Overview

What is Rootkit Revealer?

RootkitRevealer is an advanced rootkit detection utility.

In depth

A closer look at Rootkit Revealer

RootkitRevealer is an advanced rootkit detection utility. It runs on Windows NT 4 and higher and its output lists Registry and file system API discrepancies that may indicate the presence of a user-mode or kernel-mode rootkit. RootkitRevealer successfully detects many persistent rootkits including AFX, Vanquish and HackerDefender (note: RootkitRevealer is not intended to detect rootkits like Fu that don't attempt to hide their files or registry keys).Since persistent rootkits work by changing API results so that a system view using APIs differs from the actual view in storage, RootkitRevealer compares the results of a system scan at the highest level with that at the lowest level. The highest level is the Windows API and the lowest level is the raw contents of a file system volume or Registry hive (a hive file is the Registry's on-disk storage format).Thus, rootkits, whether user mode or kernel mode, that manipulate the Windows API or native API to remove their presence from a directory listing, for example, will be seen by RootkitRevealer as a discrepancy between the information returned by the Windows API and that seen in the raw scan of a FAT or NTFS volume's file system structures.

Requirements

System requirements

Windows 2000 / XP / Vista / Windows 7 / Windows 8 / Windows 10 / Windows 10 64-bit

Verdict

Should you download Rootkit Revealer?

Rootkit Revealer runs on Windows 10/11 and is available under the Freeware license — the installer is 226 KB. We’ve catalogued it under Adware, Spyware and Virus Protection.

Verified clean. Every Rootkit Revealer build on SoftLookup is scanned for viruses, spyware, adware, trojans and backdoors. We re-test on every update.