Malicious Software Removal Tool

Under the heading of anecdotal information:
Some web gurus (supposedly) having inside Microsoft information indicate that MSRT will eventually be phased out. Microsoft now has it's own free anti-malware tool called Security Essentials:

http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/

MSE is a full anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-malware tool that's easy to use and extremely light on system resources. It uses less than 11.5MB HD space on my laptop. No telling how long before MSRT is phased out because MS seems to be devoting most of it's resources to Win 7 and MSE.

From what you say, and from Microsoft's description of MSRT, MSRT removes malware it finds. Does it ask the user's permission to do this before removing, or does it remove malware without asking? Does it at least tell you what it has removed? I am always wary about protective programs which remove with asking the user.

Thanks.

MSRT is an extra layer or preventative double check so nothing can slip through. It's a small, quick monthly verification that everything's OK!

The Microsoft MSRT program does not delete itself after running. The program lives in the Windows\System32 folder. The program can be run at anytime by opening the Run dialogue and typing mrt. This is a handy tool to have if a computer that I am working on does not have updated AV software installed. Of course, a better alternative would be to run a portable or bootable, up-to-date AV scanner. But, MRT has helped me out on several occasions.

John

Dear Bob: I have been a subscriber for a very long time and rely on your newsletter for a lot of information. Just recently when I log onto your site from my email newsletter I have just received, the WebOfTrust Warning comes up! I ignore it naturally, but thought you should know about it. Thanks for all the help and do continue. Dixie Rice

EDITOR'S NOTE: Sounds more like a WebOfFalsePositives. Thanks for the heads up.

Yeah, how do you get rid of it then!?

I agree with you! Almost 100% I still download, save, and run the MSRT, each time. At the same time I delete last month's version. But then I am paranoid.

So your opinions on:
1) The MS Live Security software.
2) The new dis-improved hotmail.
3) Hey! Look at all the features we removed "New" Microsoft Works.
4) The new Hey! Look at all the features we removed Office 2007.
5) The new Hey! Look at all the features we removed Win 7.
6) MS Defender, which, while it exists for all the same reasons MSRT does... in my opinion, is half-assed good.
7) Will Mirthcosoft EVER be competent?
8) You just replaced Steve Balmer and Uncle Bill. In brief.... What would you do?

I had always just assumed that MSRT was running silently in the background after updates. It appears I was mistaken as, after reading John's post above, I ran it manually and saw something I had never seen before, i.e., the tool actually scanning. I wonder how many other folks just assumed it was running when it wasn't. Thanks John --and Bob-- for the heads up.

MSRT is not deleted. See my blog from February for more

What you don't know about the Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool
http://blogs.computerworld.com/what_you_dont_know_about_the_windows_malicious_software_removal_tool

If nothing else, its an easy way to see the last time Windows Update was run.

Snarky bumper-snicker: "I ran the Malicious Software Removal Tool, and it removed Windows."

Hi BOB Microsoft MSRT works great but dont count on it for your only MPT.After tying Nort,Macf and Windows I found Kaspersky internet security works I agree with John when it find a malware-virus MS
RT will ask KIS to resolve Dennis

I am running XP Pro and always allow the updates without question. I also have some software called Driver Cure, which a friend whom I rely upon suggests to never allow to run. It keeps giving me warning of drivers that are outdated or otherwise need to be fixed. Is this safe to run and if not, would the MRT safely remove Driver Cure.

EDITOR'S NOTE: I agree with your friend. Not sure if it's harmful, but probably unnecessary at best.

MSRT is digitally signed by Microsoft and therefore trusted and allowed to run by any antispyware program.
I wonder how many personal info it 'sends home' to Microsoft servers.
By having to accept the licensing agreement you are basically giving Microsoft the permission to snoop all over your system.
That's why I never choose to download this (anti)spyware 'tool'.

Don't knock the tool too hard. A friend had managed to get her machine so infected that the usual tools wouldn't even install. In desperation, I tried the MSRT for that month, and could finally get Malwarebytes to install and run. MSFT is probably a perfect demonstration of Microsoft's too little too late mentality, but at least their hearts are in the right place.

