Free tool helps root out rootkits
From Times Wire Services
McAfee Inc. last week released Rootkit Detective, a free tool to help computer users clean their machines of increasingly prevalent hidden malicious codes known as rootkits.
Rootkits are used to hide nefarious programs on PCs, including ones that monitor every keystroke. They also can be used to hide an electronic backdoor that would let miscreants enter surreptitiously.
Last year the number of rootkits that were identified stood at 3,284. This year the total has already surpassed 7,000.
