Sophos has just released the Sophos free Anti-Rootkit application. This is appears to be an excellent trend as Sophos is steadily releasing more and more free security programs. I think this is a good move because the antivirus is really moving towards a free based model especially because Microsoft Security Essentials(MSE) is free. I expect future Windows releases to have (MSE) built in and therefore makes it a tricky situation for entrenched virus competitors like Sophos. Basically, release free antivirus and innovate or die.
Regardless of my diatribe, Sophos Anti-Rootkit is an excellent free program. I am not sure if you have utilized other rootkit removers, but a rootkit scan is usually completed in under 3 minutes . On the other hand, Sophos Anti-Rootkit scanned all files on the system for Rootkits and took about 25 minutes to complete. This is because Sophos is scanning all active process, registry keys, and network ports for suspicious activity. The status window will display the description and the location of the detected rootkits. Sophos Anti-Rootkit also includes built-in rootkit removal and even a help file for reference. The whole program is contained in a small 1.3 megabyte executable.
Sophos Anti-Rootkit is also perfect for servers and managed installations. The program can operate completely in the command line. Sophos even offers technical support for the tool via email.