I've used Malwarebytes in the past, and done excellent job on removing these pests.. especially Rouge Antiviruses.

Dear gentlebeings, let us stress that MRT.exe is at least better than nothing. (You will be able to run it in safe mode whereas "some" resident shields do not even initialise.)
MBAM is very useful.
AVG free gets recognised by win7 in all x64 and x86 versions. (albeit it sometimes is seen as not, it usually just means there is a download in the pipeline shortly after powering up a system.)

Avast Free (at this time version 4.8 is not.. and maybe avast 5.0x is still not?) is not detected by win7 x64 bit security advisor, but gets seen as a securty program by the 32bit versions (x86).
Same symptoms, shortly after boot.

These "not protected" also happen in XP 32 and 64 bit, and FAIK, in Vista (which I seldom use), but once again, this sometimes only happens while initialising after a power up. (a good OS system has not made networking connections during boot.)

One really wants active resident programs behind a good firewall (and a router with DMZ is not a true firewall, yet better than no router.)
Kind regards, Jaak. noob at times, smart at nothing.

Help! I just ran a scan and found I have a trojan, malware, malicious software...the whole gamut. I'm not really very computer literate so I'm not sure what my next step is in order to remove all of this junk. My biggest problem is I can't connect to any search engine(google, bing, yahoo,etc.) I've been unemployed for over a year and really don't have the funds to purchase an expensive fix. Is there anything free that I can download or what is the most cost effective solution you can suggest. Thanks.

EDITOR'S NOTE: See http://askbobrankin.com/free_antivirus_programs.html and http://askbobrankin.com/free_antispyware_programs.html

My niece was playing on Facebook Messenger and got a message saying the computer was infected with 26 viruses, etc and the only answer was to download a program called Security Tool. Having done this(she's young) it quickly became clear that you couldn't do anything as it kept bringing up a series of dialogue boxes saying " file [blah].exe is trying to access an internet website with your creditcard details - to fix, purchase this programme"

That computer has AVG which is clunky but good; I figured security Tool was the virus and eventually managed (after 3hours of trying) to get rid by finding where the file was and then siccing Malwarebytes' File Assassin on it, which just did the job directly.

I'm pretty impressed with Malwarebytes as nothing else I did was at all useful; I have Kaspersky at home as it doesn't slow the computer quite so much but does anyone else know if it's worth buying Malwarebytes or is the free version enough for most stuff?

Thanks.

(I understand this is an old post, but I just found it now...)

Timm - "I had always just assumed that MSRT was running silently in the background after updates. It appears I was mistaken...."

Actually, you are not mistaken... there are two versions of Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool (MSRT).

The first version, which is installed and run by Microsoft Update, runs in the background and does not display any interface that indicates it is running/scanning. When it is done scanning, it will then report if a malware infection was found. I don't know if it deletes itself after running.

The second version of MSRT can be downloaded and installed on your PC. It installs as:
C:\Windows\System32\MRT.exe

Running this version of MSRT displays a prompt to accept the license agreement, then prompts for "Quick", "Full", or "Custom" scan, then displays a progress dialog while scanning which is similar to another tool:
"Microsoft Safety Scanner"

After running, it displays a dialog indicating that it has either found no threats; or identifies any threats it may have found, and allows you to remove them all or selectively remove some, or do nothing, as desired. After running, this version remains installed and can be run again anytime.

"Microsoft Safety Scanner" will "expire" after 10 days and must be re-downloaded/installed to run again after 10 days. The downloaded version of MSRT might work the same way.

It is possible that "Microsoft Safety Scanner" and "MSRT" are the same, or nearly the same as the dialogs they display while running are basically the same.

You can find more information and download/install MSRT here:
http://www.microsoft.com/security/pc-security/malware-removal.aspx

A relavent quote from that page:
"Note: The version of the tool delivered by Microsoft Update and Windows Update runs in the background and then reports if a malware infection is found. To run this tool more than once a month, use the version on this web page or install the version that is available at the Microsoft Download Center (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=40587)."

You can download and run "Microsoft Safety Scanner" here:
http://www.microsoft.com/security/scanner/en-us/default.aspx