Dr.Web LiveDisk vs herdProtect

Dr.Web LiveDisk is a free antivirus recovery tool for systems damaged by viruses or malware. It starts from a DVD or USB drive as emergency media, then launches the Dr.Web CureIt! scanner automatically. Users can choose a scan mode, run a quick scan or adjust scan settings. LiveDisk can remove viruses and suspicious files, restore infected items, and copy important data to external media or another computer. On startup it detects and mounts hard-drive partitions and establishes a network connection if possible. The included Midnight Commander file manager can search for and copy information, and the boot menu offers Memtest86+. Creating a USB drive requires at least 1 GB of free space; formatting is optional, and the creation application leaves existing files unchanged by default. USB booting requires BIOS support for a USB HDD device. Doctor Web advises checking that LiveDisk is current and updating its virus databases if needed, and lists 24/7 online technical support.

herdProtect is a free Windows desktop scanner intended to provide a second opinion alongside an existing antivirus product. Its cloud scanner uses 68 anti-malware engines, checks active files and auto-start locations, and can send unknown files for remote analysis. The site says that analysis of unknown files takes 5 to 30 minutes. Scans are on demand, with no real-time protection and no scheduled-scan option. Detected threats can be quarantined, but remediation is manual. Reports and other communications between the computer and herdProtect servers are encrypted. The service does not accept one-off or batch file uploads for analysis. The maker says downloads are not currently being distributed and invites interested users to email for a waiting list. Use is intended for personal, non-commercial purposes unless otherwise specified. Support is limited and listed at [email protected].