Rootkit Infection Requires Windows Reinstall

CWmike writes "Microsoft is telling Windows users that they'll have to reinstall the OS if they get infected with a new rootkit. A new variant of a Trojan Microsoft calls Popureb digs so deeply into the system that the only way to eradicate it is to return Windows to its out-of-the-box configuration, Chun Feng, an engineer with the Microsoft Malware Protection Center (MMPC), said last week on the group's blog. 'If your system does get infected with Trojan:Win32/Popureb.E, we advise you to fix the MBR and then use a recovery CD to restore your system to a pre-infected state,' said Feng. A recovery disc returns Windows to its factory settings."

Comments

time to re-think OS architecture

[Anonymous Coward]

We all need a major re-think of how OS is installed on the computer, how it is architected, etc.

Seems to me that a low-level kernel in FLASH, which can only be upgraded with a hardware key inserted (e.g., the kernel FLASH blocks can only be written when there is a physical device plugged into the system), which then supports a number of different OS images using virtual machine concept, is the way to go. I the image of any VM gets rooted, you just toss it and revert to last backup. The flash is immune to tricks, because you must insert a hardware key to upgrade it, so trojans could not over-write the FLASH-based kernel, the worst that can happen is that one of the OS images get corrupted, then you just revert to saved.

Re:Reinstall, but not Windows

[ColdWetDog]

The only purpose it serves is to save the geek the trouble of trying to understand why Linux as a client OS is on life support. StatCounter Global Stats

Hey, don't count Linux out just yet. It's making progress in some parts of the world..

Like Norfolk Island. Next year: Some other isolated bit of humanity. You might think it a hopeless endevour, but when the world goes to hell in a handbasket, who's going to be left holding the keys to mankind's future: Isolated tiny islands in the middle of nowhere.

Face it, you just don't understand the Linux world-domination strategy.