Booting from USB to fix a virus; possible?

[illram]

I have a friend with a bad virus problem. I would like to run anti-malware and super anti-spyware on his machine but he says he can't access any external media or the internet in XP.

I am wondering if I can boot from a USB and run these programs via that. Is this possible? (Assuming his BIOS/mobo allows it, I haven't checked out his machine yet)

What program would be best on the USB to allow the machine to boot to it, and then run these programs?

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

If you've got the original Windows disk, check out this:
http://lifehacker.com/software/windows/boot-windows-from-a-usb-drive-141290.php

Neat thing about it, it'll also put the software on the USB for you.

Be careful not to let the USB get infected -- I'm not sure if there's a way to do it on USBs, but on floppies there's the tab to switch to read-only. I once read somewhere to use that to keep the floppy from getting infected. Don't know if it's true or not; probably depends on the antivirus.

If the USB works. My guess is that the virus just infected the Windows OS, so the BIOS may work for booting. Some viruses can destroy the BIOS, but I think they're very rare.

Good luck with getting it fixed -- sometimes, the only thing you can do is save the important files and just start over.

 

[Padma]

I have several times booted from a CD to fix problems like this, so why not a USB?

 

[Genocidicbunny]

The big question here is: can the motherboard boot off a USB flash drive? Most modern ones can, but older ones are iffy. After that, it should be fairly easy.

 

[Shadylookin]

he probably doesn't have his bios set to boot from cd first. if his bios doesn't have that option then there's almost zero chance it'll have a boot from usb option.

I've booted from usb using puppy linux and damn small linux before so I know it's possible assuming your motherboard will let you do it.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

he probably doesn't have his bios set to boot from cd first. if his bios doesn't have that option then there's almost zero chance it'll have a boot from usb option.

ALL relatively modern BIOS' should have a boot from cd option. Otherwise, there's no way to install an operating system really.

 

[Turner]

I have several times booted from a CD to fix problems like this, so why not a USB?

The big question here is: can the motherboard boot off a USB flash drive? Most modern ones can, but older ones are iffy. After that, it should be fairly easy.

Yeah, that's the rub. Booting off of CD is almost a given, but USB can be difficult.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

It's also not very helpful if you have a smashed up USB port. LOL.
Also, don't mess around with the BIOS other than to set the boot options. Otherwise it might do something bad.

 

[illram]

Thanks for your replies guys.

I am thinking that I can also just try to boot from a CD if the USB route does not work, I am not sure how old is PC is.

Am I correct in thinking that I need some sort of barebones OS on the bootable media if I want to do things like run anti-virus, etc.? What would you recommend? Is there anything that would allow me to run windows' anti-malware and super anti-spyware?

Unless I can install stuff in safe mode... I always assumed that was not possible. Is it?

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

The one I linked to, if you have a big enough USB (over 256 MB) you can put security software onto it. Here's the link again. It says Ad-Aware, but in theory you could take any portable antivirus and use it.

Safe mode... well, from experience, I tried it once and the malware was still there. Then I was trying to remove it and it degraded to the point where Windows wouldn't work at all. It was about 1 am, and it was completely my fault. So even if you could install, I wouldn't quite recommend using it. Only thing it'd be useful for was turning off internet access but thats also easily done with the router.

 

[Shadylookin]

The one I linked to, if you have a big enough USB (over 256 MB) you can put security software onto it. Here's the link again. It says Ad-Aware, but in theory you could take any portable antivirus and use it.

the only problem with that is most OEM's don't give out the xp disks.

 

[illram]

The one I linked to, if you have a big enough USB (over 256 MB) you can put security software onto it. Here's the link again. It says Ad-Aware, but in theory you could take any portable antivirus and use it.

Safe mode... well, from experience, I tried it once and the malware was still there. Then I was trying to remove it and it degraded to the point where Windows wouldn't work at all. It was about 1 am, and it was completely my fault. So even if you could install, I wouldn't quite recommend using it. Only thing it'd be useful for was turning off internet access but thats also easily done with the router.

Hmm I must have missed that link earlier, will look into that. Now I have to dig around to find my original XP setup disk...

Will it matter if I have already registered it? I.e. I used the authentication number already.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I don't think so.