In the wake of an explicit warning from the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) never to install "software from sources that you do not expect to contain software, such as an audio CD," Princeton's Alex Halderman and Jeff Dwoskin have developed a vaccine for those of us already infected by Sony-BMG rootkit DRM:

To install the tool, download this file to a temporary location, then double click on the file's icon in Windows. (Windows may ask you to confirm that you wish to add the information in the file to the system registry -- choose "Yes.") After the tool has been applied, you may delete the file. The tool will take effect as soon as you close and restart Internet Explorer.

Bonus: Bruce Schneier asks where the big security companies were while Sony was busy infecting our computers: "Microsoft I can understand. The company is a fan of invasive copy protection -- it's being built into the next version of Windows. Microsoft is trying to work with media companies like Sony, hoping Windows becomes the media-distribution channel of choice. And Microsoft is known for watching out for its business interests at the expense of those of its customers.

What happens when the creators of malware collude with the very companies we hire to protect us from that malware?"