Is it neccessary to tick boxes for the areas that I want to include in my scan each and every time or is there a way to set these areas permanently and not have to go through the box ticking each time? Sorry, but it is a tad annoying :-[
Only in Professional version is possible to create customized Tasks to be run.
Sorry. Welcome to forums. Feel free to come back any time to ask for help and share experiences.
As far as I’m aware this is not possible in the Home free version, if you are using the Folder Selection option
Possible Workaround:
You could copy the Selected Paths: details from the first time you select them into a text file and use that on future scans. Copy the selected paths from the saved text file ‘avast-scan.txt’ or any name you will find memorable and paste it into the Selected Paths: window.
Thank you Tech for the information and the warm welcome 
@ DavidR
Thank you for the brilliant idea, that should have been very obvious to me.
I would also like to say that avast! Home free version is a remarkable program, and I wouldn’t trade it in for anything else. Thank you both for your help.
No problem, glad we could help, often the obvious is the last thing you think about ;D
Welcome to the forums.