What's a 'DSO exploit' and how do I get rid of it?

I've received several questions lately about SpyBot Search & Destroy repeatedly reporting a "DSO Exploit" on each and every scan. The confusion arises from the fact that SpyBot S&D always reports the problem, but it fails to apply a fix, and then continually reports the problem. Even though it's not really a problem any more. That problem has been fixed by Microsoft.

First, let's be clear, the vulnerability in Internet Explorer has been fixed! If you've patched Internet Explorer and you are staying up to date with all the current patches from Microsoft, you're safe, even if a DSO exploit is reported. This is a glitch in SpyBot S&D.

The confusion arises from a bug in SpyBot Search and Destroy that continues to report the DSO Exploit problem anyway. There are ways to force the report to go away, but it involves hacking your system registry and it's more trouble than it's worth.

The bottom line is that if you're fully up-to-date on Internet Explorer patches, you can safely ignore SpyBot's report of a DSO Exploit. Also update SpyBot from time to time as well before doing a scan ... they do plan to fix the reporting problem sooner or later.

Now they have told us that SpyBot Search and Destroy has reportedly been fixed, however I'm still getting reports from others that it is still doing this. My recommendation now is to download the latest version, and make sure you update its database of spyware to check prior to your next scan. It's possible that it may report DSO exploit once, but if you elect to fix it, the report should go away on your next scan. I can confirm that it no longer reports DSO exploit on my system.