Trend Micro Buys HijackThis and Builds Plug-in for Web Reputation

Every self-respecting geek is familiar with HijackThis. Well, Trend Micro Incorporated has just acquired the freeware tool that accomplished technical users rely on to remove spyware infections from Windows PCs. The company has released a new beta version of HijackThis and also unveiled a beta version of TrendProtect, a new free service that combines web site reputation monitoring and URL filtering for consumers. Over ten million users world-wide have downloaded HijackThis. It enables technical users to defeat browser hijackers and other hard-to-remove spyware threats. Rather than using a database of spyware signatures, HijackThis simply lists the places in Windows and your browser where spyware can hide itself. Widely used by web forums that provide help to people with infected computers, HijackThis creates detailed log files that aid community forums, who use this information to solve spyware problems. The new HijackThis 2.0 beta version works with Microsoft Vista and Internet Explorer 7. Other developments include an "AnalyzeThis" function that allows users to see how prevalent the threats detected on their PC’s are when compared to other HijackThis users. Trend Micro will host the HijackThis 2.0 beta on the consumer-oriented TrendSecure portal. Trend Micro’s other new product, TrendProtect, provides users with color-coded information regarding the overall reputation of a website and the trustworthiness of individual web pages within a site, based on reputation resources that are continuously updated. Additional content-checking techniques track whether a web site contains undesirable content, based on specified content-filtering categories. This new service is compatible with Windows Internet Explorer and Firefox, and currently supports Google, MSN and Yahoo search engines. Working as a browser plug-in, it continuously protects consumers against unwanted web content and hidden web threats whenever they are searching or browsing the Internet. HijackThis 2.0 beta and the TrendProtect beta will both be available starting March 19, 2007. HijackThis and TrendProtect wwill initially be compatible only with English Language operating systems. This first release of TrendProtect rates .com, .net, .org and .biz web pages.