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Microsoft Releases Malicious Software Removal Tool

Posted by michael on from the now-everything's-all-better dept.

DaHat writes "Hot on the heels of their release last week of Microsoft AntiSpyware, Microsoft today released their very own Malicious Software Removal Tool with the claim that it will detect and remove infections from specific pieces of malware, including those in the families of Berbew, Doomjuice, Gaobot, Msblast, Mydoom, Nachi, Sassier, and Zindos from your Windows 2000, XP or 2003 machine. Microsoft also promises to release an updated version of the tool on the second Tuesday of each month."

3 of 337 comments (clear)

  1. So far so good with both by EvilAlien · · Score: 5, Interesting
    I'm fairly impressed with my tests of the AntiSpyware product. Its pretty slick, seems much more well-rounded than Adware Pro as a comparison. The depth is there too, its not just a mindless GUI app. The configurability and insight into the various bits of registry fiddling that spyware gets up to is cool... and good for a mostly-Windows Ignorant like me.

    The malware removal tool is pretty simple. It installs, scans, gives you a clean bill of health or tells you what a dirty infected whore your PC is.

    The auto-update features in both applications is nice to see too... Grandma and Grandpa Internet need something to spoonfeed them like this, and if Microsoft keeps them free then grrreat. Now if only we could get them to fix IE so it isn't such a steaming pile...

    --
    perl -e 'print $i=pack(c5, (41*2), sqrt(7056), (unpack(c,H)-2), oct(115), 10)'
  2. ...and other grammatical anomalies by mblase · · Score: 5, Interesting

    When I read that headline, I thought it meant Microsoft released a malicious tool for removing (non-MS) software. I don't know if that's a result of my own prejudices or just the kind of thing I've come to expect from Slashdot headlines....

  3. XP Activation cracks. by salvorHardin · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I wonder if cracks for their software would be considered malicious. I can just imagine hundreds of people running this, and then finding out that Office doesn't work anymore and they only have another 28 days in which to activate Windows XP before it'll only boot in safe mode. Don't have a cracked machine to try it on, unfortunately, but I think maybe MS missed their chance by allowing everyone to bypass windows validation before downloading the anti-spyware. Perhaps this is another chance to rid the world of a few 1,000 pirates. Or perhaps I should get more sleep and/or consider Occam's Razor a little more..