Free Downloadable Bootable Antivirus?

[purecomedy]

A guy at work is asking me to help him with a machine that he says has virus/trojan issues. Since I prevent infections in the first place by running antivirus software (and not opening stupid things) I'm actually fairly inexperienced at cleaning viruses.

Is there a free antivirus program that I can download, burn to a CD and simply go to his place and boot from the CD and start fixing the virus issues?

My fear is that I try to boot windows and the computer just starts rebooting every 30 seconds or is one of the ones that blocks setup.exe if I try to install a new scanner.

It's been so damn long...can I install a virus scanner in safe mode....and if I can does that help me in way?

[Sava700]

avast has a bootable scanner/removal setting... Works really well i've used it daily on student machines since it scans before the memory kicks in from Windows.

Just make sure you turn off system restore before doing any type of cleaning.

[YARDofSTUF]

UBCD for windows has antivir on it.

[purecomedy]

Cool, thanks for the suggestions.

[morbidpete]

UBCD for windows has antivir on it.
or barts win PE

[purecomedy]

UBCD for windows has antivir on it.

Aw **** though, it's going to take me a year to get that iso working. What happened to being able to download it and just burn it to a CD?

My XP CD doesn't have a service pack on it so there's another ****ing step

[YARDofSTUF]

Aw **** though, it's going to take me a year to get that iso working. What happened to being able to download it and just burn it to a CD?

My XP CD doesn't have a service pack on it so there's another ****ing step

Always been this way, someone else may have made an iso and shared it but i dunno.

[YeOldeStonecat]

There's always the "Slave it to a good updated PC with a good AV on it" and scan it that way.

[morbidpete]

There's always the "Slave it to a good updated PC with a good AV on it" and scan it that way.
:eek:

[purecomedy]

There's always the "Slave it to a good updated PC with a good AV on it" and scan it that way.

Yeah if I had known how bad it was and how many shortcomings I would find with Avast I totally would have just done this right away.

This guy only had SP1 (XP), probably no windows updates for 2 years, Antivirus years out of date, no router, no software firewall plus had downloaded stuff off limewire with various trojans and viruses to go with the worms that were on the machine.

Actually our ISP has something called Shaw Secure which is F-secure anti-virus and some software firewall type stuff. Must admit, I don't know how the viruses got around that

A big contributing factor is that I have so many preventative measures on my setup that I'm not the best person to troubleshoot such a bad situation. I solve it by preventing it, that's where my knowledge lies.

[morbidpete]

A big contributing factor is that I have so many preventative measures on my setup that I'm not the best person to troubleshoot such a bad situation. I solve it by preventing it, that's where my knowledge lies.

i hear ya. thats not a bad problem to have :thumb:

[YeOldeStonecat]

This guy only had SP1 (XP), probably no windows updates for 2 years,

Heh...wow.

[purecomedy]

Had Norton Antivirus 2003, also 2 or 3 years without definition updates I think.

He had AVG 7.5 installed but I swear that was installed later in the game in a desperate attempt to clean the machine. I'm sure the viruses shut it down so it couldn't even turn on at startup.

The viruses were a lot of "fun". As soon as you clicked on something like a virus scanner the viruses would shut the window down.

Looks like things are fairly fixed up on the machine now. Thing is, I've run a few virus scanners and each one finds different viruses so I'll probably try a 4th and 5th one this weekend LOL!

[Sava700]

Heh...wow.

I see that at least once a week... its amazing at how many people are running outdated systems cause they either don't care(if its not broken don't fix it) or they don't have time.

[Sava700]

Had Norton Antivirus 2003, also 2 or 3 years without definition updates I think.

He had AVG 7.5 installed but I swear that was installed later in the game in a desperate attempt to clean the machine. I'm sure the viruses shut it down so it couldn't even turn on at startup.

The viruses were a lot of "fun". As soon as you clicked on something like a virus scanner the viruses would shut the window down.

Looks like things are fairly fixed up on the machine now. Thing is, I've run a few virus scanners and each one finds different viruses so I'll probably try a 4th and 5th one this weekend LOL!


Here is my method that I've been using right now:

TURN OFF System Restore FIRST!
Go into the Add/remove programs and start removing junk and things that look spyware crap or programs that they don't even use anymore.

Download - superantispyware,spybot S&D,Avast,MSAutoRuns,HiJackthis,and CCleaner....

Next make sure each is updated.

I then boot into safemode, set Avast to do a boot scan Delete upon detection at next reboot, then I run HiJackthis and remove everything that looks strange and (no files) listed beside them, then I run MSAutoRuns and remove anything without a builder = IE: Microsoft etc etc or something thats listed to not have a file also. Then I run CCleaner checking everything for a FULL clean....Afterwards
I check the folder options to show hidden files then browse my way to the Local Settings within that Users folder under Documents and Settings... go into Temp and Temp internet folders and select all DELETE. Then I run SuperAntiSpyware full scan and remove anything that it finds which most likely it will prompt you next to reboot since some things are in memory... now at this point you've already got Avast updated and set for a boot scan which will also Delete anything it finds on the next reboot so you do the reboot and it will do the Avast scan and then boot right into windows normal mode. Next run spybot S&D for a full bot scan...remove whatever it finds. I then Run CCleaner once more and go back and Uninstall all the cleaners cept for Antispyware and avast since it won't hurt to leave them for the user.


I've found here lately that those steps take a few hours but seem to get rid of everything out there that I've seen and I've seen some nasty stuff.

[purecomedy]

Will Avast in windows mode let you clean .exe files or is it as crappy as the on on the Windows Ultimate Boot CD that only lets you ignore, quarantine or delete?

[Sava700]

Will Avast in windows mode let you clean .exe files or is it as crappy as the on on the Windows Ultimate Boot CD that only lets you ignore, quarantine or delete?

well I don't hardly use it when windows is running..no point, its best to set it for a boot scan/delete cause most are tied up in memory.. I've sent you a pm too