Virus checker for slow machine!

[Fred]

I'd rather not install any virus software on this rather ancient machine as
it runs very slow and is only occasionally connected to the internet and
then only on dial-up.

However I suspect there are some things on this machine which ought not be -
just a hunch due to her son's downloading of a few dodgy porn progs.

I was intending to use AdAware, for any spyware, which won't use up any
resources except when being run.

However most virus checkers use valuable resources, even when not in use,
which is undesirable in this instance. Is there a virus checker which can
run from CD without actually being installed? Is there one which can boot
from the CD and run it's check over the installed hard drives?

 

[Robin T Cox]

I'd rather not install any virus software on this rather ancient machine
as it runs very slow and is only occasionally connected to the internet
and then only on dial-up.

However I suspect there are some things on this machine which ought not be
- just a hunch due to her son's downloading of a few dodgy porn progs.

I was intending to use AdAware, for any spyware, which won't use up any
resources except when being run.

However most virus checkers use valuable resources, even when not in use,
which is undesirable in this instance. Is there a virus checker which can
run from CD without actually being installed? Is there one which can boot
from the CD and run it's check over the installed hard drives?

Try one of the online scanners:
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/
http://www.kaspersky.com/remoteviruschk.html

 

[kurt wismer]

I'd rather not install any virus software on this rather ancient machine as
it runs very slow and is only occasionally connected to the internet and
then only on dial-up.

and malware can tell what way you're connecting to the internet and turn
up it's nose at you when it's dial-up...

oh, and by the way, that's sarcasm...

you're no safer over dial-up...

However I suspect there are some things on this machine which ought not be -
just a hunch due to her son's downloading of a few dodgy porn progs.

I was intending to use AdAware, for any spyware, which won't use up any
resources except when being run.

However most virus checkers use valuable resources, even when not in use,
which is undesirable in this instance.

most virus checkers can be configured to not run the
on-access/background scanning component...

Is there a virus checker which can
run from CD without actually being installed? Is there one which can boot
from the CD and run it's check over the installed hard drives?

not many provide for a bootable recovery cd... that's sort of something
you'll have to work out on your own...

 

[Fred]

Try one of the online scanners:
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/
http://www.kaspersky.com/remoteviruschk.html

Many thanks. My friend's on PAYG dial-up so don't really want to connect to
the internet for these online checkers which download a fair amount of data.
Hence my desire for a CD approach.

 

[Fred]

and malware can tell what way you're connecting to the internet and turn
up it's nose at you when it's dial-up...

oh, and by the way, that's sarcasm...

you're no safer over dial-up...

It does prevent the downloading of big files! LOL

most virus checkers can be configured to not run the on-access/background
scanning component...

We are talking of a very slow machine with only 64MB of RAM. I really don't
want to install anything which may use any of this if at all possible.

not many provide for a bootable recovery cd... that's sort of something
you'll have to work out on your own...

Oh dear that's a shame. I thought there used to be some but it was a long
time ago.

 

[DanR]

I'd rather not install any virus software on this rather ancient machine as
it runs very slow and is only occasionally connected to the internet and
then only on dial-up.

However I suspect there are some things on this machine which ought not be -
just a hunch due to her son's downloading of a few dodgy porn progs.

I was intending to use AdAware, for any spyware, which won't use up any
resources except when being run.

However most virus checkers use valuable resources, even when not in use,
which is undesirable in this instance. Is there a virus checker which can
run from CD without actually being installed? Is there one which can boot
from the CD and run it's check over the installed hard drives?

Norton AV will do a virus scan from it's installation CD. But the virus
definitions will only be as current as the CD ship date.

 

[Malke]

It does prevent the downloading of big files! LOL


We are talking of a very slow machine with only 64MB of RAM. I really
don't want to install anything which may use any of this if at all
possible.


Oh dear that's a shame. I thought there used to be some but it was a
long time ago.

You can run Sysclean without installing it. You do need to copy it to
the hard drive. I assume with such a little bit of RAM that this is a
Win9x/ME machine. You could run F-Prot for DOS on it. You will still
need to copy it to the hard drive, but it doesn't get installed.

Malke

 

[kurt wismer]

It does prevent the downloading of big files! LOL

no it doesn't... it just takes longer... and while they download they
use up your bandwidth and cause other things you're doing to take
longer, thereby causing you to stay online longer...

and of course, the longer you stay online the greater the chance they'll
have to complete the download...

We are talking of a very slow machine with only 64MB of RAM. I really don't
want to install anything which may use any of this if at all possible.

like i said, they can be configured to not run the parts that stay in
memory...

Oh dear that's a shame. I thought there used to be some but it was a long
time ago.

it's been a big problem ever since NTFS came on the scene... microsoft
does not provide any free or redistributable means of reading NTFS
partitions (used by NT, W2K, XP and W2K3)...

however, there are now free tools for that job, such as the bart pe disk
(http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/) and some people have made anti-virus
plug-ins for it...

 

[Luke]

I'd rather not install any virus software on this rather ancient machine as
it runs very slow and is only occasionally connected to the internet and
then only on dial-up.

However I suspect there are some things on this machine which ought not be -
just a hunch due to her son's downloading of a few dodgy porn progs.

I was intending to use AdAware, for any spyware, which won't use up any
resources except when being run.

However most virus checkers use valuable resources, even when not in use,
which is undesirable in this instance. Is there a virus checker which can
run from CD without actually being installed? Is there one which can boot
from the CD and run it's check over the installed hard drives?

AVG, Avast, and Anti-Vir (all free) can be configured to run on demand
only, so no memory will be used unless run. Assuming you otherwise use
safe hex, and teache "her son" to do the same, an occasional scan
should keep the machine safe. If DOS is available (Win 98, e.g.)
F-Prot for DOS (also free) is a good second scanner. Also, in addition
to Ad-Aware get Spybot Search & Destroy.

--
Luke
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