Even if the device works the first time, will it work the next time? As each day passes, it's virus definitions will become more and more out of date until it starts reporting that the machine is clean when in fact it is still infected. If I needed a "rescue" stick/cd to clean a pc, I'd rather create one when needed. The link below was found by a quick Google of "rescue cd antivirus" and offers several choices and some of them are at no cost. It's worth mentioning that most of these rescue programs are operating in LINUX. If you're getting too many viruses, perhaps you should find out if a Linux OS would work for you.

If you did choose to buy this you would either A) buy it before getting infected (which to me defeats the purpose as stated above) or B) buy it after getting infected which probably means waiting at least a week for it to arrive in the mail. Neither choice would work for me but YMMV.

Last but not least, if you are getting infected frequently you are either very unlucky or you are not practising safe computing. Figure out what you are doing wrong and stop doing it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Rescue CD

Kaspersky is a VERY reputable company in computer safety software.

However they do offer the same thing for free and it works great. You can visit this site of Kaspersky and download the Rescue CD 10 for free. Burn it to a CD and store for when needed. You do not need to be infected to try it of course, ha ha. In fact I recommend a practise run so that you know what to expect if and when it becomes necessary to use the CD.

To use it you require your computer to seek the CD first when starting (you would need to enter the BIOS to do this perhaps, same as if you buy that thumb drive to make the USB port the first choice at startup). Insert the CD and restart your computer, you will have to make a couple of decisions to allow Kaspersky to visit their web site to obtain the latest definitions created since the inception of Rescue Disk 10. Once the latest definitions are loaded the computer is fully scanned and at the end you select the fix from choices offered.

It is an excellent tool and works great, I have used it a few times myself on peoples computers.

There are other companies offering similar rescue CDs but I have tried 6 different ones and was only impressed with Kaspersky and Bitdefender's offerings. Now I only keep Kaspersky.

I agree you can do the same for free using a linux live cd or one of the AV rescue disks as Owbist mentions. In the stick I too would wonder how it was supposed to get all the latest definitions because they come out daily.

I'm one of the FixMeStick founders. You are definitely right- there are a bunch of Rescue CD/USB options out there. What we found interesting was that, despite the fact that this approach is known to be extremely effective at detecting and removing malware, it is only used by "techies." Basic users with a malware problem either bug a techie friend or pay well north of $100 to a computer repair shop.

Our goal is to bring this technology to the masses by:
1- Making it really easy to boot (basic users find the BIOS too confusing).
2- Making it really easy to run a scan with multiple engines (with FixMeStick, this is automatic since we license the technology from the vendors and integrate it into one app/UI)
3- Making it really easy to update (you don't have to reburn anything and you don't even have to know your wifi credentials to connect to wifi and update the malware definitions- FixMeStick connects to the Internet on each run and updates all the malware definitions from all 3 engines)
4- Make it compatible with the widest range of systems (many rescue CDs fail to run on certain hardware)
5- Make it affordable compared to going to a repair shop.
6- Make it really easy to get (e.g. The Kaspersky Rescue CD is a great tool, but you need to burn it, and many basic users have a hard time burning an iso).

@laat2- you have understood the licensing perfectly.

Thanks,
Corey (one of the two FixMeStick co-founders)

Corey, you put things in perspective very nicely, thank you

I had not thought about those with lesser computer skills or the nervous people when I mention the rescue CD. Perhaps you are right and the stick offers those people a choice other than the repair shops.