Microsoft Removal Tool Malicious Software Rating: 9,8/10 5124 votes

The Malicious Software Removal Tool, otherwise known as MSRT for short, has been a trusted and reliable program for Windows operating systems for a long time. MSRT has been available for every Windows OS since Windows XP and is still available for Windows 10 today. Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool (64-Bit) checks Windows Vista, WIndows 7, Windows XP, Windows 2000, and Windows Server 2003 computers for.

Microsoft malicious software removal tool log

The Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool is a program designed to remove malicious software from your computer. Before you can understand what this tool does, however, you must first understand what malicious software is. In this article, we will go over what malicious software is, how Microsoft's tool allows you to remove it, the differences between MMSRT (Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool) and standard antivirus software, how to download and install MMSRT, how to check for malicious files and what you need to do if you find any, and how to remove the program.

What is Malicious Software

Malicious software, also known as Malware for short, refers to software that is designed to enter a computer without the owner's permission and/or knowledge. Malicious software can be a wide array of programs with the intent to you or your computer harm and can include viruses, worms, trojan horses, rootkits, spyware, adware, crimeware, and many other different kinds of programs. Malware is quickly on the rise and is even starting to exceed the amount of legitimate software on the market. Studies show that more malware was released in 2007 than the combined amount from the past 20 years. To combat malicious software, many different companies have released hundreds of antivirus and antimalware software but none tops the market more than the Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool.

Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool

The Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool was designed to help Microsoft's customers get rid of all that unwanted malicious software. The biggest factor in getting rid of malicious software is identifying it because malicious software strives to get into your computer where it can do its dirty work without your knowledge. Microsoft has created an ever-expanding database of both the old and latest malicious programs that are affecting users. Harry potter and the goblet of fire download in hindi. With the speed of the Internet, if one person finds a virus or other malicious program on their computer then they can alert Microsoft (which is usually conducted by the computer itself in the form of an error report) and Microsoft then adds that program to their database. When MMSRT scans your computer, it checks your directories to see if they contain any of the programs listed. Keep in mind, however, that just because you do not have any of the programs listed, there could still be unknown malicious files in your computer.

MMSRT vs Antivirus Software

The Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool is designed to remove infections after they have already gotten into your computer while antivirus software protects your computer from becoming infected in the first place. Also, MMSRT can only detect malware that is currently running, which means that there could be malicious files on your computer that won't be detected. Because of this, Microsoft strongly urges you to use both the Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool as well as an updated antivirus program. Microsoft itself hosts numerous antivirus programs and you can also check out other antivirus software such as AVG, Spybot Search & Destroy, and System Cleaner 5.

How To Get MMSRT

Chances are, you already have MMSRT on your computer. MMSRT is available for Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, and Windows 7. You can download MMSRT from Microsoft's website but the best way to get it is by turning on your Automatic Updates because MMSRT updates itself once a month with the latest malicious software. To turn on Automatic Updates in Windows XP, go to your Start Menu, click on Control Panel, and click on Performance and Maintenance. Click on System and the System Properties box will come up. Click on the Automatic Updates tab and select the Turn On Automatic Updates (Recommended) option. Then click OK.

Run A Full Scan

Usually the Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool runs in 'quiet mode' and you don't even know that it is running. If it does detect malicious software, however, it will inform you of the detection and ask you to perform a full scan. The full scan will take several hours because the program has to search through every folder on your computer (even the folders that you don't know about), but it is important that you perform the full scan to remove any malicious software that you have. Also, if it finds any malicious software then that should let you know that your computer doesn't have the essential security that it needs so you should download an antivirus program as well.

Removing MMSRT

Sometimes MMSRT might conflict with another program that you have or you just decide that you don't want it anymore. MMSRT doesn't use an installer to set it up on your computer so it can't be uninstalled either. Instead, MMSRT creates a random directory (folder) on your computer whenever it runs that usually gets deleted when the program is closed or the next time your computer is restarted. To manually delete these files, open your Search function (usually on the Start menu or in My Computer) and type in Mrtstub.exe . When this file comes up, the Search function will tell you which folder it is in. By deleting that folder, you will remove MMSRT from your computer.

Malicious Software Removal Tool
Developer(s)Microsoft
Initial release13 January 2005; 14 years ago
Stable release
Operating systemWindows 7 and later
Size131.0 MB
Available inEnglish, Arabic, Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish
TypeOn-demand scanner
LicenseFreeware
Websitewww.microsoft.com/en-us/safety/pc-security/malware-removal.aspx

Use Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool

Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool is a freely distributed virus removal tool developed by Microsoft for the Microsoft Windows operating system. First released on January 13, 2005,[1] it is an on-demand anti-virus tool ('on-demand' means it lacks real-time protection) that scans the computer for specific widespread malware and tries to eliminate the infection. It is automatically distributed to Microsoft Windows computers via the Windows Update service but can also be separately downloaded.[2][3][4]

The program is usually updated on the second Tuesday of every month (commonly called 'Patch Tuesday') and distributed via Windows Update, at which point it runs once automatically in the background and reports if malicious software is found. Alternatively, users can manually download this tool from the Microsoft Download Center.[3] It records its results in a log file located at %windir%debugmrt.log.[2] To run it manually at other times, users can start 'mrt.exe' using the Windows Command Prompt or Run command in the Start Menu.

