How to run the Malicious Software Removal Tool in Windows 10

This blog will tell you how to initiate a scan of your Windows 10 computer by the Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool.  It isn’t as straightforward as you might expect!

The other day I noticed that the Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool had tried to download, but failed a few times.  I initiated the download again and this time it downloaded successfully.  Then I tried to figure out how to get it to scan my computer.  Surprisingly, I couldn’t find it in the list of apps in the Start menu or in any settings window.

An initial Google search said that the Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool ran in the background.  I wanted to run it right away because I just downloaded it.

I did a Google search and mixed in with all the results was actually how I could run it!

It is actually quite easy.  To run the Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool in Windows 10:

  1. Type “mrt” (only the 3 letters) then enter into the Search Box at the bottom left of your screen (or Windows+S key combination), then press Enter.
  2. Press the Yes button on the window that pops up to say “Do you want to allow this app to make changes to your pc?”.  You do need to be an administrator on the PC to run this app.  Then the app will open.2016-02-12_21-53-30
  3. Press the Next button and this window opens.2016-02-12_21-58-08
  4. Choose either to run a quick scan, full scan, or to scan a specific folder.  Press the Next button to start the scan.

I first ran the quick scan which took only a few minutes.  Then, I  decided to run a full scan because I always turn off my PC when I am not using it, hence this tool would never be able to complete a full complete scan.  And I was correct, the full scan took over 24 hours to run.  After all that….no malicious software was found on my PC!

So, it is relatively easy to run a scan of your Windows 10 computer using the Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool!