Vista - Malicious Software Removal Tool (MSRT) works.

I have started using the MSRT to clean PC's infected with Malware. My experience to date is that this tool does a better job, albiet much slower, than others available. An advantage is that unlike Spyware Doctor and Spy Huntwer it DOES NOT remove system files as malware, and I have found it will detect more spyware variants and remnants that other programs, including Malwarebytes leave behind.



"The Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool does not replace an antivirus product. It is strictly a post-infection removal tool. Therefore, we strongly recommend that you install and use an up-to-date antivirus product.

The Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool differs from an antivirus product in three key ways:

• The tool removes malicious software from an already-infected computer. Antivirus products block malicious software from running on a computer. It is significantly more desirable to block malicious software from running on a computer than to remove it after infection.
• The tool removes only specific prevalent malicious software. Specific prevalent malicious software is a small subset of all the malicious software that exists today.
• The tool focuses on the detection and removal of active malicious software. Active malicious software is malicious software that is currently running on the computer. The tool cannot remove malicious software that is not running. However, an antivirus product can perform this task."

The Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool helps remove specific prevalent malicious software from computers that are running Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, or Windows 2000




"Microsoft said that the anti-malware tool it pushed to Windows users as part of Patch Tuesday removed fake security software from nearly a million PCs during nine days this month.

In a post to the company's malware protection centre blog on Wednesday, three of Microsoft's security researchers spelled out the impact this month's edition of the Malicious Software Removal Tool (MSRT) has had on phony security software.
In the period from November 11 to November 19, said Scott Wu, Scott Molenkamp and Hamish O'Dea, MSRT purged more than 994,000 machines of what the tool recognises as "W32/FakeSecSen," the malware label for a broad range of bogus security program with names such as "Advanced Antivirus," "Spyware Preventer," "Ultimate Antivirus 2008" and "XPert Antivirus."
Windows users have been plagued with a flood of worthless security software in recent months as criminals have discovered that they're money-makers. According to one researcher, cyber-crooks can pull in as much as $5 million (£3.3 million) a year by installing the rogue programs on PCs, then tricking users with made-up claims that the machine is infected.
Unless consumers fork over a payment - usually $40 to $50 - the constant stream of pop-up messages continue, making the machine hard to use.
Windows users may install the fake programs because they've been duped into thinking that they're real - at times, bogus security software has been ranked high in Internet search results - although the rogue applications are also often secretly installed by malware that's infected a system.
The clean-up job was one of Microsoft's biggest ever. In June 2008, MSRT sniffed out 1.2 million PCs infected with a family of password stealers, while in February, it scrubbed the Vundo Trojan from about a million machines. Over several months at the end of last year, the tool hit the then-notorious Storm Trojan hard, eventually eradicating it from a half-million PCs, something Microsoft bragged about later.


This time, Microsoft took the opportunity to pat itself on the back again. Although each FakeSecSen installation normally contains an .exe file, one or two .dat files, a control panel applet and other components, the MSRT found that only about 20 percent of the infected PCs it uncovered still harboured the .exe. (Other components remained, however, as evidence of the bogus program's installation.)
Microsoft speculated that the .exe files had been removed by other anti-malware software that had overlooked the other pieces. "Microsoft was able to thoroughly clean systems of FakeSecSen while other malware detection tools may not have caught and cleaned as many executables," said Bill Sisk, a Microsoft security spokesman, in an email.
Windows users can download the MSRT manually from Microsoft's website, or via the Windows Update service."


Download details: Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool

See tutorial: Malicious Software Removal Tool

Hey Norm,

I watch this tool download and install month for month, it never occured to me that I could actualy use it before an infection. Or how I would use it if It was ever needed.


Thanks for this

Pooch

Thanks for this Norm, I did know you could run it manually as well as it running every month during Patch day.
I've been lucky so far and not had any problems so it's just silently scanned and gone

Norm, what is that supposed to be, *Malwarebytes*?

Thanks for the correction. Yes it was!

Thanks for the education