Malicious software removal tool microsoft windows 7

As released, the tool is configured to report anonymized data about infections to Microsoft if any are detected.[2] The reporting behavior is disclosed in the tool's EULA, and can be disabled if desired.[5]

In a June 2006 Microsoft report,[1] the company claimed that the tool had removed 16 million instances of malicious software from 5.7 million of 270 million total unique Windows computers since its release in January 2005. The report also stated that, on average, the tool removes malicious software from 1 in every 311 computers on which it runs. As of 19 May 2009, Microsoft claims that the software has removed password stealer threats from 859,842 machines.[6]

In August 2013, the Malicious Software Removal Tool deleted old, vulnerable versions of the Tor client, in order to end the spread of the Sefnit botnet (which mined for bitcoins without the host owner's approval and later engaged in click fraud). Approximately two million hosts had been cleaned by October;[7][8][9] although this was slightly less than half of the estimated infections, the rest of the suspected machines presumably did not have their automatic Windows Updates enabled or manually run.[10]

Since support for Windows 2000 ended on July 13, 2010, Microsoft stopped distributing the tool to Windows 2000 users via Windows Update. The last version of the tool that could run on Windows 2000 was 4.20, released on May 14, 2013. Starting with version 5.1, released on June 11, 2013, support for Windows 2000 was dropped altogether. Although Windows XP support ended on April 8, 2014, Microsoft announced that updates for the Windows XP version of the Malicious Software Removal Tool would be provided until July 14, 2015.[11]

References[edit]

Software
  1. ^ ab'Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool: Progress Made, Trends Observed'. Microsoft. Retrieved 10 March 2010. Microsoft delivered the first version of the MSRT on January 13, 2005 in 24 languages to users of Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 computers.
  2. ^ abc'The Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool helps remove specific, prevalent malicious software from computers that are running Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, Windows XP, or Windows 2000'. Microsoft Support Center. Microsoft Corporation. 8 December 2009. Retrieved 22 December 2009.
  3. ^ ab'Download Details: Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool (KB890830)'. Microsoft Download Center. Microsoft Corporation. 8 December 2009. Retrieved 22 December 2009.
  4. ^Savill, John (2005). 'Windows IT Pro - 'What's the Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool?''. Archived from the original on 2013-05-14. Retrieved 5 July 2006.Cite uses deprecated parameter deadurl= (help)
  5. ^'Deployment of the Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool in an enterprise environment'. 8 December 2009. Retrieved 22 December 2009. Q3. How can I disable the infection-reporting component of the tool so that the report is not sent back to Microsoft? A3. An administrator can choose to disable the infection-reporting component of the tool by adding the following registry key value to computers [~snip~]
  6. ^'Microsoft cleans password stealer tools from 859,842 PCs'. Ars Technica. Condé Nast. 2009. Retrieved 21 May 2009.
  7. ^McHugh, Molly (2014-01-17). 'Microsoft's secret battle against the Tor botnet'. The Daily Dot. Retrieved 2014-02-10.
  8. ^'Microsoft uncovers Sefnit Trojan return after Groupon click-fraud scam - IT News from'. V3.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-02-10.
  9. ^'Tackling the Sefnit botnet Tor hazard - Microsoft Malware Protection Center - Site Home - TechNet Blogs'. Blogs.technet.com. 2014-01-09. Retrieved 2014-02-10.
  10. ^'Microsoft Takes Aim at Tor-Distributed Botnet - Computing Now Newsfeed - IEEECS'. Computer.org. Retrieved 2014-02-10.
  11. ^Gregg Keizer. 'Microsoft retains weapon to silently scrub XP'. Computerworld. Retrieved 2014-02-10.

Further reading[edit]

  • 'The Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool helps remove specific, prevalent malicious software from computers that are running Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, or Windows XP (Revision: 89.0)'. Microsoft Support. Microsoft Corporation. 12 July 2011. Retrieved 13 July 2011.
  • Horowitz, Michael (6 February 2009). 'What you don't know about the Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool'. Computerworld Blogs. Computerworld Inc. Archived from the original on 18 July 2011. Retrieved 13 July 2011.Cite uses deprecated parameter deadurl= (help)

External links[edit]

Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool X86

  • Official website
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