Antivirus Live CD is an open source distribution that provides users with a live Linux computing environment built around the popular ClamAV (Clam AntiVirus) virus scanner. It is created by the same people who brought us the 4MLinux distributions, and can be used by system administrators who need a minimalistic Linux distribution capable of scanning entire operating systems, for viruses and other malware.
Features at a glance
The distribution supports Ethernet, Wi-Fi and dial-up (including fast USB modems) Internet connections in order to enable automatic updates of the internal virus signature database. All partitions are mounted automatically during the boot process, in order to be scanned by the Clam AntiVirus software. It supports well known file systems, including Btrfs, EXT2, EXT3, EXT4, FAT16/32, JFS, Minix, NTFS, ReiserFS, and XFS.
Distributed with and without virus signature database
There are two ISO images available for download, one that contains only the Clam AntiVirus application, and another one that includes the entire virus signature database (for computers without an Internet connection). Both ISO images are fully compatible with UNetbootin, and are updated regularly when a new version of ClamAV or 4MLinux is available. The boot menu provides the same two options found on the 4MLinux Live CDs, one for booting the live environment with default settings and another one with VESA Framebuffer.
How to use Antivirus Live CD
Once the live media booted, users will be asked to input a password for the root account, which will be used for logging into the live environment. Unfortunately, you will be dropped to a shell prompt and the most important command is ‘antivir’. Hitting Enter after typing the antivir command will immediately download the latest virus signature database from the Internet (only for the standard Live CD). Then, it will scan the entire hard drive for viruses. Before the actual scan starts, you will need to choose from three options: show a summary screen, create a log file, move malicious files to quarantine, or permanently delete them. The entire virus scanning process will take quite some time, depending on the number of files.
Bottom line
All in all, if you really need a small utility for scanning entire disk drives and operating systems for any type of malware, you should download the Antivirus Live CD right now from Softpedia.
