are likely to be false positives. 11.2.2 Report Guard includes an extensive logging function to provide the user or administrator with exact notes about the type and manner of a detection. Guard includes an extensive logging function to provide the user or administrator with exact notes about the type and manner of a detection.
Reference: Configuration options Activate If this option is enabled, automatic updates are performed for the enabled events at the interval specified. Automatic update every n days / hours / minutes In this box you can specify the interval at which the automatic update is carried out. To change the update interval, highlight one of the time options in the box and change it using the arrow key to the right of the input box.
Avira AntiVir Personal If this option is enabled, no automatic product updates or notifications of available product updates by the Updater are carried out. Updates to the virus definition file and search engine are carried out independently of this setting. Important An update of the virus definition file and of the search engine is carried out during every update process independent of the settings for the product update (see chapter Updates). 11.3.
Reference: Configuration options 11.3.3 Web server The update can be performed directly via a web server on the Internet. Web server connection Use existing connection (network) This setting is displayed if your connection is used via a network. Use the following connection: This setting is displayed if you define your connection individually. The Updater automatically detects which connection options are available. Connection options which are not available are grayed out and cannot be activated.
Avira AntiVir Personal Please enter the URL or the IP address of the proxy server you should use to connect to the web server. Port Please enter the port number of the proxy server you should use to connect to the web server. Login name Enter your login name on the proxy server here. Login password Enter the relevant password for logging in on the proxy server here. For security, the actual characters you type in this space are replaced by asterisks (*). Examples: 11.4 Address: proyx.domain.
Reference: Configuration options Note If a type is disabled, files recognized as being of the relevant program type are no longer indicated. No entry is made in the report file. 11.4.2 Security Update Alert if last update older than n day(s) In this box you can enter the maximum number of days allowed to have passed since the last update of Avira AntiVir Personal. If this number of days has passed, a red icon is displayed for the update status under Status in the Control Center.
Avira AntiVir Personal 11.4.3 WMI Support for Windows Management Instrumentation Windows Management Instrumentation is a basic Windows administration technique that uses script and programming languages to allow read and write access, both local and remote, to settings on Windows systems. AntiVir Personal supports WMI and provides data (status information, statistical data, reports, planned requests, etc.) as well as events at an interface. WMI enables you to download operating data from AntiVir Personal .
Reference: Configuration options Delete events older than n day(s) If this option is enabled, events listed in the event database are deleted after a certain period of time; possible values: 1 to 90 days. This option is enabled as the default setting, with a value of 30 days. Do not limit size of event database (delete events manually) When this option has been activated, the size of the event database is not limited.
Avira AntiVir Personal In this input box you can enter the name and the associated path of an audio file of your choice. The default acoustic signal of AntiVir Personal is entered as standard. The button opens a window in which you can select the required file with the aid of the file explorer. Test This button is used to test the selected wave file. 11.4.
Avira AntiVir Personal – Free Antivirus www.avira.com Avira GmbH Lindauer Str. 21 88069 Tettnang Germany Telephone: +49 7542-500 0 Fax: +49 7542-525 10 Internet: http://www.avira.com AntiVir® is a registered trademark of the Avira GmbH. All other brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. Protected trademarks are not marked as such in this manual. However, this does not mean that they may be used freely. © 2010 Avira GmbH. All rights reserved.
