Emergency Virus Recovery Tools: Rescue Disks and Online Scanners Explained

If malware enters your PC, it can disable your antivirus, but bootable rescue disks and on-demand online antivirus can help you fight the infection.

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But even the most successful malware detection engines can sometimes be fooled by a new threat or a very effective obfuscation of malicious code. When this happens, some viruses begin by disabling your operating system’s security, starting with your antivirus. If this renders your system unusable, you will need a bootable rescue disk. If you can still use your PC, but can’t access or run scans from your anti-virus software, try an online scanner to check for specific files or perform an on-demand scan that might be missing the notice of malware. Here’s what you need to know about the relief tools available to you.

Rescue disks and bootable scanners

Some malware prevents you from using your PC once the infection has taken hold. To circumvent this problem, you can use a rescue disk – a bootable CD or USB stick with its own live operating system, specially designed to detect and destroy viruses on your hard drive.

These are usually small Linux distributions, designed to automatically load an easy-to-use malware scanner, which will download the latest virus definition files and then scan your computer’s local storage.

Your hard drive usually remains unmounted, allowing it to be more accurately scanned and cleaned. And since the infected operating system is not started at any time, the malware cannot take any measures to prevent itself from being deleted.

A number of anti-virus programs, such as Avast, allow you to burn a rescue CD or disc for future use, but there are also downloadable programs, which tend to be rather more useful if you’ve ever had to turn to a spare or borrowed disk. pc. Note that some rescue disk creators, such as Trend Micro, require a working Windows system to create the disk, so you won’t be able to launch a Raspberry Pi, or similar, in an emergency.

For this reason, I will only recommend backup images that can be burned from anything to an Android phone with a USB OTG cable.

You will, however, need a tool to burn bootable images to a CD, DVD, or USB flash drive. To create bootable USB disks, try Rufus (Windows only), Balena Etcher (Windows, Linux, macOS), Ventoy (unofficial cross-platform Android port available on Play Store). If you only have an Android phone and a USB cable, DriveDroid allows your phone to emulate a bootable USB, within certain limits.

To burn discs, use Disc Image Tools on modern versions of Windows, Burn on macOS, and Brasero on most graphical versions of Linux. Both legacy and modern Windows users can download CDBurnerXP.

Kaspersky RescueDisk

One of Kaspersky’s many free tools, this bootable ISO is my go-to choice for a quick rescue, with simple options powered by one of the best malware detection engines in the business. Download it here

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Eset SysRescue

Downloadable as an ISO or IMG file, SysRescue has more features than most rivals, with granular scanning and malware removal options. Select the image you need from https://www.eset.com/int/support/sysrescue/

Online virus scanners

Designed to provide a quick scan without interfering with existing security software you have installed, online scanners can also help you bypass malware that tries to outwit your installed antivirus.

These are usually either web applications that allow you to upload files for scanning, or a rather useless name for a small downloadable on-demand scanner. The former are truly cross-platform, while the latter can only work on one or two operating systems, usually Windows, sometimes macOS. Don’t confuse them with cloud-based scanners.

These scanners are very simple, with few options and often require an internet connection to work. Real-time protection is not included, but some allow you to schedule regular scans.

Even if you’re not dealing with a virus emergency, these can be useful for checking anything you’re suspicious of and complementing the capabilities of the comprehensive security suite you have installed, whether it’s Microsoft Defender or a third party. – party option.

For this reason, make sure you have an on-demand or “online” scanner that uses a different malware detection engine than your installed antivirus suite.

VirusTotal

VirusTotal is one of the simplest online scanners and the only one that doesn’t require a download. Simply drag and drop a suspicious file or paste it into a dodgy URL to get an almost instant assessment of whether or not a threat is present. No download required, which means you can use this browser-based tool on almost any platform. Scan files and URL now at https://www.virustotal.com/

Trend Micro HouseCall

Windows and macOS users can download an app to quickly scan their PC and even their local network for threats using Trend’s malware detection engine. You can save the HouseCall launcher to run whenever you want, but it won’t automatically update, so you’ll have to manually download new versions periodically. Versions for both operating systems are available at https://www.trendmicro.com/en_us/forHome/products/housecall.html

Eset Online Analyzer

Eset Online Scanner has a periodic scan option and an offline mode, although this one only has the virus database downloaded from the last time you used it when connected to the internet . Confusingly, the online scanner is mentioned on its download page as a one-time scan, but it’s really a much reduced version of Eset’s award-winning antivirus, with minimal options, no real-time protection and the uninstall option. after each scan. Download it from https://www.eset.com/us/home/online-scanner/