Linked by Kroc Camen on Tue 29th Sep 2009 16:47 UTC, submitted by REM2000
Microsoft have released their free anti-virus and anti-malware software (codenamed 'Morro') to the public, under the name of 'Microsoft Security Essentials'.
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Member since:
2006-07-04
Lots of malware doesn't rely on holes/flaws in the OS.
For example, I recently got hit by the "Delphi" virus. It's a virus that affects the Delphi development environment, and infects any program compiled by that Delphi environment. I happened to use a Delphi-built program and my anti-malware program detected it. I had to get an update from the developer to get a virus-clean version of the program. This virus doesn't rely on any OS holes at all. As it turns out, all the virus does is spread, and only spreads if it finds a Delphi environment on the system. If the virus code actually tried something nasty, then it might rely on an OS hole to do so (though, something like trashing the user's home directory wouldn't require any holes).
Here's a description of the Delphi virus, discovered just last month:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-10312628-245.html
http://delphi.about.com/od/humorandfun/f/w32-induc-a-delphi-virus.h...
Other malware rely on holes that have been plugged by security updates, but people haven't applied the updates.
Also, if I read what you're saying correctly, Microosft already does what you're suggesting. When a hole is discovered, a security update is issued with the next month's scheduled update, or an out-of-cycle update is released if the problem is urgent enough. And each schedulted security update runs a malware quickscan that cleans out viruses that are on the system.
Edited 2009-09-30 17:13 UTC