Avira Antivir Personal is a free anti-virus developed by Avira Antivir Personal. Although it's a free product (which means that it can be downloaded, installed and used free of charge),  it's actually a significant and powerful virus remover or blocker. If installed and configured properly, Avira Antivir Personal can turn your computer into a stronghold against viruses and other malware.

After downloading and installing this free antivirus, you may want to take some time and make sure it will protect your computer against virus threats. This can be done easily by properly configuring it. So, let's have a look about how it can be done. Bring up the program window by double clicking the icon on your desktop and, in the menu, go to 'Extras' and 'Configuration'. Now let's have a look at the options: clicking on 'Scanner' will bring up the file selection for scanning.

The Scanner can use filters to scan only those files with a certain extension (type) or it can be set to scan all files. If this option is enabled, all files are scanned for viruses or unwanted programs, irrespective of their content and file extension. The filter is not used. Using this option may take a long scan time compared to the next option I'll be talking about.

'Use Smart Extensions' option.
If this option is enabled, the selection of the files scanned for viruses or unwanted programs is automatically chosen by Avira AntiVir Personal. This means that Avira AntiVir Personal decides whether the files are scanned or not based on their content. This procedure is somewhat slower than 'Use extension File List', but more secure, since not only on the basis of the file extension is scanned. This setting is activated by default and is recommended in order to keep your PC virus free and secure.

'Use file extension list' option.
If this option is enabled, only files with a specified extension are scanned. All file types that may contain viruses and unwanted programs are preset. The list can be edited manually via the button File extension. This is not recommended unless you are an experienced user and wish to scan only certain file types.

Next, if you click on 'Scan' -> 'Archives', you can set the option for archive scans. If this option is enabled, the selected archives in the archive list are scanned. This option is enabled as the default setting.

Going further to the 'Guard' options, you will normally want to monitor your system constantly. To this end, use the Guard (= on-access scanner). You can thus scan all files that are copied or opened on the computer "on the fly", for viruses and unwanted programs. It is recommended to 'scan when reading and writing' asa well as 'Use Smart File Extensions'. Thus, you can be protected from viruses, backdoors, dialers, jokes, adware, spyware, unusual runtime packers, double extension files, phishing, trojans, etc.