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Why Is The Microsoft's
Spyware Removal Tool Needed?
Author: Marc Liron - Microsoft
MVP
It has been estimated that only one third of home
users have an up to date anti virus product installed
on their PC's.
The many home users without an up to date anti
virus program installed, are helping in the spreading
of today's viruses, Trojans and worms!
To help remedy this situation, in part, Microsoft
have now released the FREE: Malicious Software
Removal Tool ...
So What Is the Microsoft Malicious Software Removal
Tool..?
-----------------------------------------------------------
January 2005 sees the debut of a FREE security
tool from Microsoft. This new tool will be updated
on a monthly basis to include information about
recent malicious software threats...
Here is what Microsoft have to say in their own
words:
Microsoft has released the Microsoft Windows Malicious
Software Removal Tool to help remove specific,
prevalent malicious software from computers that
are running Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Microsoft
Windows XP, or Microsoft Windows 2000. The Malicious
Software Removal Tool supersedes all virus-cleaner
tools that were previously released by Microsoft.
You can download the Malicious Software Removal
Tool from the Microsoft Download Center. You can
also run an online version of the tool from the
Malicious Software Removal Tool Web site on Microsoft.com.
To run the Malicious Software Removal Tool from
either location, you must log on to your computer
with an account that is a member of the Administrators
group. If you are running Windows XP, you can also
run the Malicious Software Removal Tool from the
Windows Update Web site or by using Automatic Updates.
...In practice, on the first Tuesday in every
month, if you have Automatic Updates switched ON.
The new tool will download and run a scan on your
computer to see if there is any malicious software
running...
The software does not install itself, and runs
in "quiet mode" so that you will not
actually see it running! When it has finished its
scan - the software then removes itself. For those
of you concerned about privacy issues, you will
be asked to accept an end user licence agreement
(EULA) before the scan takes place.
The software also creates a log file, more information
on this in the next section.
This tool is updated monthly and contains a list
of known threats and any variants.
It is NOT a substitute for having an up to date
anti virus product installed, BUT it will help
to reduce the amount of infected PC's connected
to the Internet.
Far too many folks have "infected" PC's
and just are NOT aware of the problems this is
causing the rest of us...
As already stated, this tool will be updated to
include new malicious threats as they appear. The
initial version of the Malicious Software Removal
Tool - version January 2005 -
includes:
Win32/Berbew - Moderate* Win32/Doomjuice - Moderate*
Win32/Gaobot - Moderate* Win32/MSBlast - Critical*
Win32/Mydoom
- Moderate* Win32/Nachi - Critical* Win32/Sasser
- Critical* Win32/Zindos - Moderate*
* The severity rating refers to the virus alert
severity ratings that appear on the following Microsoft
Web site:
http://www.microsoft.com/security/incident/virus_severity_ratings
.mspx
Only threats that are rated as "Moderate" or "Critical" are
considered for inclusion in the removal tool.
Manual Download Of The Removal Tool...
--------------------------------------
If you do NOT have Automatic Updates installed
you can always download the removal tool manually!
Visit this URL:
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=40587
After downloading the file can be run (it will
not install any
files) and can then be safely removed afterwards.
A log of the scan, called mrt.log , will be created
and stored
at:
C:WINDOWSDebug (Windows XP)
The contents of my log file can be seen below:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
-
Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool v1.0,
January 2005 Started On Tue Jan 11 10:52:24 2005
Removal Tool Results: No infection found.
Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool Finished
On Tue Jan 11 10:52:41 2005
-----------------------------------------------------------------
In the next section below, you can see the two
screens that are shown when the tool is run manually.
(If you encounter a problem with the tool you
may find an answer
here: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=891717
)
The Online Malicious Software Removal Tool:
-------------------------------------------
There is also a free online version of the malicious
software removal tool - visit this link:
http://www.microsoft.com/security/malwareremove/default.mspx
Other Related Info: -------------------
Supported Operating Systems: (for ALL version
of this tool.)
Windows 2000 Windows Server 2003 Windows XP Home
and Pro
As well as using this tool I strongly recommend
that users follow these four simple steps:
One, use an Internet firewall on all PCs Two,
regularly install the latest security updates on
all PCs Three, use up-to-date anti-virus software
Four, use an anti-spyware solution
More information on Windows XP related topics
can be found at: www.updatexp.com
