Recovery disk (Safedisk)

A recovery disk is one or several disks that allow a computer to be scanned and disinfected in a safe environment. A safe environment is any computer in which there are no viruses resident in memory that might interfere with scanning or disinfection.

Panda Antivirus 6.0 comes with a utility called Safedisk for automatically creating the above-mentioned recovery disk. The Safedisk utility generates two diskettes, one for booting and the other for disinfection. The first allows the computer to be started up from a diskette, thus guaranteeing that no virus is loaded into the memory at computer startup (assuming the diskette is virus-free). The second contains our command-line antivirus (PAVCL) which allows the computer to be scanned and disinfected from the diskette itself.

It is very important that the Safedisk utility be executed in a virus-free computer to guarantee that the two diskettes generated are virus-free. Otherwise the diskettes generated will be of no use, as they will not permit the virus-free booting of the computer.

To generate the above-mentioned diskettes, take the following steps:

1. Execute the Safedisk utility. This possibility is offered during the installation of Panda Antivirus 6.0 but can also be done at any later stage using the corresponding icon located in the Panda Antivirus 6.0 program group.

2. The first window of Safedisk will inform you of the purpose of this utility. You should have two formatted, high-density 3╜ô diskettes ready so that Safedisk can create the boot disk and the disinfection disk. You may exit the program by pressing the Cancel button.

3. If you continue, the first of the disks will be formatted, then the necessary files will be copied to convert the disk into a boot disk.

4. When the preparation of disk number 1 is complete, disk number 2 will be requested.

5. The second diskette will be formatted and the necessary files copied for the operation of Pavcl.

6. When the whole process is complete, a window will appear showing recommendations. Write-protect the disks you have created. This will prevent accidental deletion or the possibility of contamination by a virus if inserted into an infected computer. Label the disks so that they can be easily identified and keep them in a safe place.

7. Lastly, press the Finish button to close the Safedisk utility.

8. Remember, to scan in a clean environment, you should boot with the first disk and then insert the second. After this, you can run Pavcl. The following command scans all your computer drives in search of viruses and disinfects any it finds: PAVCL /ALL /CLV.