OpenSUSE :: Using Live Cd To Remove Windows Malware?
Feb 28, 2010
A friend of mine was complaining about his Windows computer being slow here lately.
I told him he is probably full of malware that slipped past his anti-virus program.
I've heard that one can use a live Linux cd to remove malware from a windows computer. How would I go about doing this?
Is it as simple as booting the cd, then using zypper to install an anti-virus program to the ram file system and mounting/scanning the hard drive. If so what program is the best to use for this purpose?
Can a virus survive a reformat, running bootrec /fixmbr (both from the install CD), and then installing Ubuntu? Reformat meaning from the windows disk recovery console, using the format command for all partitions. Likewise, would a virus be capable of surviving just the first two steps alone without installing Ubuntu, just re-installing windows?
If one were to have an MBR virus on Windows or Linux, how abouts would you find or remove it without doing an entire disk wipe? And before someone goes "Linux is immune" take into consideration vulnerabilities on the user end.
I am dual booting Windows 7 & Suse 11.2 and want to uninstall Suse. I know how to remove the linux partitions through windows but need help to first remove the Grub bootloader installed through Yast to enable windows to boot from mbr.
I've been trying to use GParted Live CD to shrink my Windows XP partition and allocate this space to /home.
On GParted I shrank my /dev/sda1 (Windows) from 36GB to 26 GB. Then I had 10 GB of unallocated space. I didn't know how I could use this unallocated space to increase the size of /dev/sda7 (/home). How do you do this?
in my case, to delete primary and secondary win partitions (C and D) and so to add that empty spaces to my current openSUSE / and /home partitions. My linux root partition is a primary one as well so I guess that I can keep booting from it no matter if there isn't the C win drive any more.
Code: Disco /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders Units = cilindros of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes Disk identifier: 0x3bef74b8 [Code]...
when I attempt to scan anything with clamav from a terminal I get the following error:
ERROR: Can't create temporary directory /var/lib/clamav/clamav-da584cb3f4ee38529f0460ad6f7dc632 Hint: The database directory must be writable for UID 999 or GID 100
Which I take to mean that there are no virus definitions installed. I use the "freshclam" command. Which results in the following error:
ERROR: Can't create temporary directory /var/lib/clamav/clamav-da584cb3f4ee38529f0460ad6f7dc632 Hint: The database directory must be writable for UID 999 or GID 100
I've put openSUSE several times in USB flash drives. I've used the old method with dd ... and the new one with dd_rescue ..., shown in SDB:Live USB stick - openSUSE This way a partition is created (sdb1 or sdc1 or ...), with the Linux file system (ID: 83). One of the problems of this system is that all the data of the pendrive is deleted. Another problem is that sometimes openSUSE doesn't load completely and I cannot use it. And another of the problems is that even if I create another partition (for example to make the Live USB persistent and "remember" the configuration of my computer) and I put some of my photos, songs, films there when I plug the pendrive in a computer running Windows XP I cannot access the data. (What about Vista and 7?)
Other Linux distros can be put in pendrives using the FAT file system (for example W95 FAT32 (LBA), ID: c). This way my personal data or files (photos, documents, ...) can be opened from a computer running Windows XP (and the personal data is not erased when putting the Linux in the pendrive). So I would like to know how to create a Live USB drive with personal files that are avaiable for many Operating Systems, including Windows XP. Perhaps the solution is to put openSUSE in a FAT file system, or put it in Linux file system but create another partition with FAT file system (for this openSUSE should avoid the 1st partition, sdX1, that should be for the personal data, so Windows XP can access it).
I installed opensuse 11.2 today on my external hard drive and everything is running great, but I want to see if I can make a modification to the way my computer boots. I share this computer with others and they are not going to be happy to have to wait for the boot menu to start when they turn on the computer in order to choose which OS to run (Especially since if they do not make a choice it auto runs opensuse after a few seconds).
What I would like is if opensuse can be "out of sight, out of mind" and only load when I put in the live cd and then choose to boot from my external...... is it possible to do this?I am not a computer wizard and do not work in the industry.
I hate this, when the Optical Drive is locked, if I not burning something on the disk! I just want to remove it, by pressing the eject button on the drive, but this is not working because Linux locks it I know, I could eject it via the Device Notifier, but I want to eject it at anytime by pressing the eject button on the drive.
I recently installed Fedora 14 and things were going fine. Until I installed Java SDK (or is it JDK). When I rebooted immediatedly after installing, startup is hanging up on starting; jexec services.
I've tried booting from a live CD, thinking I could edit /etc/init.d/jexec, but so far, I haven't been able to make changed to the local file system. How do I remove jexec from startup from a Live CD?
Is there any easy way to remove 23mb from my installation I am trying to make a live cd. I have tried the cleanup post as listed...URL...What about removing the themes that I dont use? All I need is to remove 23mb?
I installed ubuntu 10.4 on a lenovo T500 yesterday.
Today I am almost sure to have a problem with the fglrx package.
Today I installed the graphics card accelleration driver - I think it is the fglrx, but I am not shure, because I used the gnome fancy gimmick offering this driver. Now the computer starts neither in normal mode nor in recovery mode. In the latter it displays very fast about two screens of the usual lines and changes then something with the display. Trying to use boot=/bin/bash as an additional boot parameter didn't work either. I even tried typing blind a login and something like "apt-get remove fglrx <return><return>".
Booting from CD works.
