Windows Defender was designed to deactivate automatically when another security solution is installed.

It won't hurt obviously to run the Malicious Software Removal Tool once a month after it has been updated on Patch Day to make sure nothing slipped by. While it is possible to list all the threats that Microsoft's Malicious Software Removal Tool supports, there seems to be no way to do the same for Windows Defender's definitions database. I'm not sold on that 100% though considering that Windows Defender is listed as an option to detect and remove threats whenever a new MSRT update comes along. I asked Microsoft Support specifically about Windows Defender and MSRT and I was told that MSRT may support the removal of malicious software that Windows Defender cannot block. Microsoft's security solutions don't necessarily share information when it comes to the detection of threats. Last but not least, updates are released regularly for Windows Defender which update the definition database while updates for the Malicious Software Removal Tool are usually only released once a month on Microsoft's Patch Day (second Tuesday of each month). Windows Defender has been designed to block malicious code from being executed on the system to prevent infection of the system, while the Malicious Software Removal Tool's purpose is to remove infections on systems that are already infected.Īnother difference is that Windows Defender runs all the time on the system like any other active antivirus solution while the Malicious Software Removal Tool only when the user activates it. One of the core differences between Windows Defender and the Malicious Software Removal Tool is therefore purpose. The Malicious Software Removal Tool on the other hand has been designed specifically to remove malware from systems that are already infected (hence the name). While some protection is better than none usually, it is fairly limited when it comes to protecting Windows from attacks and ranks low in independent antivirus tests. Windows Defender is a real-time antivirus solution that is active by default on systems running Windows 8 and newer. The most common ones are Windows Defender, which Microsoft included in Windows Vista and successive versions of the Windows operating system, Microsoft Security Essentials, which is offered as a standalone version for versions of Windows prior to Windows 8, and the Malicious Software Removal Tool which is also available as a standalone version.

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