How to make a bootable thumb drive virus scanner for NTFS: 2008 update - The DOS-based version of the thumb drive virus scanner uses F-Prot Antivirus for DOS, one of the best and most popular DOS-based scanners for nearly 20 years. Unfortunately, F-Secure is no longer updating the virus definitions for that version. In fact, the F-Prot virus signatures are now more than a year old, making them virtually useless against newer threats. Other vendors are following suit. I've had quite a bit of feedback asking me if I could solve this problem and provide an updated method of offline virus scanning.
The good news is that, yes, I've solved the problem, thanks to the fact that several vendors offer free bootable rescue CDs for download. Most of these run under some flavor of Linux and after a bit of hacking, I found it's a simple matter to make a bootable thumb drive from the images.* 03/24/2009 Freeware
Bart's Boot Disks and Bart's Preinstalled Environment (BartPE) bootable live windows CD/DVD - If you ever have to recover files from an unbootable drive or try to bring a dead PC back to life, here's a free, zero-footprint tool you shouldn't be without, Fred Langa says. It's a self-contained, CD-based "live" copy of Windows XP. Like the popular "live CD" versions of Linux that can run entirely from a CD-ROM without installing anything, on to making any changes to a system's hard drive, "BartPE" (Bart's Preinstalled Environment) gives you a version of XP that you can boot and run on just about any PC without altering anything on the system itself.
From Bart's web site itself, "Bart's PE Builder helps you build a "BartPE" (Bart Preinstalled Environment) bootable Windows CD-Rom or DVD from the original Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 installation/setup CD, very suitable for PC maintenance tasks.
It will give you a complete Win32 environment with network support, a graphical user interface (800x600) and FAT/NTFS/CDFS filesystem support. Very handy for burn-in testing systems with no OS, rescuing files to a network share, virus scan and so on.
This will replace any Dos bootdisk in no time!
PE Builder is not a Microsoft product and does not create Microsoft Windows Preinstallation Environment ("WinPE"). Using PE Builder does not grant you a license to Microsoft WinPE or to use the Windows XP or Server 2003 binaries in a manner other than stated in the End-User License Agreement included in your version of Microsoft Windows XP or Windows Server 2003. Microsoft has not reviewed or tested PE Builder and does not endorse its use."* 08/09/2005 Freeware
BootDisk.com - BootDisks - PC Support - Essential Utilities* - Numerous DOS, Windows and Linux Boot Disks. 10/16/2005 Freeware
Inside Security Rescue Toolkit (INSERT) - INSERT is a complete, bootable linux system. It comes with a graphical user interface running the fluxbox window manager while still being sufficiently small to fit on a credit card-sized CD-ROM.* 12/12/2005 Freeware
KNOPPIX - KNOPPIX is a bootable Live system on CD or DVD, consisting of a representative collection of GNU/Linux software, automatic hardware detection, and support for many graphics cards, sound cards, SCSI and USB devices and other peripherals. KNOPPIX can be used as a productive Linux system for the desktop, educational CD, rescue system, or adapted and used as a platform for commercial software product demos. It is not necessary to install anything on a hard disk. Due to on-the-fly decompression, the CD can have up to 2 GB of executable software installed on it (over 8GB on the DVD "Maxi" edition).* Description Updated 10/16/2005 Freeware
Computer First Aid Using Knoppix - By Cedric Shock and Susan Sullivan - These instructions were written using Knoppix version 3.7. Windows just crashed. The computer won't boot back up. Those "System Recovery Disks" that came with your computer will erase all of your data. In most cases, when Windows breaks and will not start up again, none of your data has been lost, you just don't have a way to get to it. These instructions are a way of getting to your data when Windows won't work.* 01/09/2006
Knoppix-STD - Knoppix-STD (Security Tools Distribution) is a Linux-based Security Tool. Actually, it is a collection of hundreds if not thousands of open source security tools. It's a Live Linux Distro, which means it runs from a bootable CD in memory without changing the native operating system of the host computer. Its sole purpose in life is to put as many security tools at your disposal with as slick an interface as it can.
STD is meant to be used by both novice and professional security personnel but is not ideal for the Linux uninitiated. STD assumes you know the basics of Linux as most of your work will be done from the command line. If you are completely new to Linux, it's best you start with another live Distro like Knoppix to practice the basics (see faq).
STD tools are divided into the following categories (see the STD Tools section for details):
STD is designed to assist network administrators and professionals alike secure their networks.
The STD community is extremely active. Come and join us on the forum here*
Basically it's the same as Knoppix, but with more security tools included. Description Updated: 10/16/2005 Freeware
PCLinuxOS - PCLinuxOS was founded in October 2003. The flagship product, the PCLinux operating system, is a free, easy-to-use Linux-based operating system for the home. PCLinuxOS was founded by Texstar, and is headquartered in Houston, Tx.
PCLinuxOS is distributed as a LiveCD, and can also be installed to a local hard drive. LiveCD mode lets you try it without making any changes to your computer. If you like it, you can install it to your hard drive. Locally installed versions of PCLinuxOS utilize the Advanced Packaging Tool (or APT), a package management system (originally from the Debian distribution), together with Synaptic, a GUI frontend to APT.
PCLinuxOS has a script called mklivecd, which allows the user to take a 'snapshot' of their current hard drive installation (all settings, applications, documents, etc.) and compress it into an ISO CD/DVD image. This allows easy backup of a user's data and also makes it easy to create your own custom live CD/DVD.* Updated: 03/24/2009 Freeware
ReactOS® - ReactOS® is a free, modern operating system based on the design of Windows® XP/2003. Written completely from scratch, it aims to follow the Windows® architecture designed by Microsoft from the hardware level right through to the application level. This is not a Linux based system, and shares none of the unix architecture.
