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Xp Getting A Bit Of A Risk.


duncan

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Hi Duncan,

Interresting article. Today XP is the victim, tomorrow Win 7 64-bit will be a victim. There are many security softwares, that aren said to act as online shields, offline finders & removers of rootkits by computer scanning. I have 3 of them installed: ESET Smart Security (NOD32), SuperAntispyware Pro & Emsisoft Anti-Malware, but I have my doubts! Are they really efficient?

1. How do we get aware of that our computers are infected by rootkits? What are the systems of rootkit infections?

2. Does anybody know any objective review of these so called Rootkit Shields, Finders & Removers?

Cheers,

sweidre

PS. By the way, are rouges & rootkits causing the same symptoms of infections? DS

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What makes rootkits so insidious is that they may not cause any unusual behavior to your system which makes them hard to detect and remove. Unlike rouges, such as fake anti-malware software, that's something that is easily detected and hopefully can be dealt with. Although rouge software can sometimes be notoriously hard to remove. That is an interesting question though. What is the best anti-rootkit remover? I'm happy with the Sophos Anti-rootkit software I use. It seems to do a pretty good job. Scans are slow and time consuming however and false positives do occur so I have to be careful what the program detects and wants to delete.

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I'm happy with the Sophos Anti-rootkit software I use. It seems to do a pretty good job. Scans are slow and time consuming however and false positives do occur so I have to be careful what the program detects and wants to delete.

I used Sophos Anti-Rootkit sometimes during my XP era, but it never find anything! In my Win7 I have not installed it. So your Sophos has found rootkits in your Win7 64-bit?!

Cheers,

sweidre

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I won't get into the politics of microsoft,

suffice to say that if you don't buy their latest products

then you are left in the lurch

with a major problem ie/ no support and an insecure operating system.

 

Peppermint 2 (linux)

AMD Sempron 2600+

1 gig ram

nvidia 6200 - 512mb

3G mobile broadband

Opera 11.50

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So far I haven't found any rootkits since Win. 7 64bit was installed. When I was still using XP 32bit Sophos did detect rootkits on a couple of occasions. Duncan, you are correct. When Microsoft does release a new operating system it's only a matter of time before the older OS's no longer are supported with security and performance enhancing updates. I bet it is a company strategy. To get you to upgrade to the newest version and of course dish out the cash to do so. I've read articles that Microsoft is seriously considering discontinuing any further support for XP users. Right now if you don't have SP3 installed on XP you will not receive any security updates at all. It happened to ME and 2000 users not long after XP was released. Planed obsolescence I guess you could call it.

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Hi,

It was in the beginning of 2010, i saw somewhere, that Microsoft should support XP SP3 until sometime in 2012. What month, I do not remember!

Regarding Windows 7 it has now SP1. How long Windows 7 will be supported, I do not know.

With Windows 8 in the pipeline, Windows 7 can be threatened & shortlived!?

If MS will not support its OS:es a long time, I think many users will leave Microsoft for good, and Microsoft will loose its leading role as OS supplier. (So MS will kill itself!)

Cheers,

sweidre

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I did hear that Microsoft is developing Windows 8. So how long will it be that even Vista users see their OS's no longer being supported after it's release? Then Windows 7? How long for that? According to Microsoft the main reason they discontinue supporting old operating systems is that it's not cost effective, using the time and money for R&D to issue new security patches and other updates that these systems would require to stay secure and competitive. Instead they funnel their energy into developing the next OS. I remember when Vista was first released. It was so buggy and full of security holes that a lot of people switched back to the tried and true XP. That's why I had no desire to try Vista. If it wasn't for the fact that I received my copy of Windows 7 as a Christmas gift I'm sure I'd still be using XP right now. Even though XP is getting a little long in the tooth it's still considered a very reliable and stable platform. That's why a lot of businesses still use it.  If you think about it Microsoft fixed the things that people were complaining about with Vista, added a few new features and called it Windows 7. A lot of people can't or don't want to spend a couple of hundred bucks (more or less) on a new operating system every couple of years. For that reason I believe that's why the open sourced operating system Linux has increased in popularity.

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