Active malicious software is malicious software that is currently running on the computer.

The tool focuses on the detection and removal of active malicious software.

Specific prevalent malicious software is a small subset of all the malicious software that exists today.

The tool removes only specific prevalent malicious software.

It is significantly more desirable to block malicious software from running on a computer than to remove it after infection.

Antivirus products block malicious software from running on a computer.

The tool removes malicious software from an already-infected computer.The three key areas in which the MRT.exe tool differs from an antivirus application are: It is strictly a post-infection removal tool. The Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool does not replace an antivirus product. The Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool, located in the System32 folder, helps remove specific, prevalent malicious software from computers that are running Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista & Windows Server. Malicious Software Removal Tool (MRT.exe) While you may run them in addition to third-party security software, it is generally not recommended to run them exclusively on the system.The Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool (MRT.exe) is yet another one of the many free security tools from Microsoft for Windows users – just like the Microsoft Security Essentials, Windows Defender, Windows Defender Offline Tool, and Microsoft Safety Scanner. That's where Microsoft's Software Removal Tool may come in handy as the installed security solution may not detect or remove all threats that Microsoft's tool supports.īoth programs are not providing the same level of protection that many third-party solutions offer due to their limited threat detection. Windows Defender was designed to deactivate automatically when another security solution is installed. It won't hurt obviously to run the Malicious Software Removal Tool once a month after it has been updated on Patch Day to make sure nothing slipped by. While it is possible to list all the threats that Microsoft's Malicious Software Removal Tool supports, there seems to be no way to do the same for Windows Defender's definitions database. I'm not sold on that 100% though considering that Windows Defender is listed as an option to detect and remove threats whenever a new MSRT update comes along.

Windows defender malware removal tool