Antivirus and other anti-malware packages keep your system clean. At least most of the time. While security apps keep getting better and better, some malware still finds loopholes. One of the reasons: the human factor. Where there is a person, there is always the possibility of infection of the system.
One of the ways to restore an infected system is an antivirus bootable disk, specially sharpened to remove malware and working on the principle of booting Linux distributions from CD or USB. Next, we will look at 7 bootable anti-virus disks that you should pay attention to.
1. Kaspersky Rescue Disk
kaspersky rescue disk scan tool
Kaspersky Rescue Disk is one of the best bootable antivirus disks that allows you to scan an infected machine without any difficulty. The scanner has a sufficient number of options, including scanning individual folders, startup objects, system disk and fileless objects. You can also scan the boot sectors of your system to detect particularly stealthy malware.
In addition, Kaspersky Rescue Disk includes additional tools such as Firefox browser, file manager and others.
Another remarkable feature of Kaspersky Rescue Disk is two types of interfaces (graphical and textual). For most users, the best option is a graphical shell. Text mode is intended for low-performance machines and other purposes.
In Kaspersky Rescue Disk, Kaspersky Anti-Virus is available in a bootable format, which invariably scores high points during testing.
Download: Kaspersky Rescue Disk (Free)
2. Avira Rescue System
Avira Rescue System is an anti-virus boot disk based on the Ubuntu distribution kit. For beginners, one of the most acceptable options as it contains a system scan guide. Moreover, Avira does not have many options for configuring the scanner, and an inexperienced user has few chances to disable something important and end up missing a malicious file.
The inside of the Avira Rescue System is easy to navigate thanks to a user-friendly interface consisting of dedicated areas. As in previous cases, among other tools, the Avira Rescue System includes a browser and a disk partitioning utility.
Since Avira is based on Ubuntu, it works well with Linux systems.
3. Trend Micro Rescue Disk
In size, Trend Micro Rescue Disk is arguably the smallest bootable antivirus disk, but it has powerful tools to regain control over your system.
Considering the size (at the time of this writing, about 70 MB), Trend Micro Rescue Disk does not have a graphical interface, only text menus. It sounds a little intimidating, but in practice, navigation is not too difficult.
Download: Trend Micro Rescue Disk for Windows (Free)
4. Dr.Web Live Disk
Despite the slightly suspicious name (in my opinion, it is more suitable for a fake Internet company), Dr.Web Live Disk has many different scan settings in the boot environment. Compared to analogs, Dr.Web's capabilities are quite extensive.
For example, you can include or exclude files from the scan list by type and size and set individual scripts for specific types of malware: bootkits, dialers, adware, and so on. You can also limit the scan time for individual files. Very handy if you have some types of large media files.
Besides, you can use Dr.Web Live Disk to scan Linux-based systems.
Download: Dr.Web Live Disk (Free)
6. AVG Rescue
avg rescue disk menu
AVG is one of the most recognized names in the security industry. AVG Rescue has a very simple test interface, which, however, allows you to customize your scan.
For example, you can only mount and scan a specific volume in Windows and specific files within that volume. In addition, you can scan objects from startup or the registry for the presence of certain types of malware. AVG Rescue includes several diagnostic and analysis utilities to fix disk problems in addition to removing malware.
The simplest text-based interface will not be convenient for everyone, since moving forward / backward using the arrows can be annoying. However, given the range of options available and the scanning accuracy, you should still pay attention to this product.
Download: AVG Rescue (Free)
7. ESET SysRescue Live
run eset sys rescue disk
The last bootable antivirus disk on our list is ESET SysRescue Live, an advanced tool with many features.
You can scan archives, mail folders, symbolic links, boot sectors and more, or use ESET scanner profiles. In addition, ESET SysRescue Live also includes a disk analyzer to check for defects and other errors, a utility for testing RAM, a Chromium browser, a GParted partition manager, TeamViewer for remote system access and some other useful tools.
Download: ESET SysRescue Live (Free)
Conclusion
For me, the best choice is Kaspersky Rescue Disk or Dr.Web Live Disk.
Kaspersky Rescue Disk is bulky but effective, with regular updates and great security gadgets. However, Dr.Web Live Disk has richer functionality. On the other hand, Dr. Web cannot really compete with Kaspersky solely in the field of scanning, but the availability of available options makes this tool convenient.
The rest of the utilities are also largely effective in cleaning your system from malware. Depending on the severity of the problem, you can take turns using two bootable anti-virus disks to be more confident that your system is clean.
