Just yesterday, I talked about some of the best FREE Anti Virus tools available to you to protect your computer from viruses and other malicious stuff. Today I will talk about some of the best Free Anti-rootkit tools that are available to protect your system.
What is Rootkit
First of all, lets talk about what a Rootkit is and what it does do on your system. A Rootkit is basically tools or applications running on your computer hidden from you most often with the intention of granting secret access or control or both over the computer’s operating system to hackers, viruses, worms and other malicious entities and hide their presence on infected systems.
It comprises a set of programs and scripts that work together to allow attackers to break into a system. Rootkits can remain undetected by many anti-virus software.
Best Anti- Rootkit Tools Available
Free rootkit detection and removal tool for Windows which scans, detects and removes any rootkit that is hidden on your computer using advanced rootkit detection technology..
Its a small tool from Panda securities which lets you get rid of rootkits. The problem is tool is not updated and the anti root kit portion is included in their antivirus product these days. Still this tool is handy.
This is a Free anti-rootkit program for Linux, MAC, BSD, Solarix and other Unix versions. Chkrootkit is a tool to locally check for signs of a rootkit.
SanityCheck (Previously Rootkit Hook Analyzer)
SanityCheck is an advanced rootkit and malware detection tool for Windows which thoroughly scans the system for threats and irregularities which indicate malware or rootkit behavior. By making use of special deep inventory techniques, this program detects hidden and spoofed processes, hidden threads, hidden drivers and a large number of hooks and hacks which are typically the work of rootkits and malware. It offers a comprehensible report which gives a detailed explanation of any irregularities found and offers suggestions on how to solve or further investigate any situation.
Suitable for Windows XP, 2000 and 2003, Windows 7.
A free application that detects and removes rootkits. GMER is an application that detects and removes rootkits .It scans for hidden processes hidden threads, modules, services, files, Alternate Data Streams, registry keys etc.
These tools are good for detecting rootkits within your infected system. Even though most of good antivirus these days include Anti rootkit abilities, but you can give these tools a try if nothing else works on your infected system. Most of these tools doesn’t support Windows 7 except Sanity.
Would love to hear from you if you got any feedback or clarification required.
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Ah the pesky little buggers. Back before all these softwares came about, I used RKR “root kit revealer” which of course did a great job at detecting them at the time but was not easy to use for the common pc user. Even now it may take more than one type of root kit tool to find and remove a root kit.
Prior, most rootkits needed admin rights to run, if still so, then having a user account, NOT ADMIN running is one of the best prevention methods. Although, a standard user account is always a great idea no matter what and not just for rootkits, viruses and such as well. A standard user account can be dealt with, leaving the Admin account the ability to repair or simply remove the infected user account, many times leaving your system in tact. Not always of course, but far better to practice doing so. Rootkits can modify the system and from what I recall, are a tool, not an exploit, that allows attackers a hidden door to re-enter your computer and run malicous code. The problem even with root kit software is the fact that if a rootkit was installed, it may even hide from rootkit detection software and nothing is 100%. They are currently working on hardware based anti-rootkit detection through PCI cards, USB, and other methods although I haven’t read up on it lately.
One other thing, I tend to agree with others that once you have a rootkit, it’s best to reinstall the system. I do feel that if you can safely backup your data, which should be done regularly, it’s faster and safter to reinstall a fresh OS. Why? Because even with supposed removal, there could be untold amounts of damage in the system, depending how bad the infection was of course and can take longer to remove a lot of infection that it takes to reinstall a fresh OS. It does depend of course and every situation is different.
Whether some agree or not, I say the best safety is…
Run in User mode, NOT Admin unless necessary.
Use..
anti-virus
Firewall
anti-malware\spyware
Run from behind a router if possible, to me, it’s extra protection along with software firewall.
Make sure you update Windows regularly, usually auto update and make sure you get all latest patches or definitions for software and OS available preventing exploits.
Watch what you download and where you browse, look up your downloads or files if need be.
I run all new apps in my Virtual Machine to test them safely so they do not intrude on my real system. Microsoft VM and Vitual Box are both free.
