Microsoft Security Essentials detects malware that kills Windows XP
Thursday, November 5, 2009
A new Trojan malware detected by Microsoft Security Essentials as Win32/Daonol steals credential information and redirects web traffic, Microsoft said on its malware protection blog.
The virus can protect itself by disabling anti virus software or blocking access to some websites and buggy versions of the Trojan prevent Windows XP from shutting down or rebooting.
"If you have (or someone you know has) a Windows XP system which won't boot completely (ie, shows the Windows XP splash-screen with the progress bar, but then the screen turns black and the system never starts up completely), it's likely a Daonol infection," Microsoft's Aaron Putnam said.
Windows XP runs on the majority of Windows-based systems and is still the most popular operating system in the world. Millions of XP machines have been hooked by malware and worms to form enormous botnets of zombie PCs.
Other anti virus security companies detect the Trojan Daonol as Lando, Hacktool.Rootkit and Kates. Microsoft Security Essentials and web filtering software from major security companies can detect and remove the threat.
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