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Question Title Rookkits Explained

Rootkits Explained

Imagine a hacker program that is able to install itself on your PC and hide from your virus and spyware scanners like a living, breathing entity.  Some rootkits are easily detected, but others are becoming increasingly difficult to find because they filter queries and are then able to hide executables and remove their entries from the task manager.  This article will identify what a rootkit is, and offer simply ways to avoid them.

 It's possible to spot kernel rootkits by using Windows PE, a scaled-down version of Windows XP.  You can boot Windows PE from a CD and compare the profile of the clean OS to that of the infected system.  If your system is infected with a malicious rootkit, the quickest (and probably most reliable) way to remove it would be to format the drive and start fresh.  While this sounds like the "easy way out" approach, it's really the only guarantee that the system is clean.

 Quick Tips to Avoid Rootkits

If you're looking to prevent rootkit infection in the first place, you should take a few preventive measures to keep your system safe:

  • Keep Windows Updated.  Visit Microsoft's Update page frequently.
  • Carefully read any End User License Agreements, as they may actually tell you that some type of rootkit will be installed on your system.
  • Avoid installing P2P software.
  • Avoid websites and programs that seem shady.
  • Consider running an alternative Web Browser, like Firefox.
  • Configure your Email server to block or remove emails that have file attachments that are commonly used to spread viruses, such as .vbs, .bat, .exe, .pif and .scr files.
The important thing to understand when you discover a rootkit has been installed on your system is that the system has been compromised and you should restore the system from a known clean backup.   

You can get the popular program RootkitRevealer here.
Authored by: David This question has been viewed 10156 times so far.
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Article Number: 26
Created: 2007-01-10 3:31 AM
Rating 4 Stars
 
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