Best Free/Inexpensive Antivirus and Salvaging a Virus'd computer?

maximumzero

So I finally managed to get the computer I was having issues with up and ready to go, and I'm currently installing all the updates and drivers.

Now, to try to prevent what happened to the last computer from happening to this one, anyone have a recommendation for Anti virus software? Free, if possible, but the less expensive the better.

In addition, the other computer boots, but explorer never loads, just showing me the desktop wallpaper. Is there anyway I could, perhaps, boot into Linux via a live cd and get all the data off of it? Once this is done, would I have said data through a virus cleanup program?

Or, would it be possible to install a fresh copy of windows onto a separate partition and just grab all my files from the other partition?

Thoughts?

PeregrineFalcon

1. AVG and Avast are both "free as in beer" - some people have issues with STEAM+AVG so take that into account.
2. Use a Live Linux CD (Knoppix or even an Ubuntu installer disc) and launch a Linux-based virus scanner - clean the drive up, then copy the files you want to an external HD/burn a DVD/network share/etc.
3. Orbital nuke, deploy.

maximumzero

PeregrineFalcon wrote: »

1. AVG and Avast are both "free as in beer" - some people have issues with STEAM+AVG so take that into account.
2. Use a Live Linux CD (Knoppix or even an Ubuntu installer disc) and launch a Linux-based virus scanner - clean the drive up, then copy the files you want to an external HD/burn a DVD/network share/etc.
3. Orbital nuke, deploy.

Awesome. Thanks for the speedy response. This is a business computer so Steam won't be an issue. I wasn't certain if there were Linux-based virus scanner/cleaners. I'm gonna go ahead and start downloading Ubuntu, can you recommend a Linux-based virus scanner that's relatively easy to use for the Linux dummies such as myself?

Dírhael

maximumzero wrote: »

Awesome. Thanks for the speedy response. This is a business computer so Steam won't be an issue. I wasn't certain if there were Linux-based virus scanner/cleaners. I'm gonna go ahead and start downloading Ubuntu, can you recommend a Linux-based virus scanner that's relatively easy to use for the Linux dummies such as myself?

Drop downloading a complete distro and insted just download and burn somthing like the free Avira AntiVir Rescue System:

Avira AntiVir Rescue System is a Linux-based application that allows accessing computers that cannot be booted anymore. Thus it is possible to:
repair a damaged system,
rescue data,
scan the system for virus infections.

Just double-click on the rescue system package to burn it to a CD/DVD. You can then use this CD/DVD to boot your computer.

The Avira AntiVir Rescue System is updated several times a day so that the most recent security updates are always available.

It's just a ~60MB download and works.

maximumzero

Dìrhael wrote: »

maximumzero wrote: »

Awesome. Thanks for the speedy response. This is a business computer so Steam won't be an issue. I wasn't certain if there were Linux-based virus scanner/cleaners. I'm gonna go ahead and start downloading Ubuntu, can you recommend a Linux-based virus scanner that's relatively easy to use for the Linux dummies such as myself?

Drop downloading a complete distro and insted just download and burn somthing like the free Avira AntiVir Rescue System:

Avira AntiVir Rescue System is a Linux-based application that allows accessing computers that cannot be booted anymore. Thus it is possible to:
repair a damaged system,
rescue data,
scan the system for virus infections.

Just double-click on the rescue system package to burn it to a CD/DVD. You can then use this CD/DVD to boot your computer.

The Avira AntiVir Rescue System is updated several times a day so that the most recent security updates are always available.

It's just a ~60MB download and works.

Hmm. I shall try this first and see what happens.

maximumzero

Well I ran that CD and it really didn't seem to do a whole lot, as it's still stuck in a boot loop. Oh well, back over to Ubuntu to see what I can salvage off the drive.