Malicious Removal Tool

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jay
  • Start date Start date
J

Jay

XP Pro

I do auto-update but I see what's going on first before
download/Install. A little while ago, there were three updates available
one of which was the Malicious Software Removal Tool. It downloaded and
installed. Ok, I give up, where is it, how to run it manually??

Thanks, Jay
 
The Malicious Software Removal Tool (MSRT) is updated & offered by Windows
Update once a month. The tool simply downloads & runs. If nothing's found,
it just "goes away." (Believe me, if it found something, you'd know about
it!)

You can view its log (MSR.LOG) in C:\WINDOWS\Debug <=this folder.
 
Jay said:
XP Pro

I do auto-update but I see what's going on first before
download/Install. A little while ago, there were three updates
available one of which was the Malicious Software Removal Tool. It
downloaded and installed. Ok, I give up, where is it, how to run it
manually??
Click to expand...

It does run when it installs.

However...

Now is a great time to point you to one of the easiest ways to find
information on problems you may be having and solutions others have found:

Search using Google!
http://www.google.com/
(How-to: http://www.google.com/intl/en/help/basics.html )

Example:
http://www.google.com/search?q=How+do+I+run+the+Malicious+Software+Removal+Tool+in+Windows+XP

Finds:
Manually run the Malicious Software Removal Tool on Windows XP machines
http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-10878_11-5842421.html

and
http://www.pchell.com/virus/malicioussoftwareremovaltool.shtml

Which includes:
How to Run the Malicious Software Removal Tool Manually

1) Click on Start, Run
2) Type MRT and Press Enter
 
From: "Jay" <[email protected]>

| XP Pro

| I do auto-update but I see what's going on first before
| download/Install. A little while ago, there were three updates available
| one of which was the Malicious Software Removal Tool. It downloaded and
| installed. Ok, I give up, where is it, how to run it manually??

| Thanks, Jay


The utility is...
%windir%\system32\MRT.exe

Command line switches...

/? or /HELP = displays the command line switches
/Q = quiet
/N = detect only
/F = force extended scan
/F:Y = force extended scan and automatically clean infected files

The following is the resultant log file...

%windir%\Debug\mrt.log
 
Did I say it was removed or deleted? No.

Richie said:
No... it stays in the System32 directory.

It can be run again in a CMD window or from the "start search" box:

mrt.exe

Richie Hardwick
Click to expand...
 
From: "Bill Sharpe" <[email protected]>


| ...which is kinda dumb. Program should report that it found nothing, if
| that's the case.

| Bill

No I don't think so.

As a monthly downloaded On Demand scanner, it doesn't need to flag that nothing was found.
 
PA said:
It does, if you care to open MSR.LOG.
Click to expand...

I realize that now. You'd think the programmers at MS would be able to
put up a message box saying all is ok without complicating the MRT
program at all.

Bill
 
David said:
From: "Bill Sharpe" <[email protected]>



| ...which is kinda dumb. Program should report that it found nothing, if
| that's the case.

| Bill

No I don't think so.

As a monthly downloaded On Demand scanner, it doesn't need to flag that nothing was found.
Click to expand...
Why not? My first impression was that the program wasn't running at all,
since there was no onscreen indication of it doing so.

Once I finally opened the log I discovered that MRT had run several
times in the past few months...

Bill
 
From: "Bill Sharpe" <[email protected]>


| Why not? My first impression was that the program wasn't running at all,
| since there was no onscreen indication of it doing so.

| Once I finally opened the log I discovered that MRT had run several
| times in the past few months...

| Bill

Because nothing was found when it ran via Windows Updates.

This would be a different story IFF you had manually executed the On Demand scanner.
 
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