In a bizarre admission, a security expert at Microsoft this week said that some malware simply can't be beaten and that sometimes the only way to fix an infected PC system is to wipe it out and start over. "When you're dealing with rootkits and some advanced spyware programs, the only solution is to rebuild from scratch," said Mike Danseglio, a program manager in the Security Solutions group at Microsoft. "In some cases, there really is no way to recover without nuking the systems from orbit." That last bit, of course, is a reference to the movie Aliens, and the phrase has entered the popular lexicon as a reference to wiping out and starting over. Needless to say, this topic crops up in discussions about Windows fairly regularly.

Reader Comments

You here alot about root kits lately, but there sure seems to be a lack of straight forward answers. Like how do they get on a system and how to prevent. Prevent being the big one. I stay on top of my windows updates and all my system accounts are set up as regular users of an XP system. I have current antivirus and no remote access. I have a hardware firewall and I use XP firewall with allowing of file and print sharing internally. So my question is ...am I protected? If I am not then I guess we are all DOOMED. Especially if we have teenage kids. I realize nothing is safe on a computer period. It always seems to be someones code pentrating someone elses code such as an Operating system. But if I have setup my system as mentioned above... what would be the chances of a regular user being able to infect system with a rootkit if they visit a malicious site or attempted to install a piece of p2p software which had a rootkit embeded. Also man is a lazy beast.... So can a root kit install on a pc if someone did a switch user on an admin account but logged in as a regular user. Are we ever truly protected...My thoughts ....NEVER Rick

If "Wipe it out and start again" is the only solution then Microsft should make it easier by replacing the CD-ROM we purchased with one containing all the updates, and by doing this on a regular basis. Ian