In order to keep your Windows PC safe from the menace of the new malware, you must install a good antivirus product. But sometimes it is also a good idea to scan your PC with other anti-malware products to have a second opinion and make sure that some malicious programs have not slipped under the radar. You can scan your Windows PC to detect and remove the malware using the Microsoft Safety Scanner.
Microsoft Safety Scanner is a free portable tool that scans your disks for finding and removing of any viruses, spyware and other malware. This tool is compatible with existing anti-virus software and can be run on all versions of Windows including Windows 7, Windows 8.x and Windows 10.
The downloaded tool mscert.exe contains the latest virus definitions, this is why Microsoft advises to use the downloaded file only for 10 days from the date it was downloaded. If you want to scan a PC for malware after 10 days, then you should download the Microsoft Safety Scanner once again.
Like many other similar tools, the Microsoft Safety Scanner tool also offers three scanning modes – quick scan, full scan and the customized scan. The quick scan goes through only some key areas of your Windows PC in order to detect and remove the malware. The full scan checks your entire PC including all of the partitions for malware. And in the customized mode, you can choose a folder that will be scanned for malware.
During the scan if the Microsoft Safety Scanner tool finds any malware, then it makes an attempt to remove it. A summary is displayed after the scanning is over. Microsoft Security Scanner does not replace antivirus software that keeps your computer safe. You should use this tool only as a second opinion anti-malware or for scanning an possibly infected PC and removing the malware.
You can download Microsoft Safety Scanner from https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/wdsi/products/scanner.