Question

Using bartPE for Virus Removal

Asked by: AnselAdams

I am thinking about learning how to use bartPE for virus removals of customers' machines. I could jump right in and start learning but I wanted to understand the concepts a little better and save some learning curve time.

1) Do I create the bartPE disk based on the OS that I will be working on... iow, if a customer's machine is XP-Home, will I eventually have a different bartPE CD for it and one for XP-Pro?

2) Plugins  I'm a little confused about these. Are these needed for my favorite version of a virus scanner... or are these mainly hardware related?

3) What are the "must have" plugins that you almost always include?

4) concept, concept, concept... the more you can tell me about the concept of using bartPE (especially in a virus/spyware removal environment) will be most helpful.

Thanks, in Advance!

This Question has been solved and asker verified All Experts Exchange premium technology solutions are available to subscription members.

Subscribe now for full access to Experts Exchange and get

Instant Access to this Solution

  • Plus...
  • 30 Day FREE access, no risk, no obligation
  • Collaborate with the world's top tech experts
  • Unlimited access to our exclusive solution database
  • Never be left without tech help again

Subscribe Now

Asked On
2009-03-31 at 05:23:00ID24280713
Tags

bartPE

,

Virus Removal

,

Computer Repair

Topics

Anti-Virus

,

Anti-Spam Email Software

Participating Experts
3
Points
500
Comments
5

Trusted by hundreds of thousands everyday for fast, accurate and reliable tech support.

  • "The time we save is the biggest benefit of Experts Exchange to Warner Bros. What could take multiple guys 2 hours or more each to find is accessed in around 15 minutes on Experts Exchange." Mike Kapnisakis, Warner Bros.
  • "Our team likes having a resource that is more secure than just using Google and most experts using this service really know their stuff. It's nice to look here first versus using Google." Dayna Sellner, Lockheed Martin
  • "Anytime that I've been stumped with a problem, 9 out of 10 times Experts Exchange has either the accepted solution or an open discussion of the potential solution to the problem." Kenny Red, eBay Inc.

See what Experts Exchange can do for you.

Got a question?

We've got the answer.

Experts Exchange has been collecting answers to technology questions since 1996…3 million and counting! If you have a question, chances are we already have your answer.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Need individual assistance?

Our experts are ready to help.

If you can't find the exact answer you're looking for, ask our exclusive community of 50,000 experts. You’ll get a personalized answer from a trusted professional.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Want to learn from the best?

Read articles from industry experts.

Thousands of free tech tips, tricks, how-to’s and tutorials are available in our peer reviewed articles section. See for yourself how smart our experts are, no login required.

Screenshot of an Article

Working on a long term project?

Store your work and research.

Save solutions to your questions, answers you’ve discovered through searching plus helpful articles in your personal knowledgebase for easy future access.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Access the answers to your technology questions today.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

What Makes Experts Exchange Unique?

Members of the expert community talk about why the experience at Experts Exchange is different than what you will find anywhere else.

Trusted by the world's most respected brands.

image of each brand's logo

Faithfully serving IT professionals since 1996.

Experts Exchange Logo

Try it out and discover for yourself.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

Related Solutions

  1. Virus/Spyware
    Recently when i did a virus/spyware scan i found out that i had several spyware on my registery keys and viruses located in E:\WINNT\system32\netcmd.exe \files.exe \winhelpp32.exe. I didint remove them because of the fear that if i did it, my OS would malfunction or not run p...
  2. BartPE - opinions?
    I'm starting to look at BartPE to produce a Win XP Pro repair CD. Anyone had any experience with BartPE?
  3. Odd virus / spyware
    I have a computer that has been infected with a virus / spyware. When the process is killed it writes an entry into the registry and reloads under a new name. Not too special in of itself, but, it does this in safe mode (!) How is the process getting loaded in safe mode? I ...
  4. Spyware or Virus?
    I am running Windows XP Media Edition. Approximately two weeks ago a program popped up on my screen while I was on the web and wanted to install some pest program. I declined it but apparently it installed some files anyway. A red ball with a white X in it was placed in my...
  5. Virus Scanners
    Hi all, I am looking for a good Virus Scanner. I have used Norton ...(dont like it)... I have had a subscription to McAfee for a couple of years now. The newest version of McAfee has turned into another Norton. So Im looking for a GOOD alternative....and I dont mind...
  6. virus scanner for mac
    Which is best virus scanner for Mac? What other programs should one have to keep system optimized and free of spyware, adware, viruses, etc? Thank you