And the most important in my opinion and something you hardly hear, is get some knowledge, read up on rootkits, etc… because knowledge is power and the best thing you can do to understand and prevent this stuff. Nothing is 100% but all this can help.
@PCHammer,
Thanks a lot for this detailed feedback. The problem is most users are novice and cant even distinguish the difference if something goes wrong inside the system. Most of them don’t even know if their system is infected with something.
I would like to know more about you as your comments always make me think. You associated with some tech stuff either at work or home or its hobby for you just like me? :P
LOL, you are so right. Most have no clue that they have an infection until it’s too late! I guess that’s why I feel strongly about prevention more than the clean up. And in truth, only a small percentage of people will ever truly follow these rules or even know how to prevent or repair in a situation. Even if I tell people, or install securities, they remove them many times and it gets frustrating for me.
I have repaired computers for 13 years now, along with getting involved in security, testing for rogue applications, and removing numerous amounts of infections on computers. I will never be a “by the book guy” due to running into so many situations that are not by the book to begin with, but there are still basic guidlines for everything. So it’s a little of both, work and a hobby ;)
The problem and stage I’m at now, is it’s no longer fun, I have to keep up so much that my old brain can’t handle it, lol. I do build custom computers for people sometimes as well as repair. But my real hobby is making icons, and other types of graphics. The MBAM icon was my creation, Security Cadets banner, along with numerous others, Alien Arena logo, my doing, and currently working on a logo for Zortam, a cool music manager. I can’t even recall how many i’ve done now.
Hi,
Thanks to both of you .
And …yes…. Avinash ,,talk,, to novice users and PChammer to advanced users .
Best regards !
Welcome mate. I try to talk as simple as i can so that novice users can understand. I love PChammer comments too for they way and passion it is written with. Rarrely people write with such passion a tleast while commenting.
Thanks friend for the list.
.-= Anish K.S´s last blog ..Vaccinate your USB Using Panda USB Vaccine =-.
I have Avast on my Windows XP. Should I use Rootkit removal tools?
Latest edition of Avast Antivirus has anti rootkit built right inside your Antivirus product, so you need not use a additional Anti-rootkit.
Thank you. I appreciate your responses in general on your sites.
Welcome mate. I try to respond to as much comments as possible. Thank you :P
I do want to note that integration doesn’t always mean better and many times I prefer separate tools to do a job for the sake of being specialized in what they do. This doesn’t mean AVast doesn’t have a good detection tool, not what I mean and I haven’t looked up Avast’s anti-rootkit detection or how well it performs BUT I can say that it may take a few different types to detect a rootkit. I use Sohpos “posted up on top”, Icesword, and RKR (root kit revealer) however, the latter two may be a bit too much for a standard user to grasp. Either way or whatever your choice, if free, it doesn’t hurt to run a few if they are not running real time together. Another mention, a rumor of how X64 systems are safe from rootkits, not true. While X64 systems are far less likely to get one due to only allowing certain drivers to write “among other detailed reasons”, the X64 is becoming more of a standard, it won’t be long before the 32’s are ignored and X64 systems become the main target. Someone with some skill and time can break this and Microsoft is implementing more anti rootkit methods in the meantime. Blue Pill ran successfully on Vista 64 if that tells you anything. Another note, you have to make sure your anti rootkit can run on X64,not all can. So anyway, good idea to use Avast and keep a couple of other anti rootkit tools laying around ;)
i have avg 9.0 installed in my laptop I kno that avg has a inbuilt anti rootkit bt……..the problem is …..avg detects that there is a rootkit and asks for a restart in the removal process and when i boot my laptop nothing pops up .even when i again open avg and scan … it again detects….and the same process follows..
so i got irritated and tried panda anti rootkit which is the worst and the worst …bcoz of which my latop frequently crashed to blue screen (BSOD)…so i DEL it ..
so plz tell me the safest root kit…iam gvng sphos a try ….than Q
Just run a antimalware scan using malwarebytes Anti Malware and hopefully it will remove the problem.