Extra Security Tip: Offline Malware Scanners

Category: Security

You almost certainly have an “always on” malware detection tool already installed on your computer. It provides constant protection against viruses and other malware that may sneak into your computer. But no anti-malware program is foolproof; something may slip through its defenses and infect your hard drive. So what can you do if a really nasty virus disables your anti-malware protection, or fouls up your hard drive so Windows won't even start? Here's the answer...`

When to Use an Offline Malware Scanner

If a virus is clever enough to disable your anti-virus program, render it ineffective, or foul up your hard drive's boot sector, you'll need something other than a standard anti-malware program to repair the damage. That’s when you need offline protection: a bootable CD or flash drive that bears an effective malware detection and removal program. I highly recommend that you make such an emergency kit and keep it handy. The alternative is to re-install Windows on the hard drive, possibly losing your personal files in the process. You may want to run an offline malware scanner even if you don't suspect a problem, as an extra security measure.

Microsoft's Windows Defender Offline is a free emergency anti-malware program for Windows 7, 8, 10 and 11 systems. Defender Offline restarts your computer outside of the Windows environment, in order to scan for and remove any malware that might be lurking. Read on for instructions on how to use Defender Offline, and be sure to see the links near the end of this article for other offline malware scanners you may want to try.

Offline Malware Scanner

On a Windows 10 or 11 system, here's how to start Defender Offline. From the Start menu, select Settings, then click Update & Security > Windows Security > Virus & threat protection. Next, select "Scan options" under Current threats. Select the "Windows Defender Offline scan" option and then click the "Scan now" button.

Your PC will restart, then load Windows Defender Offline. After scanning and removing any malware that was found, your computer will restart Windows. Expect the process to take 10 to 15 minutes.

On a Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 system, the process is a little different:


  • Scroll down the Windows Defender Offline support page and you'll find download links for the 32-bit or 64-bit version of Defender Offline. (If you're not sure which version you need, there's a link on the download page to help you determine if your PC is running the 32-bit or 64-bit version of Windows.)

  • When you run the installation program, it will prompt you for a blank CD, DVD, or flash drive with at least 250 MB of free space. I highly recommend using a flash drive as your Windows Defender Offline medium. Malware changes daily, and so does the malware signatures data file. A flash drive is re-writable, so Windows Defender Offline will download the latest signatures file if it is installed on a flash drive; not so with write-once optical media.

  • During installation, the latest database of malware signatures will be downloaded, so you will need an active Internet connection. Windows Defender Offline will be installed on the removable medium along with the signatures and files necessary to boot from the medium. Store the medium in a safe place until you need Windows Defender Offline.

No matter what real-time protection you use, Windows Defender Offline is a good, free backup in case your real-time protection is compromised or you want a second opinion about a possible malware problem that has not been identified.

More Offline Malware Scanners

If you cannot boot Windows because of a malware infection, other options for offline malware scanning include the Avast Rescue Disk, Kaspersky Rescue Disk, and ESET SysRescue Live. I honestly can't say if one is better than the other, but it's nice to have options. And you can use more than one if you like.

To use one of the above offline malware scanners, you'll need to restart your computer using the downloaded media, instead of booting from your hard drive as usual. You may need to reconfigure your computer’s BIOS to get it to boot from removable media. That involves interrupting the startup process (usually by holding down the F2 or Ctrl key), entering the BIOS setup utility, and changing the order in which boot devices are tried during boot-up. The removable media device (CDROM or USB flash drive) that holds offline scanner should be checked before the hard drive. When the system boots from the correct device, the scanner will load.

You can then run a scan of your hard drive to detect malware. Follow the on-screen instructions, and look for a "full system scan" to detect and remove all potential threats. If any is found, you will have the option to try to remove it.

On a computer running Mac OS, you can run MalwareBytes for Mac in Safe Mode. WHIle not a true offline scan, Safe mode can be used to boot a Mac with third-party applications disabled. To boot a Mac into safe mode, hold down the Shift key when the computer first starts.

Of course, a hard drive that doesn't boot up successfully doesn't necessarily indicate a virus. If your offline malware scanner doesn't detect any problems, and you're having trouble starting Windows, see my related article Hard Drive Data Recovery Services for other tools you can try to revive a non-booting hard drive.

Do you have an offline malware scanner on a CD or USB drive, in case of a virus emergency? Post your comment or question below...

 
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This article was posted by on 12 Jun 2024


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Most recent comments on "Extra Security Tip: Offline Malware Scanners"

Posted by:

Allen
12 Jun 2024

How do I make a bootable CD or flash drive that bears an effective malware detection and removal program? Does the “Emergency Disc” or “Rescue Media” that I have made already contain this?


Posted by:

Ernest N. Wilcox jr. (Oldster)
12 Jun 2024

FYI, I tried to download ESET SysRescue Live, but the second download item (under "configure download" isn't a link, and I could not find the IMG file anywhere on the site.

Ernie (Oldster)


Posted by:

Rosemary
12 Jun 2024

I desperately need this information!

I subscribed to "askbobrankin" many, many computers and years ago. (Probably since 2005!) I continue to learn, and feel gratitude for your generosity in sharing your expertise. Dependable.


Posted by:

Paul S
13 Jun 2024

Bob, you should mention that Windows Defender (WD) does not provide any direct information about results of the scan. Those results are buried in a system log file that is practically unreadable by the average consumer user. I suppose if one's system runs better after the offline scan, that is all the "results" one needs really. It would would be really nice if someone wrote a small, open source program to read the log file, extract the info about the WD scan and display the results. If that program already exists, tell us where to find it please.


Posted by:

Dan
13 Jun 2024

A different solution is to remove the hard drive (if possible) and scan it as an external drive on a different system.

I have one older laptop with an external drive "sled" that I use almost exclusively for this purpose. Since the external drive is never booted, evil programs don't get a chance to launch before the AV hunts them down and vaporizes them.


Posted by:

T Wells
13 Jun 2024

The ESET SysRescue Live was discontinued. All the other pages, for the different countries, removed the download links. It seems they missed a page.


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