[Stephane1200]

Well guys as the title suggests am looking for an antivirus or spyware but the thing is that am looking to install them on my USB DRIVE.So i if anyone know of software that might pull it off kindly tell me about the software and any eventual particular installation that might be needed !!! (For the curious ones that might ask why i want to do that then the reason is simple in my degree course i happen to do a lot of programming and this year we got the worst computer lab and there are viruses that tends to corrupt the data on my usb drive when i connect it to pc in the lab and as a result usually my data are lost so thats why i want my pendrive to be protected)

PS: 1-Pen drive lock wont suit my purpose because i wont be able t save the work i will be doing on my pen since i have locked it !!!
2-please people who want to act high and mighty or just want to fool around here to stand out a bit don't lose your time and my time this is really serious matter to me !!!

regards
Stephane1200

[cranki]

well if the computers have internet you should try to download a new antivirus you can try the full avg antivirus for 1 month and see if it fix everything . if that doen't work you could reprogram the computer you are using . will ask my friends to see if they can help

[alcaray]

Drives can't run software, they are just storage devices. As soon as you connect it to a running PC then it will be protected by any AV/A-adware/spyware that runs on that PC. And they will be subject to whatever viruses etc. that run on that PC.

Are you talking about launching your protection softs from your USB drive? It may be too late by then.

Anyway, to answer your question, I never heard of a reason why you could not install protection softs to a USB drive. It's been a while since I've had to reinstall one. Don't they ask you where to install it, like any other softs?

[Stephane1200]

i mean i want to install the software on my usb drive since almost all the pc in te lab are infected so rather than cleaning all the lab pc one by one i had rather protect my pendrive against the viruses !!!

[turb0brat]

If it's not locked then there is nothing to stop a virus on the computer from blanking the drive...besides most corp/uni near me block apps from running from usb drives.

That said, there is clamwin and spybot check [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

I had the same problem. My advice is backups. Keep 2 usb drives and occasionally copy between them so you minimize what you lose. Might consider something like a SVN/CVS. Also have a good av at home for whatever does get on there.

Another thought - You could install a linux on the USB and boot from the drive then it doesn't matter what is on the computer. see [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

I just noticed they also list a bunch of av and other apps:

[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

[chaoswings]

Alcaray is right when he says it's too late by the time you plug the USB drive in.

The reason Antivirus and spyware programs work is because they run as a service and they get rid of malicious software before it has a chance to properly install itself. By putting it on a USB you eliminate that advantage. It will still work to some extent but you aren't really making yourself any more or less secure, just giving yourself extra work.

Your PC at home has a better chance of eliminating it when you plug the USB in.

That being said there's still a solution. Source code is just a text file and cannot be infected. Your main concern is infecting your PCs at home. In that case install Linux as a dual boot and use that OS to pull your source code off of your USB stick, format it, put the source code back on your USB stick and then boot up Windows.

Or if that's too much of a bother you can use a LiveCD (like Knoppix - get the CD version) which doesn't require you to install Linux. Just boot from the CD at startup.

Still I'm kind of surprised your college/Uni doesn't re-image the PCs in the labs. Ours are re-imaged once a week (at least).

[davmazin]

The best chance you got is running a different ver for the OS, for example if in your office or lab he computers use a 32bit OS then use a 64bit OS since it might not be affected by most of the virus on those pc, also it could be linux or another OS its not a bad idea to get an antivirus but still the famous brands arent that great at all (panda, norton, avg, to mention) and in most cases will slowdown your pc to a crawl, another thing is to dislabe autorun in any pc you are pluging something in, since it was mentioned that autorun had too many holes and with it off you can ward off at least about 80% of viruses (not sure of this since i only readed something about it in a news tech page) also the reason when you put it on an infected pc and it gets infected is because of that very same autorun, when dislabed i think it shouldnt infect your USB flash drive because autorun makes anything that comes in contact with a determined pc to execute intructions as to install undesired programs or enter a web site (meaning it does the thing you learned in the past but now you are forced to do wich is to never execute a program you didnt know)

[heavensstrike]

This might be a noob question but don't programs need to "register" with the OS during installation or else it won't work. (What I mean is the "regedit")

My suggestion might not be what you're looking for but if there's no specific reason why you need to use the PC at the lab, just bring a laptop and use that instead.

[Xiaden]

Alright, I might need a bit of clarification on this, however, I think what your trying to do is clean the computer your going to be working on, and it has some sort of web-herpigonasyphiaids on it that kills pretty much anything on the computer. If I am correct, you're going to want to create a bootable image on your flash drive, that will clean the PC. It's been ages since I ran into a serious virus that required me to do something like this, so my best recommendation would be to Google it.

However, for the purpose of easing your googling along, here's the first two hits:
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

Keep in mind that even if they say "cd" you can still burn the image to a flash drive in a similar fashion.

Also of note, using an OS that isn't installed by default will normally be outside of companies "terms of use" on their systems, so check with your tech support before using it.

And if I was wrong, and you simply wanted to protect your flash drive, then I'm sorry to say it's not possible, last I checked. the way a computer hooks up to the flash drive allows viral code to be passed the second it's plugged in if the drivers have been tampered with.

[digritz]

As a programmer you should know all this.
Software needs an environment such as an OS to run. Your USB drive lacks this. The data is being affected as an extension to the system on the comp in the lab. If I understand your ? you want a program that resides on your USB drive that will intercept a virus before it affects your data. Not gonna happen. It needs to be stopped on the primary system. Unless you use an external drive that can run software. I use an HP PDA that runs windows portable 6. Yes it's old but it works. And it comes without all the other headaches that come with 3 or 4 dozen apps running in the background like on most smart phones.

That said find it hard to believe that a computer lab at a university level would not have some form of virus protection. If this is the case are you taking advantage of this programs already in place?