Hi Don,

>What's the easiest/best way to run an antivirus scan on a laptop (XP) from
my home desktop (W7 ultimate)?<

Strictly by the question: If the computers are networked, you can try to 
mount the XP laptop drive
as a network drive in W7.Then do the virus scan on W7 and focus on the 
laptop drive.
Caveat: This requires the XP and the drive to be actively running (which you 
prefer not to)

>Would a USB transfer cable do it?<
I tried several USB transfer cables and while you have access to all files 
and folders,
they don't show up under My Computer, because the drive isn't mounted as 
such and hence
doesn't show up as a drive to be scanned.
There may well be exceptions to this, but the above are my findings.
Again ,even if  the XP drive were mounted, it requires it to be active in 
this case.

Keeping in mind that you don't want the XP drive to be active,
next would be an "offline" rescue disc ,either with an AV only on it  and
many  AV companies provide them
example would be  Avira Rescue CD
http://www.avira.com/en/support-download-avira-antivir-rescue-system
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/38889/how-to-use-the-avira-rescue-cd-to-clean-your-infected-pc/
On this page links to Kasperski and Bit Defender CDs as well .There are
others.

or get one that has several AV programs like as in SARDU
http://www.sarducd.it/
For the above, use RW of either CD or DVD ,so you can update the program
without using another disc.

Another favorite is to always install a mini version of XP on a system in a
dual- or multiboot setup.
The mini has the AV scanner on board and can scan the main OS partition
without it actively running.

Use an IDE- or SATA to USB adapter on the laptop drive
As for connecting the  drive, is there enough room for an external connector
once you disconnect the laptop's drive connector?
If the SATA/IDE to USB adapter is too bulky ,try your adapter or an
extension cable to the USB adapter.

Just some ideas, some of which I use regularly.

Peter E.



--------------------------------------------------
From: "Don Penlington"
Sent: Monday, 11 July, 2011 9:18 PM
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: [PCBUILD] Joining 2 computers

What's the easiest/best way to run an antivirus scan on a laptop (XP) from
my home desktop (W7 ultimate)?

Would a USB transfer cable do it?

Normally, with 2 desktops, I just remove the hard drive from the bad
computer and plug it into my own desktop, then run the scans from there.
That way, Windows is not open on the bad hard drive so that any viruses
cannot protect themselves.

But it's not so easy on a laptop. Although I have a laptop HD to desktop
converter plug, I dislike trying to remove a hard drive from a laptop---I'd
rather do brain surgery or rocket science. And it doesn't always work
anyway.

Don Penlington

 

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