How do I check for boot sector viruses?

I know I need to boot from a floppy but I'm not sure what I would use to make it. I have avast! anti-virus installed but it doesn't offer me any option to make a boot disc. I assume some antivirus programs do but obviously I dont want to install another antivirus program as it'll conflict with avast. Is there any sort of standalone software I can use? What are my options here? (that don't involve typing code into dos)

Jay

 

What operating system ? (Win9x/Me/XP can make a bootdisc without a 3rd party application)
What do you need the boot disk for ? (If needing to access a NTFS partition then Recovery Console is probably better)

 

Im using XP. The boot disc that XP can make isn't a checker for boot sector viruses though is it? Which also answers your other question. (As does the title of the thread!)


J

 

You can configure a boot time scan:
1. Start Avast! antivirus
2. Right click some where in the Avast! window and in the popup-menu select Schedule Boot time scan
3. It will ask you to restart after scheduling.

The boot time scan should also check the boot-sector.

 

I don't know about XP, but I do know that the boot disk made by earlier versions of Windows do not include virus-checking ability. Microsoft has always left that to third-party sources.

But I'm not at all sure that you need a boot disk to check for boot sector viruses. That may have been necessary back in the DOS/Win 3.x days, but it's been a long time since I've seen any indication in Norton AV that it's still necessary.

Any of today's virus scanners should be capable of checking for boot sector viruses. Panda and NOD32 have particularly good reputations for scanning accuracy. They're both available as shareware.

 

Hi snakefoot.
I tried the advice you gave thripston, (I'm using AVAST as well) but I can't select that option, its there just can't click it. I don't remember if I already selected this option when I started using AVAST, I've had it for so long now. Any way of verifying if it's active? I know AVG shows Boot scanning on start up but I don't know if AVAST does it the same way.

 

Nevermind,
I think I know why I can't chose it. I'm running 98. Oh well, too bad. Waybe I'll use AVG for boot scanning, just won't let it be my main AV, so it won't conflict with AVAST. Thanks anyways.

 

It sounds strange that you can see the option but not click it. When clicking the option it should either ask you whether you want to schedule a boot time scan or if you want to remove the scheduled boot time scan. Is the option greyed out ?

You could try and check for the text-file (mentioned in my previous post) which should be generated when the boot-time scan is performed. (Check Date/Time of the text-file)

*Update* Hehe maybe next time I should just keep my mouth shut and let the one asking the question do the answering, at least in this case it seems more qualified

 

Here ya go, this is what I get.

 

I think there is some confusion in this thread.

A boot-time scan is not the same thing as scanning for a boot sector virus. "Boot-time" describes when the scan is done, not what is scanned for. "Boot sector" describes the location of a particular kind of virus, i.e., one that infects the executable code that resides in the boot sector of any formatted disk and which therefore takes control before any OS is loaded.

A boot-time scan may include a scan for boot-sector viruses, but it will usually scan for viruses in essential system files as well. Check the documentation for the scanner you're using.

Which did you want to do, thripston?