Early Launch Anti-Malware

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What Does Early Launch Anti-Malware Mean?

Early Launch Anti-Malware (ELAM) is a Windows 8 security technology that evaluates non-Microsoft Windows boot time device/application drivers for malicious code. It is the first system kernel driver that starts in Windows 8 operating mode, before any third party software or driver.

Techopedia Explains Early Launch Anti-Malware

As a component of Secure Boot – also introduced in Windows 8 – ELAM is a detection driver used to identify malware, root kits or other malicious code/drivers initiated at system startup.

When a system starts, ELAM scans all third-party apps/drivers and sends the system kernel a report that includes all of the device/software drivers, which are classified as one of the following four groups: good, bad, bad but boot critical and unknown. All drivers are loaded in Windows 8 by default, with the exception of bad drivers.

ELAM technology also may be used with third-party anti-malware and antivirus software.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert

Margaret is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.

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