Possible Malware that Malwarebytes hasn't picked up?

altae said:

Like I wrote, I'd use a scanner run from a live cd/dvd or usb stick. Any halfway decently written malware will hide itself from scanners run on your Windows system. Live scanners on the other hand usually run on a Linux so there is no way the malware can hide itself from the scanner. I do that on all pcs I suspect to be infected.

SuperAntiSpyware makes a portable version you can use/run from a USB.

SUPERAntiSpyware - SUPERAntiSpyware Portable Scanner

If I go to work on someones PC I generally d/l the tools I need to a CD/DVD since there is no way a CD can become infected. Call me paranoid, but I don't feel comfy plugging a USB into a possible infected computer. Even though my USB has been immunized to supposedly prevent such things.

Generally that's true but not if you boot an av software based on Linux. Windows viruses cannot be active under Linux meaning they cannot copy themselves onto a usb stick. Unless of course the virus is written for Windows and Linux. But such a sophisticated piece of code is very rare, the possibility of encountering something like that is near to zero.

altae said:

Generally that's true but not if you boot an av software based on Linux. Windows viruses cannot be active under Linux meaning they cannot copy themselves onto a usb stick. Unless of course the virus is written for Windows and Linux. But such a sophisticated piece of code is very rare, the possibility of encountering something like that is near to zero.

Yeah that is true, but call me paranoid & in the "why take a chance" crowd. :) It was bad enough at the college where we had to use USB's to save our work & lot's of viruses got spread/picked up.

Using a USB immunizer did seem to work good as during a couple lab sessions, most people picked up malware where as I didn't get anything.

Even though, CD's are cheap & I prefer those for putting malware/clean up programs on an infected machine. There are several immunizers out there if you want to have look. Another level of protection never hurts.

USB Immunizer | Bitdefender Labs

Panda USB Vaccine and BitDefender USB Immunizer: Free Tools to Prevent Autorun-Based Malware Attacks - AskVG

I agree with you, I also prefer cds/ dvds. But nowadays there are more and more pcs that havn't got an optical drive at all. So this leaves the owners with no choice. Another reason why I prefer optical medias is the fact that booting from a usb stick can be tricky whereas booting from a cd is easy.

They have portable USB CD drives for good prices at Newegg. I have one that I always take with me when I work on someones PC/Laptop because CD drives are becoming less prevalent in newer products.

LG USB 2.0 Ultra Slim External DVDRW Model GP60NB50 - Newegg.com