Why you should have a live CD/DVD

Hi! There are a ton of programs that allow you to create a live CD/DVD that will allow you to boot your PC.
I'm sorry in my PC vocabulary is not up to par.
What can you do if your darn old windows OS won't boot? You will need a live CD/DVD. If your hardware is OK, then a live CD/DVD is just what you need. Here is just one example that you can use. Sure if you have the Windows media, that will get-er-done and is probably the best live CD/DVD, but if you don't have that, think about this!
Please comment if you have other suggestions. Like I said, there are a ton of live CD/DVDs that can help you recover from a disaster!
Your best offense is a back up image of your OS created by a 3rd party program like Macrium Reflect! PS I have a ton of ideas that I would like to share with CHF members. I came here and registered on CHF to learn and pass forward things I have learned from others.
PS Linux boots from RAM, so your HD can be bad and you can still boot into Linux. That's what the big boys tell me.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/219481/why_you_need_to_have_a_linux_livecd.html

 

Hi! A little more information that explains this much better then I ever could!
"A live CD, live DVD, or live disc is a complete bootable computer installation including operating system which runs in a computer's memory, rather than loading from a hard disk drive; the CD itself is read-only. It allows users to run an operating system for any purpose without installing it or making any changes to the computer's configuration. Live CDs can run on a computer without secondary storage, such as a hard disk drive, or with a corrupted hard disk drive or file system, allowing data recovery. A live ISO is an ISO image of a Live CD which can be used in virtual machine environments, mounted as if it were a CD/DVD and used as the virtual machine's boot CD. Live CDs, ISOs, and images usually include an operating system available without charge or restrictive license such as Linux, rather than a commercial one such as Microsoft Windows, for legal rather than technical reasons.

The functionality of a live CD is also available with a bootable live USB flash drive, or even an external USB drive. These may have the added functionality of writing changes on the bootable medium. Write-locked Live SD WORM systems are the direct solid-state counterpart to live CDs, and can be booted natively in a media card slot or by using a USB adapter. Write-locked Live SD systems avoid excessive write cycles or corruption by ill-conditioned software, such as malware"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_CD

 

Hi! As I stated before, there are several live CD/DVDs that you can use when windows fails to boot. Here are some Anti-Virus apps that you can create live CD/DVD or flash that you use when you suspect malware is keeping you from booting windows! Hope this helps someone here on CHF! Have any comments or suggestions to add @Kenny94 ? Would like to hear your comments. The author of this link is well know in the computer world!(Tim Fisher)
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/system-security/tp/free-bootable-antivirus-software.htm
"What are you to do when you have a computer problem so bad that your computer won't start at all and you're pretty sure a virus or some other malware is to blame? How do you scan for viruses when you can't start Windows to do a virus scan?

This is where a bootable antivirus program becomes the hero of the day. With a bootable virus scanner, you create a special flash drive or CD/DVD disc from a working computer and then use it on the infected machine to scan the hard drive for viruses - all without needing to start Windows!

Since the most serious of viruses cause damage to the parts of your computer that allow it to start, a bootable antivirus tool can often be a powerful weapon at your disposal for getting the virus removed and your computer back up and running."

 

And what happens if the Virus has damaged the registry???
Never used one and never intend to. If your computer is in such a mess, why spend days stuffing around.
You can do a Non- Format Non- Destructive reinstall of Windows in no time flat.

Microsoft don't tell you that.

Bet you didn't know that until you Googled.
That's why having an up to date clone of the OS is so important.

 

I carry A live Linux CD and USB, and UBCD, not just to be able to retrieve files but also for the hard disk formatting/partitioning tools I use them quite often. However, when presented with a serious infection, if I sense that it's too intricate for me to handle in the interest of time and not in the best interest of the customers data security and integrity, the I will "nuke" with a non destructive, or better if I sense that the customer can deal with it a CLEAN OS reinstall, but that is after I have used the live CD to retrieve data if need be.

 

I have Hirens Boot CD's but never used them. They would be handy in some circumstances I admit.
Most have data in more than one place. Those that don't I have no sympathy for.

 

I have UBCD, PCLinux, Ubuntu (older verison) live CD, and my own CD of tools etc. The only time I use the Live CD is advanced partitioning for servers or if I need to save some data from an seemingly unattainable HD. I can fix most anything with the OS provided tools and some clean up tools, but like you - if I even get a sniff of something nasty that I feel will possibly carry over I will do a non destructive restore, or a clean install of the customer goes for it after saving data. To be honest I rarely do "service call" or malware type stuff much anymore most of my stuff is pure builds. and usually gaming oriented, though here lately doing some regular builds which is refreshing.

 

I use live-cd all the time to prove a hard drive is bad and/or to copy files and data from a non booting hard drive. The main reason is
Linux could care less about Microsoft passwords which are a pain to get past when copying files and data.