Avast! Free AntiVirus and rootkit viruses

Or, is it Virii??? ;D

Fighting a security update issue on an old computer that’s getting a completely fresh update of XP Home.

An MS MVP is thinking the problem is a rootkit virus, specifically a variant of the W32/Alureon infection.

My question is, with the latest version of Avast! Free installed, will Avast find and removed this infection?

If not, what options are out there?

Ken

What AV have you got installed now (if you don’t have avast already) ?
That would have to be uninstalled before installing avast.

Well avast does a rootkit scan 8 minutes after boot and Alureon is in avast detections.

You can check if you have an MBR rootkit using this tool:

The current version of Avast. And a full scan finds nothing.

Would it be a good idea to run the tool just as a double check?

Ken

That is the sole reason for posting the aswMBR information ;D

I read somewhere(can’t remember also sorry…) that GMER was incorporated in Avast…? Yes? If so, why the need for the aswMBR.exe? Just asking here.

I don’t know where you read it but it is wrong. It isn’t incorporated, the avast anti-rootkit scan is based on the GMER rootkit scan, but the major difference you don’t have to have anyone analyse the GMER log as it is an analysis tool only. This is also from the same guy that made the aswMBR tool above.

@DavidR,

Thanks for that clarification there. I seem to have found where I saw that GMER was with Avast. It’s HERE post 16 and HERE post 9. Though it did not said directly that GMER was really incorporated with Avast. I vividly remember the word “incorporated” at a post but cannot find it…(well gave up trying to find it THERE… but I suspect it was there. It stuck to my mind and when I saw this post I was confused.

I have used GMER a couple of times when I suspected I had a rootkit(I was with AvastFree). Actually used GMER, Sophos scanners. Both found nothing.

Now I know and will remember that:) Thanks!

You’re welcome.