The main goal of the ReactOS project is to provide an operating system which is binary compatible with Windows. This will allow your Windows applications and drivers to run as they would on your Windows system. Additionally, the look and feel of the Windows operating system is used, such that people accustomed to the familiar user interface of Windows® would find using ReactOS straightforward. The ultimate goal of ReactOS is to allow you to remove Windows® and install ReactOS without the end user noticing the change.
Please bear in mind that ReactOS 0.3.8 is still in alpha stage, meaning it is not feature-complete and is not recommended for everyday use.* Updated: 03/24/2009 Freeware
Sysinternals Utilities and Resources - The Sysinternals web site was created in 1996 by Mark Russinovich and Bryce Cogswell to host their advanced system utilities and technical information. Microsoft acquired Sysinternals in July, 2006. Whether you’re an IT Pro or a developer, you’ll find Sysinternals utilities to help you manage, troubleshoot and diagnose your Windows systems and applications. If you have a question about a tool or how to use them, please visit the Sysinternals Forum for answers and help from other users and our moderators.* Updated: 03/24/2009 Freeware
SystemRescueCD - SystemRescueCd is a Linux system on a bootable CD-ROM for repairing your system and recovering your data after a crash. It aims to provide an easy way to carry out admin tasks on your computer, such as creating and editing the partitions of the hard disk. It contains a lot of system tools (parted, partimage, fstools, ...) and basic tools (editors, midnight commander, network tools). It is very easy to use: just boot the CDROM. The kernel supports most of the important file systems (ext2/ext3/ext4, reiserfs, reiser4, btrfs, xfs, jfs, vfat, ntfs, iso9660), as well as network filesystems (samba and nfs).* Updated: 03/24/2009
Ubuntu - Ubuntu is a community developed operating system that is perfect for laptops, desktops and servers. Whether you use it at home, at school or at work Ubuntu contains all the applications you'll ever need, from word processing and email applications, to web server software and programming tools.
Ubuntu is and always will be free of charge. You do not pay any licensing fees. You can download, use and share Ubuntu with your friends, family, school or business for absolutely nothing.
We issue a new desktop and server release every six months. That means you'll always have the latest and greatest applications that the open source world has to offer.
Ubuntu is designed with security in mind. You get free security updates for at least 18 months on the desktop and server. With the Long Term Support (LTS) version you get three years support on the desktop, and five years on the server. There is no extra fee for the LTS version, we make our very best work available to everyone on the same free terms. Upgrades to new versions of Ubuntu are and always will be free of charge.
Everything you need comes on one CD, providing a complete working environment. Additional software is available online.
The graphical installer enables you to get up and running quickly and easily. A standard installation should take less than 25 minutes.
Once installed your system is immediately ready-to-use. On the desktop you have a full set of productivity, internet, drawing and graphics applications, and games.
On the server you get just what you need to get up and running and nothing you don't.* Updated: 03/24/2009 Freeware
You can download the CD from their web site, but if you have a slow Internet connection, then order the free CD. I ordered the free Ubuntu CD in early 2008 and received it sooner than the six to ten weeks specified. I have not been solicited by Canonical by e-mail or snail-mail since I placed the order.
Ultimate Boot CD - You need the Ultimate Boot CD if you want to:
When you boot up from the CD, a text-based menu will be displayed, and you will be able to select the tool you want to run. The selected tool actually boots off a virtual floppy disk created in memory.* Updated: 03/24/2009 Freeware
For those of you interested in a Windows version of the Ultimate Boot CD, you might want to check out the UBCD for Windows project initiated by Ben Burrows. - UBCD4Win is a bootable recovery CD that contains software used for repairing, restoring, or diagnosing almost any computer problem. Our goal is to be the most complete and easy to use free computer diagnostic tool. Almost all software included in UBCD4Win are freeware utilities for Windows®. Some of the tools inlcuded are "free for personal use" copies so users need to respect these licenses. A few of the tools included in UBCD4Win are paid for and licensed software owned by UBCD4win. On occasion we work with software companies/authors for permission to include their software in our download or have requested their software better support PE. Users can freely share copies of UBCD4Win with friends but selling UBCD4Win for a profit is not acceptable. We have worked hard for many years helping people for free with this project, others should not make money from our hard work. If you are a dialup user having a hard time downloading UBCD4Win, please visit our ordering page. UBCD4Win is based on Bart's PE©. Bart's PE© builds a Windows® "pre-install" environment CD, basically a simple Windows® XP booted from CD. UBCD4Win includes network support and allows you the ability to modify NTFS volumes, recover deleted files, create new NTFS volumes, scan hard drives for viruses, etc. Our download includes almost everything you need to repair your system problems. This project has been put together to be the ultimate recovery cd and not a replacement OS (Operating System). Please visit the "List of Tools" page for a complete list of what is included in the latest version of UBCD4Win.
There are requirements for building this CD which can and may make it difficult for everyone to build the project. Please understand that these requirements and restrictions are due to copyright laws, etc. When starting this project I wanted it to be as easy as possible. I wanted it to be a simple ISO file download just like the original Ultimate Boot CD. I had to weigh the ease of build and functionality very carefully. After much thought and research I decided that Bart's PE© was the best way to accomplish this task. That decision required a different type of build and more steps for the end user. Yes more complicated, but I prefer to think of these additional steps in a positive way. We provide detailed instructions and our forum for help. Inexperienced users will feel a sense of accomplishment and gain knowledge when they successfully build the CD.* Updated: 03/24/2009 Freeware
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