ESET has released Rogue Applications Remover, a stand-alone console tool that tries to remove rogue antivirus and similar unwanted malware which regular security tools might miss.
The program is very basic, with minimal options. There’s no real-time protection here, no options beyond a few command line switches, it’s really just about running on-demand scans and watching as your system is checked for threats.
Still, this simplicity does have its plus points. Rogue Applications Remover is very compact, for instance, a single executable under 3MB in size. And it’s most unlikely to conflict with any other security tool: whatever else you’re running, you should be able to use this as well to get a quick second opinion.
Is it worth it, though? We’re not entirely sure yet, but one issue we immediately noticed on our test PC is that Rogue Applications Remover asked if it could delete a file we’re entirely sure is innocent. This came from a trusted developer, and got a clean bill of health at VirusTotal: the only issue is that it’s very new, a brand new version of a small and obscure utility.
This suggests to us that as well as looking for files it knows are malware, Rogue Applications Remover is also scoring applications on their potential risk. And so an unsigned EXE file which it’s never seen before may be incorrectly flagged as a problem.
You shouldn’t take Rogue Applications Remover‘s verdict for granted, then, but don’t let that put you off entirely. Its small size, ease of use and compatibility with other security tools means the program may still be useful in a malware emergency.
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