Microsoft Standalone System Sweeper Beta 1.0

[Buttus]

deadite66: the tool binary itself doesn't contain any virus definitions. Every run the tool will download and create a bootable media containing an updated definitions.

that was my question, was thinking of burning the CD just to have in case, but seems better to just wait in order to have the newest defs...

[alphamale]

My real world experience with the Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset has been great until i have tried to the the standalone sweeper. out of maybe 20 times i tried to remove a critter with it...it has failed 20 times. it has found infections. for one reason or another it has not been effective for me in removing anything. my impression has been it follows the rules. ie a linux cd does not care about windows permissions and the like. the offline does not count for much here.

its nice they are trying.

[Guy Arad]

This isn't actually a new tool; it was previously exclusively available to enterprise customers as part of the Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset. The license for the beta indicates that the final version will be available to home users and small businesses, just like the full Security Essentials...

Arkose, the standalone scanner is indeed "not new" as you said. However, the tool for creating the media is new (and simplified) for home users.

Hope you'll find it useful.

that was my question, was thinking of burning the CD just to have in case, but seems better to just wait in order to have the newest defs...

Buttus, if you want to have a media "on standby" you can prepare yourself a USB thumb drive with the bootable envrionment installed on it.

The first time you run the tool and create to bootable USB thumb drive it will be reformatted. The second time you run the tool for the same USB thumb drive, it will only download new definitions, approx. 60MB (after verifying the curently installed files) without reformatting the USB drive (given you are using the same tool version as the one created the USB drive and the files on it are not damaged).

My real world experience with the Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset has been great until i have tried to the the standalone sweeper. out of maybe 20 times i tried to remove a critter with it...it has failed 20 times...

I would recommend that you contact support regarding your issues. I don't expect to see Microsoft's engine failing so many times.

Please note that the responses I'm giving are not part of Microsoft's intention of providing it over this forum's pages.

For further assistance please refer to http://support.microsoft.com/select/?target=hub

Thanks,

Guy Arad.

[Chicane-UK Veteran]

Was just curious if anyone has tried this and had good experiences with it yet? My dad is coming to visit over the weekend as their laptop has got infected with something horrid, and rather than trying to boot it up and remove the infection from within Windows, I remembered reading about this and thinking it might be the solution I need.. but some of the comments here seem less than favourable....?

Anyone got any GOOD experiences?