This gallery is also available as a post in the TechRepublic Five Apps Blog.
If you've been at the IT game long enough, you have encountered a rootkit. They are some of the nastiest of the malicious software because it hides the presence of other, malicious software. This obfuscation can lead to SPAM bots and plenty of other nasty surprises. One of the issues with standard anti-virus tools is that they cannot find and remove rootkits. And, the second you suspect a rootkit, action must be taken immediately.
What better way to attack quickly than a piece of portable software? And if that portable software is specific to rookits, you're way ahead of the game. But what apps are available and, of those apps, which ones are up to the task at hand? I've gone through a number of such tools and found what I believe to be some of the best of the free portable rootkit removers. Get ready to download!
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Five Apps
1. Sophos Anti Rootkit
Sophos Anti Rootkit is a powerful rootkit removal tool that scans, detects, and removes rootkits. Unlike many of the other rootkit removers, Sophos allows you to select where it looks. By default it will scan the registry and local hard drives. Once the scan is complete, Sophos will display its results. It is crucial that you carefully scan through the results to make sure you are not deleting anything necessary. Also - Sophos does require an install, but you can install it on your USB stick and run it from there.
Credit: Images by Jack Wallen for TechRepublic.
