By the third week of the month, a new version of MSERT should be available, whereas MSRT changes only once a month. One major difference between MSRT and MSERT is currency. We recommend that you always download the latest version of this tool before each scan. It reads: Safety Scanner only scans when manually triggered and is available for use 10 days after being downloaded. Further perusal of the Docs page, however, helps to zero on an important difference. Simply download it and run a scan to find malware and try to reverse changes made by identified threats.Ĭareful comparison of the two descriptions shows them to be more alike than different. Here’s the brief explainer for MSERT.exe from the head of that page: Microsoft Safety Scanner is a scan tool designed to find and remove malware from Windows computers. You can read all about it on its Microsoft Docs page, where you can also grab a 32- or 64-bit version of that download. These days, Microsoft calls this scan tool the Microsoft Safety Scanner instead. MSERT, on the other hand, was once an acronym for the Microsoft Emergency Response Tool. Meet the Microsoft Safety Scanner (MSERT.exe) That said, the download page is always there, updated monthly, ready for access.

MSRT can be run on its own, but is not used in that way very often. This means that many, if not most, Windows desktops get an obligatory malware check-and-repair run at least once a month. MSRT is generally released monthly as part of Windows Update or as a standalone tool available here for download.įigure 2 features a screencap from Windows 10 showing a fairly recent MSRT release: IDGįigure 2: Notice that the WU download uses the same KB and version numbers as the File Explorer item in Figure 1.Īs part of the normal update drill for most Windows users - except those who get their updates through their organization’s own update servers, on their own calendars - the MSRT gets run every Tuesday as a matter of routine. MSRT finds and removes threats and reverses the changes made by these threats. Here’s how Microsoft describes MSRT on its Download Center page: Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool (MSRT) helps keep Windows computers free from prevalent malware. Invariably, each Patch Tuesday includes an item named Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool, a.k.a.

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