However, an antivirus product can perform this task.

The tool cannot remove malicious software that is not running. Active malicious software is malicious software that is currently running on the computer.

The tool focuses on the detection and removal of active malicious software.Specific prevalent malicious software is a small subset of all the malicious software that exists today. The tool removes only specific prevalent malicious software.It is significantly more desirable to block malicious software from running on a computer than to remove it after infection. Antivirus products block malicious software from running on a computer. The tool removes malicious software from an already-infected computer.Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool features:

Microsoft releases a new version of the tool every month. After you download the Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool, the tool runs one time to check your computer for infection by specific prevalent malicious software (including Blaster, Sasser, and Mydoom) and helps remove any infection it finds. Microsoft released the Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool to help remove specific prevalent malicious software from computers that are running Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, or Windows XP.

Microsoft windows malicious