installing anti virus software thru thumb drive??

Question

if i already have a virus and it prevents me from downloading any type of anti virsu software can i download the anti virus software from another computer to a thumb drive and then put it on the infected compuer?? and if this works will it remove the virus on here?? thanks

Answer 1

It might work, some viruses block you from visiting sites via the host file so if you can get the files on your computer via other methods it should run okay

On the other hand, Others constantly scan for known antiviruses in memory and shut them down.

There is no way to tell which virus you have. Also no way to no if the antivirus you use will recognise and remove it without knowing what antivirus and what virus.

In case your antivirus doesn't work, you can try the list of free antivirus here. At least one should be able to make it through

http://wiki.castlecops.com/Lists_of_freeware_antivirus

Answer 2

There are a number of portable antivirus programs which you can run directly from your thumb drive. You download the antivirus but, instead of installing it on your hard drive, you install it on to the flash drive. You can try the free ClamWin antivirus program. ClamWin is a free open source antivirus program. The download link is (http://portableapps.com/apps/utilities/clamwin_portable)

Download the program. Double click on the exe file to start the installation. When it asks you where to install the program, browse to the drive letter of your thumb drive. Once installed, update the virus definition and run a scan. Depending on the size of your hard drive, this might take some time.

Besides ClamWin, you can install McAfee's AVERT Stinger or Microsoft's Malicious Software Removal Tool. You can install both on your thumb drive. However, these tools only look for the current most prevalent viruses. They are not meant to be an antivirus substitute. Here are the download links (http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/McAfee_AVERT_Stinger/1040919764/1) and (http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/Malware_Removal_Tool/1167931648/1)

Alternatively, you can also use an online virus scanner like the free Trend Micro's Housecall (http://housecall.trendmicro.com/)

Answer 3

There are several scanners that you can run to clean a system prior to installing an antivirus suite. Avast has one and you can get it here:

http://www.avast.com/eng/avast-virus-cleaner.html

Once the system is cleaned proceed with your av install. One thing I do is disable system restore before I do a full system scan. Then I reboot into safe mode and do a full scan. The reason I disable SR is because some nasty viruses copy themselves to your restore point.

Good luck with cleaning that system.

Answer 4

Microsoft has some free online utilities that will scan and remove viruses. Just look at their security section and you can find the malicious software removal tool.

Answer 5

You can try, but if the malware won't allow a direct install from a site such as AVG, it could block or corrupt it from a flash drive as well leaving you no further ahead.

Answer 6

Download it. Microsoft Security Essentials is free.

Answer 7

You can try, but without knowing what you are infected with and how bad it is, I can only guess.