Bravo Microsoft! Less than 24 hours after we brought you news of Lenovo installing Superfish on its laptops and PCs, Redmond has updated Windows Defender to actively remove the adware from installed computers. Additionally, Windows Defender will reset any SSL certificates that were circumvented by Superfish, restoring the system to proper working order.
The update was first noticed by Cloudflare security engineer Filippo Valsorda, who also created the first website that checks to see if your computer is infected with Superfish. A Microsoft spokesperson confirmed that “Microsoft security software detects and removes the Superfish software from Lenovo devices.”
Windows Defender is Microsoft’s anti-spyware software, and is included with Windows. You can’t uninstall it, but you can turn it off if you want a more robust antivirus solution.
The Microsoft representative’s statement also indicates that Microsoft’s separate Security Essentials tool for past versions of Windows should wipe out Superfish. Microsoft’s free antivirus solutions are the most-used antivirus tools, protecting more than a quarter of all PC users, according to a late 2014 report by Opswat. As the default security solution for Windows 8 users, Microsoft’s bold move should go a long way toward killing off the Superfish threat.
On the other hand, Lenovo is still reeling from the after-effects of Superfish, both for installing it in the first place and being unable to undo its effects. It has released a statement that it is working with McAfee to issue its own updates.
