Virus scanning from a CD..

[greendragon]

I would like to scan muliple computers (one at a time) with just one copy of an Antivirus and I'd like to have that antivirus be on a CD.

I've never really done anything like this before, so I'm not sure if it can be done or how hard it would be. And if it can be done I don't know what kind of software I should use. Any suggestions? Linux maybe?

This whole idea came about because I have been fixing my sister's and my sister's boyfriend's computers, both were been riddled with virus'. Instead of booting them into safe mode then installing, updating then running an AV I thought it would have been nice to just boot from a CD. I was running AVG Free on both of them, but I don't really care which AV I would use for this at first. (I would like to try Kapersky eventually though)

This is just for personal use for now, but I might want to use it to earn a little cash someday... Only if it's legal to use a single "paid for" license like that though.

[Ned Slider]

I would like to scan muliple computers (one at a time) with just one copy of an Antivirus and I'd like to have that antivirus be on a CD.

I've never really done anything like this before, so I'm not sure if it can be done or how hard it would be. And if it can be done I don't know what kind of software I should use. Any suggestions? Linux maybe?

This whole idea came about because I have been fixing my sister's and my sister's boyfriend's computers, both were been riddled with virus'. Instead of booting them into safe mode then installing, updating then running an AV I thought it would have been nice to just boot from a CD. I was running AVG Free on both of them, but I don't really care which AV I would use for this at first. (I would like to try Kapersky eventually though)

This is just for personal use for now, but I might want to use it to earn a little cash someday... Only if it's legal to use a single "paid for" license like that though.

Check out the F-Secure Rescue CD:

http://www.f-secure.com/linux-weblog...rescue-cd-200/

It meets many of your mentioned requirements above - is Linux based, uses Kaspersky scanning engine/signatures, is available free for personal use and is included on the CD of the commercial AV package if you decide to buy a Windows product.

The CD ISO image above was released Jan 2007, and when you boot the system from the LiveCD, if a network connection is detected it will automatically download the latest updates. Individual partitions can be selected for scanning and any infected files are renamed with a .VIR extension (making them easy to find and delete later).

If you "go professional" or get more serious, I would suggest a dedicated PC for the purpose into which you can mount any infected hard disks and perform a full scan. This is by far the quickest and most reliable method. But this rescue CD is a great addition to the mobile workers toolkit

Hope that helps

[greendragon]

Wow, that is was talking about!

When it downloads updates were do they go? I mean are they stored on the PC? I wouldn't want to leave them there if they are... Also, does this work on any or almost any PC? How do you get around not having specific dirivers for the hardware with a Live CD?

So many questions.....sorry

[Ned Slider]

Bing a live CD, things run from RAM. Updates aren't stored or left on the HD - no idea where they go, the whole process is totally automatic. The only thing you have to do is select which partitions from a list you want to scan. If it detects an internet connection (needs to be plugged into a dhcp server/router) it will download the latest updates and then do the scan. Try it, you'll see

Hardware support seems OK. It's booted and run on every PC I've tried it on, but occasionally the NIC wasn't detected so it couldn't update the virus signatures, making it mostly useless in those cases as it's scanning based on very old signatures.

But like I said, a far better solution is always to put the infected HD into a clean machine for scanning.

[greendragon]

Thanks for the info Ned. Your answers are always very helpful, thanks!

[Ned Slider]

Thanks for the info Ned. Your answers are always very helpful, thanks!

You're welcome - let us know how you make out with it

[_dangtx_]

most of the live cd utilities include one or two
virus scan agents. ubcd has 3 i think.

[greendragon]

I'm starting to ook into more live cd's, very cool stuff.

My project computer is taking a little time, but I have the recue CD running right now. It seemed pretty sweet as I got it running though. I've already put a new drive and reinstalled everything on that drive (I think the old drive is failing), but I'm running the AV on the old one to make sure there are no hidden virus' before I move anything to the new drive.