

For real-time protection with automatic updates, use Microsoft Defender Antivirus on Windows 11, Windows 10, and Windows 8 or Microsoft Security Essentials on Windows 7. This tool doesn't replace your antimalware product.

Safety Scanner is a portable executable and doesn't appear in the Windows Start menu or as an icon on the desktop. We recommend that you always download the latest version of this tool before each scan. To rerun a scan with the latest anti-malware definitions, download and run Safety Scanner again. Safety Scanner expires 10 days after being downloaded. Microsoft Safety Scanner only scans when manually triggered. The security intelligence update version of the Microsoft Safety Scanner matches the version described in this web page. To learn more, see 2019 SHA-2 Code Signing Support requirement for Windows and WSUS. Your devices must be updated to support SHA-2 in order to run Safety Scanner. If the operating system language is not supported, MSRT uses United States English (en-us).Safety Scanner is exclusively SHA-2 signed. To learn more about the latest MSRT detections, read the posts about MSRT in the Microsoft Malware Protection Center blog.

Microsoft generally delivers MSRT with Windows Update the second Tuesday of the month. If you would like to run MSRT on demand, run the standalone version. The integrated version automatically runs in the background. For comprehensive malware detection and removal, consider using Microsoft Safety Scanner.Įnable automatic updates to regularly get MSRT with Windows Update. MSRT targets prevalent malware families only. This tool does not replace full-fledged antimalware such as Windows Defender Antivirus. To complement your antimalware product.If you suspect an infection from prevalent malware families ( see covered threats).Windows Update automatically downloads and runs MSRT in the background. If you have automatic updates for Windows turned off.
