Antiboot programs

Works great. Sounds complicated, but it works. I figure I am about half nuts anyway….. For me however, I am more for dual booting, nay even multibooting windows 10 with several linux distros in two SSD. Moreover, when I boot into any Linux distro, it typically takes less than 1 minute to load. As a matter of fact, I enjoy since more than 15 years ago, installing Windows, and other OS in a multiboot environment before using a commercial boot manager.

Doing some boot-time disk shuffle only works for desktops. I figured on having a W98 partition, W2K partition for the retro stuff, and the Linux partition for managing images of the two MSWin setups so I can wipe and restore as needed.

Your email address will not be published. RobG [ Reply ]. Wan [ Reply ]. Hikari [ Reply ]. With a bootloader I can just keep my isos updated on HD and boot them whenever I want.

Well, that's when you use bootable antivirus software. Bootable Antivirus is basically your last line of defense when it comes to dealing with a threat that takes the form of a virus or a malware. It's considered to be one of the best virus removal tools, and it helps with these kinds of stubborn and problematic infections.

This is called a rescue disc. These rescue discs are extremely useful, and they can fight the virus infections and clean your system of them, even if the threat is dormant. As we said, it's the last line of defense, and it's mostly used when the infected system isn't bootable, or when the threat can't be dealt with by regular means of protection.

The bad thing is that there are a lot of viruses and malware that can do this to your computer. That's why you should always try and be careful during your online sessions. On the other hand, the good thing is that there are so many similar threats, that pretty much every antivirus company has developed and it maintains disk images for these rescue discs. When it comes to the difference between a regular and a bootable antivirus software, there are some key points. For example, regular antivirus software is a protection software.

It watches over your system, scans for threats, and tries to get rid of them once it finds one. You can think of it as your computer's guardian. It can be updated, and today, most of the antivirus software takes care of things like that by themselves, without bothering the users and making them do it manually.

Bootable antivirus software, however, isn't created or designed to protect you. Its purpose is to clean up your system after it was infected with troublesome malware.

It's used mostly when your regular antivirus can't handle the threat, or when the malware or viruses disable it completely. Its job is to break into your computer, rush through the barricades that malware and viruses have set, and completely wipe them out. It can't be used as an antivirus program since it searches and destroys, it doesn't protect.

Because of the constant shifts in the virus designs that antivirus software follows, it's pointless trying to prepare such software in advance. Every day, new viruses and malware are being created and discovered. Researchers are doing everything in their power to keep up, and to create decent counter-measures for their antivirus programs so that they can protect their users and fight the threat.

Still, if there's a flaw in the antivirus, or it wasn't updated in time, it might miss one of the newest viruses. One such virus is all it takes, and if it gets to your system, it might even shut the antivirus off completely. If that happens, you'll be completely exposed and unprotected.

Anything that can infect a system is probably going to try, and even get help from the viruses that have already infected you. The only thing you can do in a situation like that is to create a rescue disc, and even that can be done only after your computer has already been infected.

To do that, you'll need to find and use a different computer, since the infected one won't be much help at this point. Generally speaking, creating a rescue disc isn't that complicated. As we said, the software itself can be found at your antivirus provider, and it comes in the form of an ISO file. It's important to note here that ISO needs to be written as a ' disk image' , and not as a 'data file'. Once you're finished with burning the file, put it into the computer drive, and you'll now be able to boot from it.

The entire process is relatively short and easy, and we'll explain it. As we have already mentioned, almost every big antivirus company has its own bootable rescue tools. Choosing the best ones has proved to be a pretty challenging job, but we have still managed to pick several that are among the best ones. Other than that, it's up to you to choose which one you'll use. It watches out for apps behaving badly, scans links on the web to identify scams, and has proactive malware and spyware scanning that can detect threats nobody has encountered before.

Plus the app boasts boot scanning every time you start your PC. Ad-free, nag-free and hassle-free, Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition is a great product that runs quickly and silently while you get on with something more interesting. Its comprehensive suite of tools to protect your PC makes Bitdefender the best free anti-malware software you can download today.

It's all the protection you need in one handy package. Read our full Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition review. The Avira Free Security Suite provides one of the most comprehensive free security packages available on the internet.

As well as providing the standard anti-virus protection, the Avira Free security suite also provides a software updater, as well as scanning your network for vulnerabilities and helps you fix them. There are also safe browsing and safe shopping options, as well as a system optimizer to speed up your PC which is normally charged for in other packages.

If that's not enough there's also a free VPN included for up to MB per month, as well as a password manager and privacy settings manager. However, you actually have a choice of which features you want to install.

This is a great plus as while the Avira suite is generous some users may want to run one or more features through a different suite. There is an upgrade option, of course, but this is priced toward installation across 5, or 25 devices, and involves such features such as removing the VPN limit. If there's one negative, it's that there's no anti-ransomware protection, but aside from that the Avira Free Security Suite is a very generous package indeed.

Read our full Avira antivirus review. If you're looking for anti-malware software that keeps quiet and won't disturb your work, be warned — AVG Antivirus Free is quite vocal with its notifications, and irks us from time to time with pop-ups telling us we've done something fantastic with regard to our online safety.

As an anti-malware app, though, it's very good. The dashboard is user-friendly, there's protection not just from downloadable threats, but from dodgy links too, and you can use your mobile to scan your PC remotely, which is pretty clever. The paid-for Pro model has more security options - it has more robust download protection, offers data encryption includes a firewall - but the free version offers decent protection for most PC users. It's more of a system repair tool than a system protection tool, however, and you need to be careful where you get it from: there are fake versions in circulation designed to cause damage, not fix it.

The version linked here is the real deal. Most security software tries to stop malware and spyware getting onto your system. Emsisoft Emergency Kit doesn't: it's the call of security software, the app you use when your PC's been poked by something unpleasant. With two million malware signatures, Emsisoft Emergency Kit can restore almost any infected PC to rude health. Read our full Emsisoft Emergency Kit review. Brian has over 30 years publishing experience as a writer and editor across a range of computing and technology titles, and has been interviewed multiple times for BBC News and BBC Radio.

He is also a science fiction and fantasy author, writing as Brian G Turner. North America. The best malware removal software makes it simple and easy to prevent viruses, trojans, ransomware, and other infections on your computing device. View Deal. Reasons to avoid - Paid competitors can offer more options. Avast Antivirus. Reasons to avoid - Advertising prompts. Kaspersky Anti-Virus.