Free Tech Articles

  1. WARNING: 5 Reasons why you should NEVER fix a computer for free.
    It is in our nature to love the puzzle. We are obsessed. The lot of us. We love puzzles. We love the challenge. We thrive on finding the answer. We hate disarray. It bothers us deep in our soul. W...
  2. SCCM OSD Basic troubleshooting
    SCCM 2007 OSD is a fantastic way to deploy operating systems, however, like most things SCCM issues can sometimes be difficult to resolve due to the sheer volume of logs to sift through and the dispe...
  3. Migrate Small Business Server 2003 to Exchange 2010 and Windows 2008 R2
    This guide is intended to provide step by step instructions on how to migrate from Small Business Server 2003 to Windows 2008 R2 with Exchange 2010. For this migration to work you will need the fo...
  4. Create a Win7 Gadget
    This article shows you how to create a simple "Gadget" -- a sort of mini-application supported by Windows 7 and Vista. Gadgets can be dropped anywhere on the desktop to provide instant information, ...
  5. Outlook continually prompting for username and password
    There have been a lot of questions recently regarding Outlook prompting for a username and password whilst using Exchange 2007. There are a few reasons why this would happen and I will try to cover t...
  6. Backup Exchange 2010 Information Store using Windows Backup
    There seems to be quite a lot of confusion around the ability to backup Exchange 2010 using the built in Windows Backup feature. This stems from the omission of this feature prior to Exchange 2007 s...

Cloud Class Webinars

  1. Avoiding Bugs in Microsoft Access
    Alison Balter takes and in-depth look at avoiding bugs in Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the immediate window to debug your applications, invoking the debugger, using breakpoints to troubleshoot, stepping through code, setting the next statement to execute, ...
  2. Top 10 Best New Features in Visio 2010
    Scott Helmers gives live demonstrations of the top 10 new features in Visio 2010. This webinar will teach you how to create compelling diagrams by adding shapes to the page with a single click, linking the shapes in a diagram to data in Excel (or SQL Server, or SharePoint), ...
  3. IT Consultant Business Secrets Revealed
    Michael Munger, Experts Exchange tech pro and IT consultant, pulls back the curtain on his very successful businesses and answers question on every IT consultant and business owner should know about. He shares secrets on what he did to solve the 5 most common problems in IT, ...
  4. Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
    Quest CTO, Mike Billon, gives an overview of the steps involved in building a dunamic disaster recovery plan. Through case studies and an examination of software/hardware tooles for monitoring and testing, you'll gain a better understandin of where you are, where you want ...
  5. Organize Your Visio Diagrams with Containers and Lists
    Scott Helmers uses cross functional flowcharts, wireframe diagrams, data graphic legends and seating charts to teach you: how to ustilize all three new structured diagram components in Visio 2010, the best practices for organizeing shapes in previous version of Visio, how to organize ...
  6. How to Us Objects, Properties, Events and Methods in Microsoft Access
    Alison Dalter gives an in-depbth look at objects, properties, events and methods in Microsoft Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the object browser, referring to objects, working with properties and methods, working with object variables, understanding the ...

Join the Community

Give a Little. Get a Lot.

Join the community of experts here and help other tech pros by answering question in your area of expertise. You can earn FREE access to all Experts Exchange's premium features and resources.

Join the Community

Answers

 

by: xxdcmastPosted on 2009-03-31 at 05:45:35ID: 24028240

1. No you can use any version of XP. It will boot to the PE environment which is independent of the users machine.
2. Plugins can be any amount of different programs that do not come natively on the CD.
http://www.bootcd.us/BartPE_Plugins_Repository.php
3. I mainly use BartPE for manually deleting files that are locked by viruses when windows is running. For my use i maiinly just use the explorer and delete the file.
4. As I said above I will usually run my default virus scan software either under regular windows or safe mode. Whatever isnt caught or able to be removed there I then fire up bartPE and manually delete. This is very good for DLL's or EXE's that have some sort of protection on them. Since BARTPE only reads the disk there is nothing that can lock the files.

