Popular Windows freeware site Sysinternals has apparently been taken over by Microsoft. The guys at Sysinternals do some really cool freeware for Windows, including the awesome Rootkit Revealer amongst many other useful tools.

Unfortunately, this acquisition by Microsoft could spell trouble for the freeware tools, as we now don’t know what Microsoft might choose to do with them. They could take them offline; or worse, they could force Windows Genuine Advantage validation on them. Don’t get me started on WGA – it’s a terrible idea and as far as I’m concerned it’s spyware (this is coming from someone with genuine Windows, by the way).

So I’d recommend downloading them all now – we don’t know what Microsoft might choose to do with the code. I can’t help thinking the anti-rootkit technology might make it into the new builds of Windows Defender.