The regularly scheduled Patch Tuesday update cycle brings with it not just security fixes every month, but also firmware updates and new versions of Microsoft software.
The company certainly has a good thing going here, like clockwork.
It has just released a brand new version of its popular Malicious Software Removal tool — this particular software provides Windows users a quick and easy way to clean their PCs and devices of specific forms of malware. Version 5.4 comes with advanced detection and malware cleaning capabilities.
Microsoft shared the details in a blog post that this new version can now detect and remove Win32/Simda, which it says is a multi-component malware family that includes trojan, backdoor, password-stealing, downloader and file-infector variations.
Wowzers! Computer security sure has a mystifying side to it!
As, Rex Plantado, an antivirus researcher over at Microsoft noted:
“It is very rare for a single malware family to possess all of these characteristics; Alureon and Sirefef are among the few families also in this category.”
The Malicious Software Removal Tool is, obviously, part of Windows Update, but it is also available as a separate and standalone download for those of you that prefer downloading it this way.
And it can be installed on all versions of Windows that are currently on the market including Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8. Both the 32-bit and 64-bit flavors of these operating systems are supported.
Do keep in mind that this is not a full featured antivirus solution – but instead a program that can only be used to clean up specific forms of malware infections on a computer.
