Most of you may be aware of Malwarebytes Anti-Malware whose free version is very popular among Windows users. The same people have now released Malwarebytes Anti-Rootkit, which is currently in the beta stage.
Rootkits for Windows are typically used to mask malicious software from an antivirus program. It is used for malicious purposes by viruses, worms, backdoors and spyware. A virus combined with a rootkit produces what as known as full stealth viruses. To apprise users of Rootkits and emerging threats, Microsoft Malware Protection Center has made available for download its Threat Report on Rootkits. The report examines how attackers use rootkits, and how rootkits function on affected computers.
Keeping in mind the growing threat of Rootkits, Malwarebytes appears to have decided to release its stand-alone portable tool that will help Windows users to detect and remove the nastiest malicious rootkits from their computers.
Once you have downloaded the tool, you will have to extract the contents of the zipped file, and from the folder run mbar.exe. You will be first asked to update the anti-rootkit definition’s which you should do so. After the update is complete, you will be able to run the scan on your computer.
The scan on my system took around 15 minutes, at the end of which I was informed that there were no malware found. If any rootkits are found on your system, you will have to proceed to the Cleanup stage.
The beta of this software will expire on December 10, 2012, but for those of you who wish to check it out, you can download it from here. I did run it on my Windows 8 Pro x64 and it worked just fine!
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