Linux Live CDs

Posts Tagged ‘winxp’

Long story short, I have a Win32 virus on WinXP SP2, and disabled task manager, command prompt, and even AVG Antivirus Free Edition. So I’m going to do a system restore, but it has two options. Normal System Restore and the “Destructive Method”. Normal system restore I guess removes all programs and files and returns to factory default, however the Destructive method apparently removes all data files created as well.

So, question: Would a Win32 virus create any data files, and if so, does that mean I should do the destructive method, or will a normal system restore remove it? I’m worried because I’m not sure if there are actually any data files worth keeping, mostly because I’m not sure what a data file is.

Also, bonus question, you don’t have to answer, but: I’m dual booting XP and Ubuntu 9.10 and I have the live cd. So I know system restore will remove the Grub menu and replace the MBR, but I wanna know if it will also delete the linux partition. or will recovery simply recover the windows partition, leave the Ubuntu one intact, and all I’d have to do is insert the Live CD and restore the grub menu to access it?
D: Thanks so much, first answerer, but also, AVG says asyncmac.sys is infected, but it can’t remove the virus because asyncmac is white-listed. Will this be an issue with the antiviruses you recommended?

I have an old PC that got eaten alive by viruses and EVERYTHING, except core system files are gone or corrupted by a virus and I dont feel like fixing it. I’m thinking about wiping my hard drive completely and setting up Fedora on it to use as a workstation. Will I be able to install from a Live-CD with no operating system already on it? How? it currently has WinXP Service pack 3.

When I log into WinXP I get a blue screen with a message that says Warning! Spyware detected on this computer! Install antivirus or antispyware program. It doesn’t let me get to the desktop. It doesn’t let me into Safe Mode. I can boot from a live linux cd and access the internet, but can’t find any virus scan that will work this way. Any ideas? And I also tried a repair install of XP, that didn’t work either.

I am still new to linux/unix and I have been working with some fairly obscure academic research programs by SSHing to linux (Redhat and Solaris) servers through my laptop. I have had the administrators of the servers erase all my data once, and I want to have more control over my destiny. I have looked at using Live CDs/USBs, CoLinux, virtualizers, Cygwin, and dual-booting — but I don’t know which would be fast enough to run data/calculation intensive academic programs and also not make me destroy/re-install my current WinXP installation to do it.

please tell me step by step .. i m not an expert of linux
…thanks in advance