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[djwaudio]

I have a Windows system offline that I use for catching mastered files and assembly/cutting.  I use the "sneaker network" style of moving files over to my Mac which is my on-line machine.  This has been working well for years, but recently I noticed the presence of an 2a.exe file propagating itself on my drives...

Is there a good way to run a virus scan without actually installing it (performance killing?) into a system?  I don't want to put it on line for the occasion either. 

[SafeandSoundMastering]

I use Avira Antivir and Malwarebytes anti malware (paid version) and they seem to work well without hinderance YMMV I guess but I have been virus free for quite a while now.

If you search for online virus scan you might end up at a site which ends up messing with your computer (sticking a trojan in or some such) rather than a trustworthy AV company.

I am a bit wary of some of the more obscure download sites with lots of adverts and flashing stuff all over the place.

This should be ok but please double check before you proceed, I make no guarantees.

http://housecall.trendmicro.com/uk/

[Steve Kennedy-Williams]

LiveCD's are your friend. AVG makes a rescue disc

http://www.avg.com/ww-en/avg-rescue-cd-download

It loads from the CD into memory before you boot into windows. Goes online and gets updated definitions and then scans partitions including the master boot record.

Pluses? No install, No Windows (so viruses have a harder time hiding), and it's free.

If the disc doesn't boot, you may need to go into the BIOS of your computer and make sure that the cd drive is before the hard drive in boot order.

[Bob Olhsson]

Microsoft has two very good solutions.

Microsoft security essentials allows you to exclude locations and file types you don't want checked. I've never noticed any impact on performance. They also have a scanner at: http://www.microsoft.com/security/scanner/en-gb/default.aspx

I run MSE and scan weekly with MalwareBytes and the microsoft scanner. This far no problems in around five years.

[Thomas W. Bethel]

LiveCD's are your friend. AVG makes a rescue disc

http://www.avg.com/ww-en/avg-rescue-cd-download

It loads from the CD into memory before you boot into windows. Goes online and gets updated definitions and then scans partitions including the master boot record.

Pluses? No install, No Windows (so viruses have a harder time hiding), and it's free.

If the disc doesn't boot, you may need to go into the BIOS of your computer and make sure that the cd drive is before the hard drive in boot order.

That is a very nice program. One I did not know about. Thanks!

One of my interns got a really bad virus on our "client" computer It is the infamous xp security 2011 and it really messed up the machine. Not fun. I am running the AVG CD right now and hope that it can get rid of the virus. Thanks again! for the heads up.

[djwaudio]

Thanks Bob,
With that, I was able to easily clean the SADiE system.  Then, I promptly made sector by sector copies of the system, archived and installed fresh drives.

Slept better that night too!

[Randyman...]

MS also has a neat bootable ISO that is specifically aimed at locating those pesky rootkits that aren't easy to identify when the host OS is running:

http://connect.microsoft.com/systemsweeper

I'll also echo MalwareBytes as it DOES NOT run "Realtime" and shouldn't have any impact on a dedicated DAW.  I believe you can DL updates from an online PC and transfer them to your offline DAW for definition updates if needed...

PS - Make sure you disable Autorun/Autoplay, too!  At the very least, you can hold the "Shift" key when plugging in your sneaker-net USB drives to disable auto-run...