# Antivirus Live CD recommendations, please **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 21, 2010, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antivirus-live-cd-recommendations-please/533219 "2010-03-21T06:27:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Electronic\_Chaos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Electronic\_Chaos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electronic_Chaos)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antivirus-live-cd-recommendations-please/533219/1 "2010-03-21T06:27:36Z")
Apparently, my niece was downloading things she shouldn’t have been, and ended up infecting my sister’s computer with a virus, or multiple viruses. After fooling with it for more than two hours, my dad gave up on repairing it, and called to see if I could take a look. I’m assuming the infection is a little more tenacious, and that I’ll probably have to boot from a different OS to clean it. I have a good sized stack of blank CDs, as well as a 1GB USB drive that I’ve booted from before, so multiple suggestions are definitely welcome. ---
**Author:** ![Hodge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Hodge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hodge)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antivirus-live-cd-recommendations-please/533219/2 "2010-03-21T20:31:08Z")
I’ve been using [Avira Rescue System CD](http://www.free-av.com/en/products/12/avira_antivir_rescue_system.html) with good results. Often, the problem with these live CDs is that a lot of them aren’t updated very often but Avira claims their rescue CD is updated multiple times a day. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antivirus-live-cd-recommendations-please/533219/3 "2010-03-21T20:36:30Z")
The [removal of Antivirus Live 2010](http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/virus-removal/remove-antivirus-live) is pretty straightforward, assuming there isn’t also a rootkit installed. ---
**Author:** ![Electronic\_Chaos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Electronic\_Chaos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electronic_Chaos)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antivirus-live-cd-recommendations-please/533219/4 "2010-03-21T23:28:53Z")
I’ve actually decided to go a different route, by taking an external hard drive enclosure, and my laptop along. That way I can easily back up her files if I can’t completely get rid of the virus. Thanks for your suggestions, though. ---
**Author:** ![Electronic\_Chaos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Electronic\_Chaos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electronic_Chaos)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antivirus-live-cd-recommendations-please/533219/5 "2010-03-21T23:33:26Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > The [removal of Antivirus Live 2010](http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/virus-removal/remove-antivirus-live) is pretty straightforward, assuming there isn’t also a rootkit installed. Sorry, I actually meant a Live CD, as in a CD that has a bootable operating system on it, along with anti-virus tools. I didn’t know there was a virus going around called Antivirus Live. I have no clue what virus(es) have infected the computer, since I haven’t actually looked at it yet. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antivirus-live-cd-recommendations-please/533219/6 "2010-03-22T00:41:26Z")
[BartPE](http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/) will do the job. ---
**Author:** ![antonio107](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ea924/32.png) [@antonio107](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antonio107)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antivirus-live-cd-recommendations-please/533219/7 "2013-10-21T19:53:57Z")
(I didn’t know if bumping an almost 4 year old thread, or starting a new one would be preferable in this case…) I have a similar situation with grampa’s computer and a USB stick I have free. Has the market for a free, USB bootable virus scanner remained static? Or are there other good options that the dopers could recommend? I can’t tell what’s good and what’s not, based on a google search. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![yoyodyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a9a28c/32.png) [@yoyodyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yoyodyne)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antivirus-live-cd-recommendations-please/533219/8 "2013-10-21T21:41:01Z")
I’ve had good results with a [Windows Defender Offline](http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/what-is-windows-defender-offline) full scan, followed by a [Malwarebytes](http://www.malwarebytes.org/) full scan from within Windows. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antivirus-live-cd-recommendations-please/533219/9 "2013-10-21T22:30:31Z")
[Hitman Pro Kickstarter](http://www.surfright.nl/en/kickstart) creates a good USB boot device, and includes a free 30 day license. ---
**Author:** ![yoyodyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a9a28c/32.png) [@yoyodyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yoyodyne)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2013, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antivirus-live-cd-recommendations-please/533219/10 "2013-10-22T00:01:07Z")
The Hitman Pro page discussion of ransomware prompts me to mention [CryptoLocker](http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/virus-removal/cryptolocker-ransomware-information). If you clean it your data files are gone unless you have a backup. If you don’t and you think your files are worth it you may want to pay before you remove it.