In the early hours of February 24th GMT, Windows' automatic updates installed an update on my Windows 7 machine that included a definition update to the Malicious Software Removal Tool.
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The Malicious Software Removal Tool (or KB890830) is a Windows malware-protection offering that updates and runs once a month, and proceeds to remove any threats it finds without user confirmation.
8) Click Finish on the Scan Results page to exit the Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool Log File Results Whether you manually run the removal tool or it runs automatically when downloaded from Windows Updates, you may want to view the scan results log to. Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool (MSRT) helps keep Windows computers free from prevalent malware. MSRT finds and removes threats and reverses the changes made by these threats. MSRT is generally released monthly as part of Windows Update or as a standalone tool available here for download.
From the update details:
Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool x64 - February 2017 (KB890830)
Download size: 7.9 MB
You may need to restart your computer for this update to take effect.
Update type: Important
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After the download, this tool runs one time to check your computer for infection by specific, prevalent malicious software (including Blaster, Sasser, and Mydoom) and helps remove any infection that is found. If an infection is found, the tool will display a status report the next time that you start your computer. A new version of the tool will be offered every month. If you want to manually run the tool on your computer, you can download a copy from the Microsoft Download Center, or you can run an online version from microsoft.com. This tool is not a replacement for an antivirus product. To help protect your computer, you should use an antivirus product.
As it happens, the February update to MSRT's definitions list flagged tools that I had run for years with no problems - namely, the KMSPico activator for Microsoft Office - as being malicious, and removed them from my system without confirmation. In addition to this invasive approach to perceived threats, the tool doesn't appear in Windows Update's Installed Updates dialogue, effectively denying users the right to pass on what is both an invasive and inadequate tool, and it also reverted my UAC settings to the highest level.
What follows is a short guide to undo any adverse effects of the forced update, as well as to disable MSRT entirely, giving you the option of relying on time-tested, dedicated anti-malware and anti-virus offerings. I'm hoping this will hopefully be useful to anyone else adversely affected by the latest update to MSRT's definitions list.
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To begin with, open System Restore, and check whether a restore point was created before the Malicious Software Removal Tool was installed. Restore points are usually created by Windows automatically just before updates are installed, although it's possible it may not have done so.
If you do have the restore point
The final step should be enough to ensure that Windows doesn't attempt to force that MSRT update down your throat again. Note that you may need to do this for any future steps, which is also why I recommend you disable automatic updates as in Step 2, and carefully ensure you avoid installing any updates labelled KB890830.
You can also optionally follow the steps below to ensure MSRT is well and truly dead, but I haven't personally needed to as of yet because the restore point undid most of the damage. If, in the future, MSRT should ever rear its head again, feel free to put the final nail in its coffin by continuing on from this point.
If you don't have the restore point, or restoring to it was unsuccessful
If MSRT is set up to run on your machine, the centre pane should show a task called
MTR_HB within the Removal Tools folder, as illustrated above. As far as I've been able to tell, this is the scheduled task that initialises MSRT to be run right after it's updated. Left-click on the task, and click Disable to prevent it from running in the future.
Congratulations. You should now be totally MSRT-free.
On some versions of Windows, namely 10, MSRT also sends telemetry data back to Microsoft via something called Heartbeart Telemetry. If you're happy with relying on MSRT's anti-virus efforts but want to prevent it from phoning home, here's how.
N.B. Note that due to the aggressive nature of Windows' telemetry services - read: how badly Microsoft wants you to report data back to them - this may only be a temporary solution that is done away with in future Windows updates. The only guaranteed method to ensure MSRT won't ever be sending telemetry data back to Microsoft is to use the steps in the first part of this guide to prevent updates from it entirely.
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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
How To Run Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool X64
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
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.
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