Previously I’ve shared with you about Kaspersky Rescue CD and Avira Antivir Rescue System CD which is very useful when you have a computer that is unable to boot in to Windows caused by virus. All you need to do is to boot up the computer with Kaspersky Rescue Disk CD or Avira Antivir Rescue System CD and it will launch the scanner to scan your computer for any virus that causes your Windows computer unable to start up.
However, updating the virus definition for both Kaspersky and Avira Rescue CD is not easy. Kaspersky Rescue CD virus definition has an extension of .kvp but the Windows version uses .avp. I still haven’t figure out a way to manually update Kaspersky Recue CD’s virus definition but I am sure it’ll involve editing the ISO image. As for Avira Rescue CD, there is an option to update the VDF file, but it requires the VDF file to be copied to a floppy drive or somewhere in the disk.
The best is to use BitDefender Rescue CD because it has the ability to automatically update its virus definition if it finds an internet connection whenever you boot up the computer with the Rescue CD. As far as I know, BitDefender is highly sensitive in detecting both known and unknown virus.
BitDefender Rescue CD is similar to Kaspersky and Avira’s one. You’ll have to download the ISO image (bitdefender_2008_RescueCD_v2.iso) and burn it to a CD or DVD. Then boot up the computer with the disc and you’ll get a screen that looks like the image below.
Hit the “ENTER” key on your keyboard and it’ll start loading Linux from the CD. At the final stage of loading linux files, BitDefender will automatically try to update the scanner and virus definition. This is automated and you don’t need to configure or run anything. If you have a fast internet connection (broadband), you’d need to wait for about 10 minutes for the update to complete. If it stalls for a long time and your modem/router adsl LED is not blinking, then I suggest you to try boot up the CD again.
Once the scanner and definition is updated, it’ll automatically launch BitDefender Antimalware Scan interface. All you need to do is to click the Start button and it’ll start scanning your local hard drive for virus.
The free BitDefender Rescue CD also contains other useful third party utilities such as ChkRootkit for scanning for rootkis, Nessus Network Scanner as remote network security scanner, Mozilla Firefox, Partition Image, GtkRecover and etc… Now we have Kaspersky Rescue CD, Avira Antivir Rescue System CD and BitDefender Rescue CD. Now I’ll try to figure out whether it is possible to combine all 3 CD or ISO into 1 disc.
Tip: If for some reason the Linux is unable to mount and read your hard drive which is preventing BitDefender scanner to scan your files, you can run “Terminal Emulator” from the desktop and type the command ntfsfix.