I have reviewed several free antivirus rescue CD’s. Most of the time the antivirus company simply provides the download but very little documentation. AVG’s Rescue CD is different. The company provides in depth guide with screenshots highlighting on how to use antivirus engine and many of the extra included tools. One could also say that the AVG Rescue CD is also a full system recovery disk given the attention on getting ones unbootable system working.
USB functionality –
The AVG Rescue CD is one of the only antivirus rescue disks that provides separate executables to be installed on a USB flash drive. This is perfect for a netbook or laptop without a CD ROM drive. One disadvantage is that one needs to completely delete all of their data from the flash disk before installing the AVG Rescue CD. Of course, the AVG Rescue CD can be burned onto a disk at any time.
Effective Antivirus and Antispyware –
The AVG Rescue CD includes both an antivirus and an antispyware engine which is identical to the retail and free versions. This means that the AVG Rescue CD will probably end up rescuing the infected computer. In addition, to great virus protection, the AVG Rescue CD includes a built in update functionality which will be necessary because the install files haven’t been updated since April 29, 2010. One problem with the update feature is that it runs in the boot menu (linux) rather than Windows. This means that it may have difficulty locating a driver to use for networking (one also needs to setup an ip address or have dhcp enabled). I recommend having wireless turned off an using the Ethernet for networking. The AVG Rescue disk also has a functionality where one can initially download the virus update and install it via the Repair menu. However, there isn’t documentation about where to find the update file.
Additional Tools –
AVG Rescue CD really shines in that if offers a lot more than just antivirus protection. I just compiled a quick list of some of the functionality.
- Vault mode – if AVG free deleted an important file an quarantined it, the file can be restored through the AVG Rescue Disk.
- Memory Testing Capability
- File recovery and hard drive viewing application
- Text Web browser
- Registry Editor
- ScanDisk or ChkDsk functionality
- And more…
As one can see the AVG Rescue CD is more than just a recovery antivirus and rather a whole system recovery tool. The CD performed excellent on the test system. I will definitely add it to my personal toolkit.