Here my questions: When I have booted from CD, can I see the synaptic history to verify that it actually is the package named above? When I have booted from CD, can I remove packages from the installed version?
I just downloaded OpenSuse 11.1 64 bit live cd from it's official site.I have live usb creater in my xp box , with the help of which I successfully created live USB for fedora 11 earlier. Now the problem is whenever I try to create live usb using Opensuse live ISO image after extracting all files to usb , it gets failed.The same thing is happening with OpenSolaris 11 live cd iso image. Does this mean that live usb creater I have, was only foe Fedora distros?
I had Kubuntu 9.04 and Windows XP on a Dual Boot. I upgraded using the update manager to 9.10. (I know, I'm a fool.) The Kubuntu install stated freezing hard on startup, just after the GRUB OS selection screen, at a blinking cursor and otherwise blank screen. I'm pretty sure 9.10 will work great from a fresh install, but the live cd freezes after main Kubuntu boot screen and even Windows live cd only shows Windows partition. fixmb, fixboot, bootcfg etc. do NOT replace the grub as desired.
I've created live squeeze usb-hdd and if I boot first time the udev system writes the MAC address of the network interfaces into /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules.Because I use full persistence, the file is there on the next boot and I don't get network running automatically on other computers. My problem is, howto remove 70-persistent-net.rules every time during the startup?
They have pictures and documents everywhere so I figured I would just backup their entire HDD onto my external one and let them go in and transfer them back off. I keep proper backups so this isn't how I normally do things. I have done similar things in the past with dieing HDD's and Knoppix but I have never had this issue. I burned a CD using the latest ISO and Ubuntu seen both the main HDD and my external. I just copied all the contents of the main HDD over to the external. All went well and I could browse and view all the files from the external HDD after the transfer using the live CD. Unfortunately I am having an issue seeing the external HDD in Windows. As soon as I hook the drive up - windows says I need to Format it(Which I won't do obviously). But if I boot the live CD I can still see and use the files. How do can I get windows to see the drive and files without destroying data?
i have both windows and linux on my laptop (for ease of use for some programs). suddenly i can't log in with windows (it crashes)could you help me to remove the old windows and install new one?
To make Unity useful for me I need to make some changes. I wonder if it's possible to:
1. Hide the top panel or (better) remove it completely (I can live without global menu). 2. Make the Unity Launcher work like a panel - so it won't be possible to move windows behind it.
I have seen the light and will convert to Linux. I have booted this laptop from a CD with Ubuntu. The hard drive has been seized by a fake Window XP restore trojan(?), which sends all kinds of error messages and shows there are no files on the drive and no access to it. Using Ubuntu I can see everything is there.
Is there a way I can use Ubuntu and something like Malwarebytes to kill the malware on the drive? Then I believe I could back it up before I reformat it and bring it into the Linux world.
I realize that FF 3.6 was referred to near the end of this thread? Most Ubuntu based distros (Mint, Gosalia, Ubuntu, Xubuntu) are shipped with FF 3.5.8, are there any reported problems with this version of FF? Mint does offer Opera, I really don't care about installing Wine to gain access to IE6, you open the browser, there are two critical updates that shows, but on three occasions, I left the desktop for an hour, and the two updates still never applied. I have installed Clam AV, is there a malware scanner for Mint, too? I do want to be secure, but don't wish to run two AV's, have four separate malware scanners, and scan every piece of everything the way you must do in Windows. With Windows, you spend more time scanning than browsing. I don't want to have to do this with Mint, too.
I was on funnyjunk.com yesterday, looking at funny pictures. I clicked the next button, and a page popped up displaying that the website had malware hosted by hit.d1.net, however when I had Windows XP the MacAffee Siteadvisor Displayed that there was no malware. Is this Real or Fake? Just wondering if it is one of those fake spyware alerts, like from windows.
A forum that I visit with Firefox has a message that says the following: Quote: I've detected a bestlifeusa.ru script that tries to run of this server, I've reported this, but I'm pretty sure most of you get this one too, I was just protected so I'm fine - you may not be so lucky, so I'm asking you guys to get your system checked immediately.
If you use firefox - install the No Script extention after you have cleaned your system for all worms, viruses and spyware. And make sure that the bestlifeusa.ru script can't execute on your system from this site. If you don't have any "anti script" "no script" "script stopping" system installed with your browser, you will likely not notice this script, I suspect it's a spy-script that spies on you - and you most certainly have it! I think the measures recommended might be Windows oriented.
I'm so used to Windows having to run multiple malware scans with multiple tools. Running registry cleaners and running CCleaner to remove all of the old temp files, cookies etc.. Derfagging. Ok with Ubuntu no more malware scans. No more registry scans. It appears that there isn't a defrag tool? And what about the other things that tend to clog up the works, Temp files , cookies etc. Is that what the disc janitor is all about?
is it possible for malware to survive a full reformat (ie... dd /dev/zero,urandom,zero?I'm for some reason worried that my android based phone, PS3, XBox 360, Routers, and/or TV can somehow be infected with malware as they were hooked up to my network..Is this possible? And does Factory Resetting or Hard Resetting clear all data on the device and reset it entirely? If so, how does that work? Is there a specific storage chip on the device that cannot be written to and only read for when a hard reset is requested?
I'm aware that this sounds outlandish but I've got a severe paranoia for some reason and would like peer advice on how to resolve this and get some peace of mind.
