Ransomware antivirus are very interesting security solutions for checking malware on a PC or against persistent malicious developments if they have definitely succeeded in infecting it.
Most security solutions are installed on computers and thanks to their proactive capabilities, they anticipate the introduction of malware, detect it and, if necessary, remove it are not able to detect some of the malware loaded at system startup or fix security threats that prevent even the computer from booting.
And furthermore, although its optimization has been improving, they tend to affect equipment performance to some degree. This is where antivirus ransomware comes in. They use an external medium independent of the PC to be scanned and this offers significant advantages. They do not penalize performance and make it possible to pre-empt the loading of viruses or Trojans into memory, which makes their removal more difficult. In short, they work on any computer both to check its status and to eliminate persistent or difficult to eradicate security threats.
Free ransomware antivirus
All cybersecurity software vendors offer such solutions, although not all are updated with the same assiduity in terms of interface and operation. They do have the latest virus signatures as a guarantee to check for and remove malware and are a good response to the increasing amount of malware arriving week by week, especially on Windows as it is the most used system on the desktop and the most attacked.
It is therefore advisable to have some of them and even if the equipment is working properly run it from time to time as a further maintenance task. There is malware that loads itself into memory and once the operating system is started, it is difficult to eradicate and even to detect:
Panda SafeDisk. With updated interface in the latest version (4.4.3.0) is very simple to use because it does not have too many customization options. It loads a wizard that automatically searches for available antivirus definitions and, when you press start, starts scanning the entire system for malicious files.
ESET SysRescue Live. ESET offers the download of an image to burn but also offers the possibility to create it directly on CD or USB. Perfectly updated interface and very easy to use.
Kaspersky Rescue Disk. Kaspersky hasn’t updated the interface in a while but its Gentoo version 18-based Rescue Disk has the great power of the leader in consumer security solutions. You download the ISO image, burn it to bootable media and use it.
Bitdefender Rescue CD. Personally it is one of the ones I like the most. Or I liked it because it was deprecated a couple of years ago in exchange for offering a Bitdefender Rescue Mode It uses a Linux based on Xubuntu which allows for greater capabilities in addition to virus removal. Download the ISO from the link and burn to media. We leave you a link to web.archive where it is still available
AVG Rescue CD. It offers two different images for creation on CD or USB. Its interface is rather spartan and text-based but don’t panic, it does its job, and like the rest, it updates the virus database to the latest available ones beforehand.
Trend Micro Rescue Disk. Very simple creation of the rescue media at the click of a button from its web page and with the option to choose CD/DVD or USB disk/drive. Its interface is the most spartan of the whole list, in a minimalist text mode with a few basic options.
Norton Bootable Recovery Tool. Symantec offers bootable disk creation with a wizard that facilitates its creation without external applications once you have downloaded the tool. Once booted with it, you will see a graphical but minimalistic interface with no customization options, with two main options: scan and clean.
Avira Rescue System. Offers the download of an image for media creation. Graphical interface with few functions but simple to use. Like others we have seen with a simple interface, its power lies in the search and disinfection engine and its ability to update the virus database, something that all of them do.
F-Secure Rescue CD. It hasn’t been updated in a while, but it’s another classic, simple and easy to use. With a Knoppix base, there is no real user interface except for a text-based dialog, where you will be asked if you want to start the analysis.
Avast. It is the only one on the list that does not offer direct download of an image and the only way is to create the rescue disk from an Avast solution. The good thing is that it can be done from the free desktop version. The bad thing is that you have to install it first.
How do these ransomware antiviruses work
Virtually all of them are based on Linux as a base and use formats âLive CD/USBâmost vendors offer the possibility to create the media directly from their website or their own creation tutorial which is very similar for all of them.
Others simply offer an ISO image that the user must burn himself, either on an optical medium or -preferably- on an external disk or USB pendrive. For these cases it is as simple as opening the program, selecting the ISO image that we have downloaded and the application (Rufus, ImgBurn, Stickifier or any other) will take care of its creation.
Once the rescue media has been created, its use is simple. We restart the machine with the media inserted in its location to boot from it. If we have not done so previously, we will have to enter the BIOS to place the optical drive or USB as first boot mediaalways before the hard disk or SSD where the system is installed.
The media created is a ‘Live CD’ format so we will not have to install anything on the hard disk or SSD of our computer. Some solutions offer a visual environment and more features, while others use a text mode completely dedicated to malware, understanding that the main thing is the power of its engine and the updates of its virus databasewhich everyone does before scanning the system.
Some solutions are highly customizable, allowing you to select scanning and disinfection, boot sector, quick or full scan, files and folders on hard drives or external drives, network access, heuristic method and almost everything you can find in an installable antivirus.
Like any Linux, some of these rescue antivirus include tools such as a scanner to manually delete files or package managers in case we need to install any Linux-based troubleshooting tool, although their main use is virus scanning and disinfection.
