Malicious Sorftware Removal Tool

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jack Gillis
  • Start date Start date
J

Jack Gillis

I am a bit confused about removing the subject tool. A Google Group search
produces, to me, conflicting answers. Some discussions say that the tool
is never installed on my computer if run from the web site and others say
that MRT.EXE is left in the System32 folder. Sure enough I have it there
and also its log in the Debug folder.

Is it possible to remove the tool from the system? I can't find it in the
Add/Remove programs list.

Thank you.
 
Jack said:
I am a bit confused about removing the subject tool. A Google Group
search
produces, to me, conflicting answers. Some discussions say that the
tool is never installed on my computer if run from the web site and
others say
that MRT.EXE is left in the System32 folder. Sure enough I have it
there and also its log in the Debug folder.

Is it possible to remove the tool from the system? I can't find it in
the Add/Remove programs list.

Thank you.
Click to expand...

When using Windows Updates or Automatic Updates, it will automatically
run and you will not get any feedback whatsoever, it runs in quiet mode
and then it just deletes itself. After it is finished, it writes the
result to a log file.

To see the log file, run the following command from Start/Run:
notepad %windir%\Debug\Mrt.log

Malicious Software Removal Tool explanation -
http://www.microsoft.com/security/malwareremove/default.mspx

Malke
 
Malke said:
When using Windows Updates or Automatic Updates, it will automatically
run and you will not get any feedback whatsoever, it runs in quiet mode
and then it just deletes itself. After it is finished, it writes the
result to a log file.
Click to expand...

OK, but why is MRT.EXE still in my Windows/System32 folder? I don't recall
running it other than from Windows Update.

Thanks.
 
Jack Gillis said:
OK, but why is MRT.EXE still in my Windows/System32 folder? I don't
recall running it other than from Windows Update.

Thanks.
Click to expand...
Because once upon a time, Malke described the action of MRT. These days,
MRT stays around in case you want to run it again. Why you would want to
run it is something only you can tell.
Jim
 
Jim said:
Because once upon a time, Malke described the action of MRT. These days,
MRT stays around in case you want to run it again. Why you would want to
run it is something only you can tell.
Jim
Click to expand...

Thanks, Jim.

Seems like I remember reading about that somewhere but darned if I can
find it now.
 
From: "Jack Gillis" <[email protected]>

| I am a bit confused about removing the subject tool. A Google Group search
| produces, to me, conflicting answers. Some discussions say that the tool
| is never installed on my computer if run from the web site and others say
| that MRT.EXE is left in the System32 folder. Sure enough I have it there
| and also its log in the Debug folder.
|
| Is it possible to remove the tool from the system? I can't find it in the
| Add/Remove programs list.
|
| Thank you.
|

Jack:

MRT is a Microsoft "On Demand" AV scanner and is NOT formally installed therefore is not in
the Control Panel applet; Add/Remove Programs.

Microsoft makes this available every month with new malware definitions built-in and leaves
the utility on the PC so you can use it as needed.

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
 
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