Boot time virus scan from USB drive

Question

I want to check for viruses on a computer that I suspect may be infected with malware.

Its users are running an antivirus, but there's always the risk that something slips past and the way I see it, once the system is infected the antivirus is useless because the malware can hide itself from the AV.

I think the best way to go (besides clean reinstall of the OS) would be to have an antivirus running at a boot time from a CD or a USB key. That way, the malware is just lying on the disk and cannot do any of its hide-and-seek stuff (provided the AV comes from an uninfected PC and all that).

So, I'm looking for something that:

• Runs at boot time (off USB key or CD-ROM)
• Does not touch or require the local OS
• Discovers malware fairly well (like, Avast, AVG, Norton, whatever -- I think the're all the same anyway)
• Can handle Windows filesystems (FAT 32, NTFS, WinFS ;-) )
• Comes from some sort of trusted source (no Windows Antivirus 2009)

*I know that this is no silver bullet (nothing is, really), but I do have a feeling it's more likely to help than doing the scan* within the infected system.

Solution

There's a tutorial here to install the Antivir Rescue CD from Avira on a bootable USB key. It's running on Linux, with r/w support for NTFS.

Comments

[Tomas Sedovic]

It requires Win32 system to run, so I can't use it for a boot-time scan.

[Tomas Sedovic]

There is a newer (2009) version of the article at: askthegeek.kennyhart.com/index.php/2009/05/14/… Unfortunatelly, both contain broken links to the rescue CDs. Still, the guide should help for other CDs as well.

[Martin]

of course you can, boot BartPE (CD or USB stick), it will detect your USB stick and then use it from there. or copy A2CMD onto your BartPE USB stick (WinToFlash helps a great deal if you prefer USB over CD).

[Tomas Sedovic]

Okay, my bad :-). This sounds interesting, I'll give it a try.