Two Free tools from McAfee are being offered by the names of McAfee Stinger and McAfee Rootit Detective.

McAfee Stinger: I am very familiar with Stinger, since it is one of the tools I keep in my toolkit to clean up infected computers.

This is what McAfee has to say about Stinger: ” Stinger is a stand-alone utility used to detect and remove specific viruses. It is not a substitute for full anti-virus protection, but rather a tool to assist administrators and users when dealing with an infected system. Stinger utilizes next generation scan engine technology, including process scanning, digitally signed DAT files, and scan performance optimizations.”

Note the words “it is not a substitute for a full anti-virus protection.” I have used Stinger to remove infections on systems where the user has failed to keep their anti-virus protections updated properly. It is a good tool to try, depending on the type of infection that the system may have. But will not remove spyware from a infected system.

McAfee Rookit Detective [Beta] Note the word Beta which indicates that this is still in the testing stages. Rookits are the evil things that the record company uses to prevent us consumers from copying their precious music, and which once on our systems, is a devil to get off. The basics of McAfee Rookit Detecive is to determine if your system has been infected and then will remove the rookit.

Here is what McAfee has to say about their product:

“McAfee Rootkit Detective should only be used by knowledgeable individuals at the direction of, and with the support of, a representative from McAfee Avert Labs or McAfee Technical Support. Improper usage of this tool could result in damage to your applications or operating system. “

Note the words: ” should only be used by knowledgeable individuals” and also “and with the support of, a representative from McAfee Avert Labs or McAfee Technical Support.”

And the part about damaging your operating system is noteworthy as well. Before running any tools of any kind, it is always best to make a Restore Point first.

So having this in mind, I downloaded and ran McAfee Rookit Detective. Neither Stinger nor Rootkit Detective will win any speed contests so be prepared for a long session. After a hour or so of scanning my files, Rookit Detective came back clean, which I knew it would, since I don’t play music CD’s on my system. Clue, clue.

However, I have used the tool on known infected systems and it did it’s job very well removing the rootkit and not damaging the operating system. I would recommend both tools as a part of your toolkit.

[tags]mcafee, rootkit, beta, stinger, infections, [/tags]