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Live Linux - Virus / Spyware Removal?

S

SuperG

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 26, 2003
Messages
198
I am not sure if this exists or if it has been asked before, but I was wondering if there was a live Linux CD out there, which could boot up into Linux and then be able to scan a hard drive for Windows Virus / Spyware. Sometimes Viruses make a computer virtually unbootable into Windows, so it would be amazing if you could pop in a live linux cd which would load the software into memory, update the virus/spyware definitions from the connected network (if connected), and then perform & remove virus / spyware from the attached hard drive that is running Windows. Is there anything like this out there today? Thanks.

SuperG
 
It should be possible in theory. The problem is, you only have a few "good" AVs for Linux, and they all cost money. The free ones I've seen are total crap.

To be honest, a virus that effective is pretty damn rare, and you're better off using an imaging program like Acronis to back up your drives every few days, and if anything catastrophic happens, you can get yourself back in action within an hour.

OR, if you're using XP or Vista 32, a sandboxing program like Returnil or Sandboxie would prevent something like that from EVER happening in the first place.
 
Or you could just switch over to linux (w/e distribution) as your main os, there's really basically everything you need there, but write all your music/documents/misc files to your windows boot so that way if your linux ever gets a virus or spyware. . . which would be hard in the first place. . . you can just drop it totally and reformat it in about 20 min.
 
Thanks for the replies. I agree with both posts, for someone like me who is relatively tech savvy, etc. However, I am the "computer guy" in my group of friends, and inevitably my friends will call me needing help with their computer because they got a virus / spyware and expect me to take care of it. One friend I am helping out right now it is very tough. The computer is crawling and freezing,etc all the time due to the large amount of viruses and spyware that is on there. I can't even install ad-aware, it won't let me. That is why I thought of how nice it would be to have that live linux cd that could do that. If anyone knows of any or can point me in the right direction, please let me know. Or if you have some suggestions on cleaning my friends computer, please let me know. Thanks again.

SuperG
 
If it's for a friend's computer, here's an easy way:

Go to Dr. Web's site, and download the Cureit! ultility. It's a non-installing .exe, one of the more powerful scanners around, and it's free. Try running that on their system first.


http://freedrweb.com/
 
If you have an extra hard drive, install windows and the AV on it. Then have that hard drive run as the master, and the original, the slave. Bootup, and scan your original hard drive. Presto! C'mon, you have to do something with your old 4.3GB hard drives, eh? :D
 
I was looking for something similar to this, a bootable image for a virus scanner, doesnt even have to be linux. I've hear either norton or simantec have something that can scan from bootable media, but not sure about thier track records. I guess the next best thing to do though is to pull the drive and scan it in another computer.
 
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