How do I preload an A-V app onto a flash drive?

[Ken90630]

Okay, I realize this is a stupid question, and yes, I am in fact embarrassed to be asking it. So go easy on me.

I keep reading about flash drives "preloaded" with an anti-virus app. I assume this means that you can plug the USB drive into a PC, that you suspect is infected, and run the scanner from the flash drive without actually running the installer package to install the security app on the host PC (which would probably be blocked by most malware).

So how do I do this? Do I buy a flash drive already pre-loaded with Norton or Kaspersky or some other A-V app? If so, who sells them? Or can I make my own with any A-V app?

I obviously know how to download a security app's installer package onto a flash drive, but just doing that doesn't enable me to run an actual scan from the flash drive.

I've been outta the soup, so to speak, for awhile on this stuff and would like to get caught up. Can someone clue me in here on how this works? Thanks in advance.

Ken

 

[lxskllr]

http://www.pendriveapps.com/software/portable-antivirus-firewall/

 

[MadScientist]

Boot into Safe Mode with Networking, download rkill and run it. You should then be able to download and install any AV program.
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topic308364.html

 

[lxskllr]

Boot into Safe Mode with Networking, download rkill and run it. You should then be able to download and install any AV program.
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topic308364.html

Useful tool, but I don't think that's what he's looking for. It sounds to me like he wants a portable installation of A/V for using on foreign computers.

 

[Devilpapaya]

Most of the time AV software must integrate with the computer to work properly. That is it needs be installed and not removed from a local registry. It isn't then possible to make just any AV/AS program portable, its all going to depend on the developer to add that support.

Malware Bytes used to have a portable version (3rd party developed) but I don't think that has been updated in awhile and they have no intention of releasing an official portable app... I'd try the one the lxskllr posted, and here are a few more that I know about.

Hijackthis - not exactly an AV scanner, more like msconfig on crack, but can be useful in stopping malicious programs from running on startup; install and portable versions available.

Combofix - very powerful scanner, useful on 32-bit machines, not currently compatable on x64. Can't be run from USB, but doesn't require install. Just copy to desktop and run.

However, IMHO, running AV/AS scans from the computer (rather than a flash drive) is generally the way to go, if at all possible. Its faster and (at least in my experience) more likely to find everything.

 

[MadScientist]

My point was that by running rkill first, a tool that kills known processes that stop the installation and use of anti-malware applications, there is no need for a flash drive "preloaded" with an anti-virus app.

 

[tcsenter]

Bit Defender and Norton have a utility that creates the bootable USB drive for you.

 

[Ken90630]

Thanks for the replies, all.

Lxskllr: Thanks for that link. Looks like a good resource for what I have in mind. :thumbsup:

MadScientist: I wasn't familiar with rkill before. Thanks -- I'm gonna look into that for possible future use.

DevilPapaya: I agree with what you say about it being preferable to run a security app natively on the PC (vs. from a flash drive). But of course that's not always possible -- I run across infected machines all the time that have not only disabled the installed A-V app, but they prevent installation of a new one and even block access to all the known online scanners. Hence me looking for a 'portable' A-V that I could run in Safe Mode without requiring installation onto the infected PC's hard drive.

Re HijackThis!, I use it all the time. What a great app. Re ComboFix, I'm not familiar with that but it sounds good. Will definitely look into it. Can it be run in Safe Mode?

Tcsenter: Yeah, I discovered that. I may end creating a Norton utility on a flash drive. It won't be a be-all, end-all solution, but it could be helpful as another weapon in the arsenal.