Although MS Removal Tool is only the latest name for this malware, its previous names have not been as easily confused with real anti-virus products. There is a program called Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool that is a real, useful anti-malware application. MS Removal Tool has no affiliation with. Norton Power Eraser is a free virus removal tool that targets and destroys threats to your computer. If you think your computer is infected, we recommend that you download and run Norton Power Eraser. In order to remove Microsoft Windows Notification Tech Support Scam completely you will need to refresh Firefox back to its initial settings. It does this by removing all add-ons and personalized.

• Microsoft Safety Scanner Windows 10
• Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool
• Microsoft Virus Removal Free Download

The Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool is a small, portable utility that checks Windows XP, 2000, Server 2003, Vista, and 7 for infection by a range of known threats, including Blaster, MyDoom, and Sasser, and removes any threats it finds. Microsoft is quick to point out that the Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool is no substitute for antivirus software. It doesn't protect your system from infection; it merely finds and removes any known threats. It's available in separate downloads for 32-bit and 64-bit Windows versions, but the tool won't let you use the wrong version so there's little risk of getting it wrong. This program is fully portable, so it can run on any compatible Windows machine without having to be installed.

The Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool is utter simplicity to use. Its dialog-style interface offers three scan options: Quick, Full, and Customized. The Quick scan targets those areas most likely to be infected by malware. If none is found, the tool prompts you to run a Full scan, which scans your entire system thoroughly but can take several hours on large systems. The Customized scan performs a Quick scan and also scans user-specified folders. We started with the Quick scan. A green bar graph tracked the tool's progress as it rapidly scanned critical areas of our C drive. The Quick scan took less than a minute and found no malicious software, though we could view detailed results anyway, if we wanted to. But we moved on the Full scan. This took much longer, of course, but it was worth it to be sure than no crudware lurked in our system's deep dark corners.

Obviously Microsoft didn't waste a lot of resources on a zooty interface or a snappy market-tested name for this simple but effective scanner and cleanser, but it does release an updated version of it on the second Tuesday of each month. We strongly recommend downloading and running the latest version now and then, and every few months at a minimum.

What do you need to know about free software?

Once a month, a new version of the Malicious Software Removal tool appears in Windows Update. This tool removes some malware from Windows systems, particularly those systems without antivirus programs installed.

Bear in mind that this tool is no substitute for a solid antivirus program. It doesn’t run automatically in the background at all times, and only detects a few specific and widespread types of malware.

What is the Malicious Software Removal Tool?

Microsoft releases a new version of this tool on the second Tuesday of every month — in other words, on “Patch Tuesday.” It appears as just another patch in Windows Update. If you have your computer set to automatically install Windows Updates, it will be installed automatically. If you install updates manually, you’ve probably been installing it as part of the manual update process — it’s considered an important update, not just a recommended one.

After Windows downloads the newest version of the Microsoft Malicious Software Removal tool, it will automatically run it in the background. This tool checks for specific, widespread types of malware and removes them if it finds them. If everything is fine, Windows will run the tool silently in the background without bothering you. If it finds a infection and fixes it, the tool will display a report telling you which malicious software was detected and will be removed after you restart your computer.

RELATED:Why Windows Has More Viruses than Mac and Linux

Microsoft Safety Scanner Windows 10

Microsoft introduced this tool back in the days of Windows XP, when Windows was very insecure — the first release of Windows XP didn’t even have a firewall enabled by default. Microsoft’s Malicious Software Removal Tool page says “This tool checks your computer for infection by specific, prevalent malicious software (including Blaster, Sasser, and Mydoom) and helps to remove the infection if it is found.” Note the three types of malware still described here in 2014 — these were widespread worms that infected many Windows XP systems back in 2003 and 2004, ten years ago. Microsoft introduced this tool to purge these widespread worms and other popular types of malware from Windows XP system without antivirus software installed.

Do I Need to Run This Tool?

You shouldn’t need to worry about this tool. Set Windows to automatically install updates, or have Windows alert you to updates and install it along with the other new security updates when they appear every month. The tool will check your computer in the background and stay silent if everything is fine.

All you need to do is ensure the update is installed from Windows Update. You don’t have to worry about running the tool manually, although you can. This tool doesn’t stay running in the background and scan everything you open, so it’s compatible with other antivirus programs and won’t interfere with them.

Why You Still Need an Antivirus

This tool is nowhere near a replacement for an antivirus. It only covers specific types of malware, so it won’t purge all infections. It also only quickly scans the normal locations for the malware and won’t scan your entire system. Worse yet, the tool only runs once every month and doesn’t scan in the background. This means your computer could become infected and it wouldn’t be fixed until a month later when a new version of the tool arrives.

RELATED:Microsoft is Ending Support for Windows XP in 2014: What You Need to Know

Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool

The Malicious Software Removal Tool is a weapon Microsoft uses to purge worms and other nasty malware from infected systems so they don’t stay infected for years. It’s not a tool that will help protect you in your day-to-day computer use. If you’d like to see the full list of malware it removes, you can download the tool, run it manually, and click the “View detailed results of the scan” link after running a scan to see all the different types of malware it checked for.

Microsoft will continue updating this tool for Windows XP until July 14, 2015, even though they’re ending support for Windows XP on April 8, 2014. But it’s no substitute for having a patched operating system and using a solid antivirus program.

Manually Running the Tool and Viewing Logs

You don’t need to run the tool manually. If you suspect your computer is infected, you’re better off scanning it with a dedicated antivirus program that can detect much more malware. If you really want to run the tool manually, you can download it from Microsoft’s download page and run it like any other .exe file.

When you run the tool in this way, you’ll see a graphical interface. The tool performs a Quick scan when you run it in the background, but you can also perform a Full scan or Customized scan to scan your entire system or specific folders if you run it manually.

After the tool runs — either manually or automatically in the background — it will create a log file you can view. This file is located at %WINDIR%debugmrt.log — that’s C:Windowsdebugmrt.log by default. You can open this file in Notepad or any other text editor to see the results of the scan. If you see a mostly empty log file with no problem reports, the tool didn’t detect any problems.

So that’s why the Malicious Software Removal Tool keeps popping up in Windows Update. You shouldn’t ever have to pay attention to this tool. As long as you’re running a good antivirus program, it will do a quick double-check in the background every month and not bother you.

Microsoft Virus Removal Free Download

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