MSRT vs MSERT: When to Use Each Windows Malware Tool

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• MSRT vs MSERT: When to Use Each Windows Malware Tool

Microsoft provides Windows users with two tools that offer malware scanning and repair services, if those scans reveal something that needs fixing. One is called MSRT; the other runs an executable called MSERT. Naturally, this overlap piqued my curiosity and led me to explore these two tools to discover their similarities and differences.

IDG Figure 1: MSRT appears in File Explorer as a download from the Windows Knowledge Base, while MSRT is taken from Microsoft Docs documentation.

More information on the Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool (MSRT)

Like clockwork, Microsoft releases Windows security updates and bug fixes on the second Tuesday of every month. Over time, this day of the month became known as "Patch Tuesday" or "Update Tuesday." These updates go through the Windows Update (WU) feature built into all modern versions of Windows.