Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool - Do I really need it?

Ok, so I only use Windows for videogames. Every month I get this message in my update center about Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool. Apparently it's suppose to only run once and check for infections (not an antivirus). I've looked around the internet and haven't found much discussion on the usefulness of this "tool". I already use SpyBot to check for malware.

What do you guys think? Should I download it? How useful is this in reality?

Thanks in advance.

What would you gain by not installing the MSRT updates? Do you intend to uninstall the MSRT all together? Do you have inadequate resources to run this tool once a month?

Just curious to understand what the downside of this is for you.

I run it once a month. I've never had an issue but there is always a first, so I run it just in case.

Just curious on usefulness of this tool, if I really need it and it actually does what the description says. Would like to know its limitations and other people's experience with it.

Also, Windows Update have given me headaches in the past because it likes to re-enable many privacy and telemetry settings...

that's just microsoft being "helpful" , as opposed to supporting your decisions about telemetry, privacy , and any other setting you set on purpose. and you set them that way to help protect say corporate owned IP or secrets.

i suppose you could join all the workstations to a AD domain , and force a policy down the workstations , overriding whatever the local machine wants to do (unless its win10 home, which ignores group policy altogether).

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http://searchenterprisedesktop.techtarget.com/blog/Windows-Enterprise-Desktop/Interesting-Experience-with-MS-Malicious-Software-Removal-Tool


My only concern would be the same as with anything MS deploys, first and foremost would be MS's intent, then if they are telling the end user the truth about what it does, and of course false positives that it finds and how it deals with those false positives. If it is on par (quality-wise) with Windows Defender I'd be somewhat concern, while Defender is a OK piece of software it does nag you about false positives requiring you to tell it to ignore it's findings every time you boot or reboot the computer which is annoying.

Personally I use Spybot and Malwarebytes which I think is a better solution....but it's just my opinion, MS has a bad habit of offering a piece of software as optional only to make it required at a later date, or at least sneaking it onto your system through regular updates and making it difficult for the end user to disable or remove.

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No, you don't need it, but IMHO not updating it provides absolutely no benefit whatsoever and merely increases your risk. Spybot is a good tool, but it is not perfect and it doesn't detect everything all of the time.

Yes, Microsoft are pricks and they screw with your settings, because they have absolutely no respect for you. After all, you are the product. BTW - they don't use the MSRT to screw with you, it is a genuine security tool.

There is no such thing as privacy with Windows any more, so if that is an important consideration for you, you need to explore alternatives to Windows in order to minimize, if not eliminate your exposure to their data frisking efforts.

I recently found a good solution to this. I like being an unwilling beta tester and installed Windows 10 Creators Edition on day one. When I had a problem I followed the instructions on the M$ website and their fix trashed my PC. I was told to wait until M$ 'pushed' W10CE to me via Windows Update and then it would be safe. Nope, it was still a crashtacular failure. I did a System Restore to go back a week.

Download wushowhide.diagcab from M$ and run it. Follow the prompts and when you click NEXT, it runs Windows Update. Click 'Hide Updates' and all the updates it found will be listed. Check the ones you don't want and M$ will never install that update again.

There 2 types of updates from MS, Security and System. Always, always, always do the Security updates. Even the "optional" ones. MS will not screw with your system through these updates. As for System... you're on your own. I'd be very paranoid on what they want to install, but that's just me.