Microsoft Safety Scanner

Do You Need the Microsoft Safety Scanner?

This new Microsoft Safety Scanner is a standalone tool that replaces the defunct Windows Live OneCare Safety Scanner, which was a Web-based scanning system. While it's not comprehensive anti-malware protection, Microsoft Safety Scanner can be a useful supplement to your regular fully-featured antimalware program.

Most users will use Microsoft Safety Scanner to verify that their regular antivirus program is doing its job. Safety Scanner's main function is to scan a Windows system for viruses. But it does not remove them or prevent them from being installed. So what's the benefit of that?

The key advantage of Microsoft Safety Scanner is that it can be run while your regular protection is installed. Many active anti-malware programs run into conflicts with others that can cause slowdowns, false positives (malware alerts on a system that is actually malware-free) or even system lockups. Microsoft Safety Scanner avoids conflicts by simply looking for known malware signatures and not trying to do anything about them.

A second advantage is that the user doesn't have to think about configuring Microsoft Safety Scanner. Just run it and see what it finds. You don't have to worry about updating Microsoft Safety Scanner, either. Each download of the program expires after 10 days. To run it again after that time, you have to download the latest version with updated malware signatures from Microsoft Safety Scanner's home page. Microsoft Safety Scanner's malware signature database is kept up to date with malware reports submitted to Microsoft's Malware Protection Center.

Scanning Options

There are some optional configuration settings that can shorten scan times. You can choose a quick scan which checks only the file system locations most commonly targeted by malware. A scan can be limited to a specified folder or folders. You can do a full scan, which takes longest, of an entire hard drive plus RAM and the registry.

The Microsoft Safety Scanner installation file is a 70 MB download, too large for most users to download every ten days. Most users will turn to Microsoft Safety Scanner only after suspecting that their regular anti-malware program has failed to remove a stubborn bit of malware. It can also be run every few months to double-check your antimalware program's effectiveness.

No single Internet security tool will provide 100% protection against all possible threats lurking online. I think it's a good idea to use the Microsoft Safety Scanner occasionally for a "second opinion" and to give you guidance as to whether you should be looking for a new anti-virus program.

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