After almost two years without a significant update, you might have been forgiven for thinking that rootkit detector GMER was on its way out. But it seems there’s some life left in the program yet. Version 2.0 has just been released, and it’s the most important GMER update for a very long time.

The new build finally provides full Windows x64 support, for instance. If you’ve not used the program for a while because of its 64-bit issues then now might be the time to reconsider.

And the addition of Windows 8 support means you can now run GMER 2.0 on just about any modern PC.

GMER is powerful, but can seem complicated - and there's no help to highlight the fine points

If you were tired of waiting for the program to complete its drive checks then you’ll appreciate the new “Quick Scan” setting. Turn this on and GMER 2.0 will examine only key system files, delivering much faster results. (We’d prefer to run the full system scan as it’s far more reliable, but having the choice has to be good.)

And a new “Trace I/O” function provides yet another way to detect the signs of malware on your computer.

What you won’t see in this release is any major interface change, however. The program remains awkward to use, with only a very little documentation available: as previously, it’s really for geeks only.

Still, it’s also tiny (357KB), portable, and if you have a basic knowledge of Windows internals then GMER 2.0 is still an interesting and useful way to look for suspicious activity on your PC, especially with the new x64 and Windows 8 support.