Member Avatar for noshdb

Is there an a free virus scanner and ad aware scanner available that can be put on a USB flash drive and used without having to install on a computer when you want to scan that computer. Eg if a computer has virus and there is concerns the virus scanner is not working properly, I want to plug in the USB drive and run the virus scanner on the USB drive.

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by crunchie

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Short answer for : yes — but for a trustworthy cleanup the best approach is a bootable “rescue” USB that scans outside the infected OS. Running a scanner from inside a suspect Windows installation can be useful for quick checks, but an active infection (especially rootkits) may hide itself or block removal; an offline rescue environment avoids that problem. Microsoft Defender Offline (how it works). (learn.microsoft.com)

Practical workflow to prepare and use a rescue USB: on a known-clean PC download a vendor rescue ISO (vendor support pages will show the current image and update procedure), write the ISO to a USB stick with a reliable tool, then boot the target PC from that USB and run a full update + scan before mounting any local drives. Recommended writing tools: Rufus or Ventoy (Ventoy lets you drop multiple ISOs on one stick), or if you prefer a simple flasher. Check the vendor’s rescue-disk instructions as they note BitLocker/UEFI caveats. (support.kaspersky.com)

If you cannot reboot immediately, use a portable on-demand scanner saved from a clean machine (for example the Microsoft Safety Scanner executable) — it runs without installation but is not a replacement for offline rescue media and its definitions expire quickly. Also, for suspicious single files consider uploading (or submitting hashes) to a multi-engine service before execution. [Microsoft Safety Scanner download/info] and [VirusTotal]. (learn.microsoft.com)

Quick safety tips and trade-offs: create media on an uninfected PC and verify downloads/checksums; disable AutoPlay/autorun so USBs don’t execute automatically; if multiple engines disagree or you see persistent rootkit behavior, image important data and prefer a clean OS reinstall. For a single multi-tool PE (recovery, scanners, file tools) consider a maintained PE build like Hiren’s BootCD PE or a Ventoy multi-ISO stick. As suggested, a flexible rescue environment often saves time versus a single portable scanner. (learn.microsoft.com)

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Member Avatar for UrbanKhoja

Have you tried AVG by Grisoft, there's a free version that works pretty well. I can't honestly remember if it let's you run it from a flash drive - I think so though. But it did have a useful feature where you could download updates without having the program installed then use them on a machine that did.

Hope this helps,

Dazza :cool:

Member Avatar for nanosani

You can use ClamWin. Although it is not as good as the real time ones, but it can be put in the USB drive and taken anywhere for scanning.

Member Avatar for Abdullahakeem

This is Avast it runs directly from the usb drive and doesn't install on your computer.
http://www.pendriveapps.com/avast-virus-cleaner-virus-and-worm-removal-tool/

Is there an a free virus scanner and ad aware scanner available that can be put on a USB flash drive and used without having to install on a computer when you want to scan that computer. Eg if a computer has virus and there is concerns the virus scanner is not working properly, I want to plug in the USB drive and run the virus scanner on the USB drive.

Member Avatar for rch1231

May I suggest that you look at UBCD4Win (Ultimate boot CD for Windows) it gives you many more options than just a single virus scanner. Password hacks, hard drive utilities, registry editors and scanners, Backups and you can add additional drivers and software.

http://www.ubcd4win.com/index.htm

Member Avatar for crunchie

May I suggest not posting to dead threads :).

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