1. A method of preparing a computing device for offline scanning of the computing device for malicious agents, without requiring alteration to boot sequence settings of the computing device, the computing device having at least one processor, at least one memory, and a protected-mode operating system installed in the at least one memory, the method comprising: collecting and verifying parameters regarding at least one of the protected-mode operating system and the computing device, while the protected-mode operating system is running on the computing device, wherein verifying the parameters comprises verifying at least one of a path to the kernel of an alternate operating system, a path to a RAM disk stored in the at least one memory, and content stored in the at least one memory to be overwritten by files of the alternate operating system; mapping the kernel of the alternate operating system to the at least one memory; allocating auxiliary data structures to a predefined portion of the at least one memory; initiating shutdown of the protected-mode operating system; preparing a system environment for the kernel; and transferring control of the computing device to the kernel.