With
Microsoft Windows 8
soon to arrive, aspects of the new operating system related to anti-malware protection and other
security features are getting a lot of attention.
With Windows 8, Microsoft is taking a distinctly different -- and likely far better -- approach to how anti-malware will run in comparison to earlier versions of Windows, says Aryeh Goretsky, researcher at antivirus software firm ESET. Microsoft's approach, called "Early Launch Anti-Malware," basically means the first software driver to be loaded into the Windows 8 OS upon its use will be the driver of the user's anti-malware software. This is a major change because "before, it was a 'no man's land,'" says Goretsky, meaning loading driver software on the user's machine was random and "a malicious device driver" could get there first, allowing the malware to trump the anti-malware and maybe turn it off.
