On the page which has the same title as the subject of this message (http://www.sophos.com/products/free-tools/sophos-windows-shortcut-exploit-protection-tool.html), the first paragraph ends with:
".... Our free, easy-to-use tool blocks this exploit from running on your computer."
From reading other posts on this subject, it is clear that this unqualified claim is quite misleading, even deceiving. It does not say that the tool only "blocks this exploit" in very limited circumstances.
Apparently, by no means should we rely on the Sophos tool, and use MicrosoftFixit50487.msi to reverse the effects of using MicrosoftFixit50486.msi after installing it -- although, no representative of Sophos has advised us to do that. (They do seem to believe that their security software will protect their customers without using the Microsoft FixIt.)
The third paragraph ends with:
".... Our tool will notify you if you happen to browse to an exploited link and it will block the exploit from running."
The meaning of this claim is simply not clear. How does anyone "browse to an exploited link"? The word "link" in the context of using a browser to fetch pages from web sites, by using an HTML hyperlink, is considerably different from the context of using a Windows shortcut, which is a file on the user's computer system, to launch an executable. Like the first claim, this one is unequivocal but questionable, considering what has been revealed in the other posts on this subject.
If I cannot trust that Sophos is telling me everything that I really do need to know, then how can I trust the "tool" or any other Sophos software?
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