It resides in the root of the system drive because the scanner may run before full Windows boot (e.g., from a rescue environment or a DOS-based boot disk) or require simple, global access without registry dependencies. A typical avscanner.ini might include:
[Settings] ScanMode=Full RemoveInfected=Auto LogFile=C:\scan_results.log QuietMode=Yes Save the file, then run the scanner executable from the same toolset. This file is not used by modern mainstream antivirus products like Microsoft Defender, Norton, or Bitdefender (they rely on registry or JSON configuration). It is primarily a legacy or specialized utility artifact.
[Settings] ScanMode=Quick ; Quick, Full, or Custom Heuristics=High ; Off, Low, Medium, High RemoveInfected=Prompt ; Auto, Prompt, Quarantine LogFile=C:\scan.log ExcludeDirs=C:\Windows\Temp;C:\Recycler [Definitions] LastUpdate=2024-01-15 SigVersion=20240115