Tech Tip – Using The Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool
Not only does Windows 10 & 11 have Windows Defender, both operating systems have a Malicious Software Removal Tool (MSRT).
The tool is designed to remove hidden malware from your computer, it runs in the background and is regularly updated without you needing to get involved.
BUT... If you are worried and want to check that everything is ok, here is how to run a manual scan:
- In your Microsoft Windows desktop operating system click the start button
- Type MRT and from the list of options presented, click on the application called MRT
- You may be prompted a warning asking if you want to allow this tool to make changes to your device, click Yes
- Click Next to move on from the introduction screen and you will be presented with three scan options:
- Quick scan - this scans the most likely places that malware or malicious software may be lurking
- Full scan - scans the entire system but can take a long time
- Customized scan - this performs a quick scan AND any locations specified by the user
- Select the type of scan you want and click Next
- When the scan starts it will show how many files scanned, number of infected files, start time of scan and the duration of the scan
- If it detects any malicious files, it will list the infected files and let you know if it has been able to automatically clean the files or not. The tool may not be able to clean infected files, if this is the case you will need another tool to remove the malicious file(s).
- What is most likely to happen though is the tool doesn't detect anything and you can just click Finish
IMPORTANT - this tool from Microsoft should not be seen as all you need to prevent your computer from being infected, it should be seen as one of several tools you should be using. Computer security should be a layered approach using different vendor tools and we strongly recommend that you use a known, 3rd party anti-virus and anti-malware application such as Sophos Intercept-X as well as having the baked in Microsoft Tools.
NOTE: If you Windows computer doesn't have Microsoft's Malicious Software Removal Tool, it can be downloaded from here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=9905