Turn Your USB Drive into a System-Recovery Tool

Are you the unofficial IT person for a small office? Then you've probably heard this before (if not said it yourself): "My PC is running really slow and acting really weird." In cases like those, some kind of malware (viruses, adware, rootkits, etc.) is almost always to blame. If only you had some magical plug-and-play gizmo that could help eradicate those infections.

Build one yourself. Confessions of a Freeware Junkie shows you how to build a system-fixing flash drive stocked with free malware-fighting utilities. All you need is a 1GB-or-larger drive (here's an 8GB drive for just $18 after mail-in rebate) and programs like Clamwin Portable, a virus scanner; Panda Anti-Rootkit; and Glary Utilities, which David recently raved about.

Of course, having the right tools is only half the battle. If you're not sure how to combat malware, check out the author's related post. Very helpful stuff.