MSRT Updates

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Lately, I’ve started receiving updates to two versions of MSRT 5.98 and 5.99. Anyone have any idea why? I can’t determine which of these is actually installed since they’re not on the Control Panel programs list or the Windows components list. Is there any way to find this out? When I run the app it shows V. 5.87.17921.1!!!

 

Thanks!

 

D. Eager

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jburk07

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Look in your System/System 32 folder for MRT.exe
It should show you the version installed.

If you’re receiving updates you probably haven’t got either installed.

Download and install v5.99

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Well, the reason why you are offered two different versions of MRT is broken supersedence. That problem with MRT versions supersedence is a bit older, it reaches October 2021.

On one of my systems, which has no MRT “installed”, I can see that Windows Update offers me three versions of the tool: v. 5.94 (October, 2021), v. 5.98 (February, 2022) and v. 5.99 (March, 2022).

Broken patch (updates) supersedence is not anything new – “Microsoft Edge update for Windows 7” is also offered in two versions (KB4567409 and KB5001027) and ALL “Security updates for Internet Explorer 11” since November, 2016 (KB3197867, at least for Windows 7 group B) have broken supersedence, though they are cumulative. One can have them all installed (together with KB3192665 “September, 2016 cumulative security update for IE 11” or older) – they are not removed by DiskCleanup (that is where component store cleanup is implemented in Windows 7), so one need to manually uninstall previous versions…

 

As of determining, which version do you have, you can do it in at least two ways:

1. Navigate to %windir%\System32\MRT.exe and right-click on it. Select “Details” tab and check version.
2. Check in your Update history. Go to “Control Panel”->”Windows Update”->”View update history”, sort by dates and look for the latest “Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool”.

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jburk07, 7ProSP1

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Well, this has turned into a bigger problem than I first thought. I determined that the neither of the two MSRT updates I’ve been receiving and supposedly installing are for the version I have been using for months (maybe years). It was 5.87.17921.1. The updates being received are for 5.98 and 5.99. Who knows what has been happening with the MANY updates I’ve supposedly downloaded and installed in the past??? I’ve been running MSRT from a Start screen tile. This pointed to an .exe file in my Downloads folder. So, I deleted the file in the D/L folder and the tile. I went on-line and downloaded v5.99 which seems to be the latest. From the D/L file I created a tile on the Start screen. It seems to run fine from there.

Is there any way to put an item on the Start screen apps list under Windows Administrative Tools for MSRT?

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There are no updates for a particular version. Every time it’s released, it’s a new executable with a new version number. So each update is a particular version.

If you want to run the latest version delivered by Windows Update, just run or search for mrt (or create a shortcut or schedule for that).

Otherwise you need to download the latest version every month or quarter (and update any shortcut or schedule).

How to Use Malicious Software Removal Tool in Windows

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jburk07, samak

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I hope that tutorial is wrong on one point. It says: “The MSRT tool runs in quiet mode unless it finds an infection. If it detects malicious software on your computer, the next time that you sign in to your computer as an administrator, a balloon appears in the notification area to make you aware of the detection.”

I hardly ever sign in as an administrator, so it wouldn’t notify me that I had malware on my computer ? Seems an odd way to design it.

Windows 10 Home 22H2, Acer Aspire TC-1660 desktop + LibreOffice, non-techie

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To find the results of the MRT scan go to:

C:\Windows\debug

and look for the file named  mrt.log

Open the file with notepad and go to the bottom to see the results of the last malicious software scan.

 

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jburk07, SueW, Alex5723, Charlie

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Topic slight hijack:
If using Microsoft Security Essentials (Win 7; Defender in Win 8/10/11):

A: Prerequisite to B:
Open MSE > [tab] Settings > Advanced > [check] Allow all users to view …

B:
Open MSE > [tab] History

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