 

by: AnselAdamsPosted on 2009-03-31 at 06:42:37ID: 24028797

Wow... thanks for the fast reply!

I'm still a little puzzled about the plugins. I see there is one for Avast. So I take it that I need to install the plugin to run advast, right? It doesn't specify any particular version but I've seen one for AVG that targets an older AVG version.

I the real question that I have at this time is:

Does this work any better than pulling the hard drive and scanning it with another computer? I can see the advantage of not pulling the hard drive, but almost always I pull off the case to blow out the dust and it's not much of a step to pull the hard drive.

My first focus is pulling the hard drive, backing it up, then working from there. I use Acronis as my backup tool. I've had problems installing it with highly infected computers so I typically pull the hard drive during the dust cleaning and use my work computer to backup and do the initial scanning.

 

by: xxdcmastPosted on 2009-03-31 at 07:18:56ID: 24029182

the only real benefit I can see to using the boot CD rather than doing it your way is the time saved while pulling and attaching to another machine. If you are used to doing it and dont mind then I would stick with what works for you. That said I usually keep a copy of the CD in my laptop bag because you never know when your gonna need it and you might not have another machine to slave into.

I think as far as the scanning/cleaning both methods should work almost identically. In both situations the drive is only being read, there is no OS or EXE attempting to lock certain files.

Pulling an image with acronis is a good idea just incase the disinfection causes some unintended system failure. That said there are plugins for BARTPE that utilize the DriveimageXML program. This could be useful in the situations like you mention where Acronis wont install correctly.

I cant really give you a definite answer as to which is the better option for you as they both have their benefits. I would suggest setting yourself up a BARTPE disk just to have it as another option in your cleaning efforts.

 

by: astaecPosted on 2009-04-01 at 12:31:16ID: 24042925

Good general overview with detail and links here:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartpe

Asta

 

by: Michael-BestPosted on 2009-04-02 at 03:26:00ID: 24048167

Outdated antvirus wont be effective.

FREE COMPUTER REPAIR
http://onecare.live.com/site/en-us/default.htm
And run the: "FULL SERVICE SCAN" it will cleanup & speedup your computer, if it won't run then:
You may have been infected with Worm:Win32/Conficker.B
To protect from Conficker apply an emergency patch that Microsoft issued in October - ahead of Conficker's arrival - for a recently discovered flaw in the Windows operating system that Conficker was designed to exploit.
The patch was originally intended to protect Microsoft's customers against a different piece of malicious code, a data-stealing worm called Gimmev.
Conficker could still activate itself, and it's not the most dangerous piece of malicious code out there
Ways to detect and clean a system that has the Win32/Conficker.B worm
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/962007
If on a network, I recommend disabling "Password Lockout" policy for the time being, till you are sure the infection has been contained and cleaned in your network.
(http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc781491.aspx)
Also see:
Bit Defender:
http://anti-virus-software-review.toptenreviews.com/
This is  free:
http://www.pctools.com/free-antivirus/
(Regards from Michael Best: a Kiwi in Tokyo: I troubleshoot: both, English OS & Japanese OS)

20120131-EE-VQP-002

3 Ways to Join

30-Day Free Trial

The Experts

98% positive feedback on 31,087 answers since March 2000. angeliii is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional for his work with MS SQL Server & Develoment.

He has also proven his knowledge of Visual Basic Programming, PHP Scripting and Oracle Databases.

The Experts

97% positive feedback on 10,752 answers since July 2000. lrmoore has more than 18 years experience in the networking industry.

The six-time Mircosoft MVPs specialties include firewalls, virtual private networking, and network management.

Testimonials

"...and excellent source for support... Kind of like having your very own IT dept." Electriciansnet

Testimonials

"I was apprehensive at signing up at first. However... it has already made my life as an IT administrator much easier." JaCrews

Testimonials

"WOW! You guys have great, active, and knowledgeable people on here." moore50

Business Clients

Business Clients

In the Press

"If you’ve got a question... Experts Exchange can supply an answer.”

In the Press

"...an invaluable aid for both IT professionals and those who require tech support."

In the Press

"where IT professionals provide quick answers on just about any topic"

Business Account Plans

Loading Advertisement...