This means the antivirus program can work on the Windows installation from outside. Even if your Windows installation is completely infected with malware, the special operating system won’t have any malware running within it. Boot your computer from a CD or USB drive containing the antivirus and it loads a specialized operating system from the disc. Why You Should Use an Antivirus Boot DiscĪntivirus boot discs deal with this by approaching the malware from outside Windows. The antivirus is attempting to fight the malware on its home turf - the malware can put up a fight. The problem here is that the malware and antivirus are both running on the computer at the same time. A rootkit could load at boot time before other Windows components and prevent Windows from seeing it, hide its processes from the task manager, and even trick antivirus applications into believing that the rootkit isn’t running. Rootkits, a type of malware that hides itself, can be even trickier. For really nasty malware, your antivirus software may not be able to fully remove it from within Windows. Antivirus software will try to stop the malware and remove it, while the malware will attempt to defend itself and shut down the antivirus.
If your computer is infected with malware, the antivirus software will have to do battle with the malware. Standard antivirus software runs within Windows. The Problem With Cleaning Up Malware From Within Windows They can clean malware from outside the infected Windows system, so the malware won’t be running and interfering with the clean-up process. This is where bootable antivirus solutions come in. If your computer has a rootkit, the malware may be able to hide itself from your antivirus software. If your computer is infected with malware, running an antivirus within Windows may not be enough to remove it. Since 2011, Chris has written over 2,000 articles that have been read nearly one billion times-and that’s just here at How-To Geek. Chris has written for The New York Times, been interviewed as a technology expert on TV stations like Miami’s NBC 6, and had his work covered by news outlets like the BBC. He’s written about technology for over a decade and was a PCWorld columnist for two years. Chris Hoffman is Editor-in-Chief of How-To Geek.
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