Antimalware CDs

Some desktop anti-malware solutions allow you to create a rescue disk. However, there are at least six vendors who make standalone, downloadable rescue CDs that anyone can get their hands on: Avast!, AVG (formerly Grisoft), Avira, BitDefender, F-Secure, and Kaspersky. All of these solutions are offered for free except the ones from AVG and Avast.

Scores:
Avira - Not Free - 95
Bitdefender - 90
F-Secure - 80
Kapersky - 75
Avast - Untested
AVG Not Free - less than 75 (also ran)


BitDefender's Rescue CD features are far superior to those in the other free solutions I tested. Still, what makes this CD really great is that it boots a version of Knoppix Linux — complete with a desktop GUI — for easy access to its many useful tools.

Among these are a rootkit scanner, network-vulnerability scanner, partition manager, file recovery tools, wireless network monitor, network diagnostics, and Mozilla's Firefox browser. When you boot the CD, the software tries to download anti-malware definition updates if the system has an active Internet connection.

Features aren't nearly as important as the ability to detect and remove malware. Like AntiVir, BitDefender detected all worms and bots, file infectors, and polymorphic strains thrown at it by Virus Bulletin. But it caught only 94.75% of the Trojans.

The BitDefender ISO download Page