What is MRT.exe?

The genuine MRT.exe file is a software component of Windows by Microsoft. The Microsoft Removal Tool scans your computer for some of the most common infections. If you turn on Automatic Updates in Windows, this tool will be downloaded and run on the second Tuesday of each month. It runs silently in the background unless it finds an infection. This is an effective tool, but it cannot be considered a replacement for a real anti-virus program.

MRT stands for Microsoft Removal Tool

The .exe extension on a filename indicates an executable file. Executable files may, in some cases, harm your computer. Therefore, please read below to decide for yourself whether the MRT.exe on your computer is a Trojan that you should remove, or whether it is a file belonging to the Windows operating system or to a trusted application.

Click to Run a Free Scan for MRT.exe related errors

MRT.exe file information

Windows Task Manager with MRT — MRT.exe process in Windows Task Manager

The process known as Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool or RadioTime COM Server or Microsoft Windows-Tool zum Entfernen bösartiger Software belongs to software Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool or Microsoft or RadioTime Recorder or Microsoft Windows-Tool zum Entfernen bösartiger Software by Microsoft (www.microsoft.com) or RadioTime.

Description: MRT.exe is not essential for Windows and will often cause problems. MRT.exe is located in the C:\Windows\System32 folder. Known file sizes on Windows 8/7/XP are 13,179,660 bytes (87% of all occurrences), 12,619,736 bytes and 7 more variants.
The MRT.exe file is certified by a trustworthy company. MRT.exe is not a Windows system file. The program has no visible window. MRT.exe is able to monitor applications and manipulate other programs. Therefore the technical security rating is 28% dangerous, however you should also read the user reviews.
If problems with Microsoft Corp. occur, you can remove the entire program using Windows Control Panel.

Recommended: Identify MRT.exe related errors

If MRT.exe is located in a subfolder of "C:\Program Files", the security rating is 53% dangerous. The file size is 905,216 bytes. The MRT.exe file is not a Windows core file. MRT.exe is able to monitor applications.
If problems with RadioTime occur, you can remove the entire program using Windows Control Panel.

Important: Some malware disguises itself as MRT.exe, particularly when not located in the C:\Windows\System32 folder. Therefore, you should check the MRT.exe process on your PC to see if it is a threat. We recommend Security Task Manager for verifying your computer's security. This was one of the Top Download Picks of The Washington Post and PC World.

Score

User Comments

It seemed to have the effect of slowing my comp down, almost to stand still. When I removed it from running processes, the computer sprang back into action.

mrt comes from you bum bum

It uses all the cpu on my laptop. Not dangerous, or essential. When i disable it out of task manager my laptop runs faster. I am usng a Pentium M, 1.4 GHZ. Hwever if you have a faster machine with a dual core, you may not have to remove the program since your computer is light years ahead of the current one that I am using.
Dean

it's a tool to remove hazardes virus etc, from your computer it's from microsoft...
Q

mrt.exe is a process belonging to Microsoft's enhanced security technologies which addresses Spyware and other processes which can monitor your Internet usage without your knowledge. This process is important for safe and secure Internet browsing and shouldn't be terminated.
Brent Bice (further information)

oooo it is the short form of windows malicious software removal tool and it is completely safe
rockstar

It's Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool
Hacker (further information)

Microsoft anti-virus, anti-trojan, anti-worm tool runs in background and slows the machine.

If its the Microsoft file for Malicious Software removal tool, its critical to keep it in place but it doesn't always run. Just wait for it to finish and then your computer will speed up again. It keeps you safe. It only runs once a month people!
Typegeek (further information)

its a solution to remove trojans and worms
Kirill

MRT i was searching to find out what it was. I was installing ie8 at the time and it was Searching For MAlacious Software. I Ended the process and the check failed on the update so i guess it is from microsoft.
Adam

Also slowed my laptop to a crawl
Curt Thompson

if located in the system32 folder then it is probably adware and trojan downloader, remove it asap in that case
Bob

Never seen it before today but damned if it didnt stop my PC dead in its tracks. PC ran fine once I ended its process now I am gonna remove it all together. I will say dangerous because a slow PC is bad for your mental health & who knows what data it is shooting back to MS
I Hate Windows but it works

ive never actualy had mrt find a virus but i trust it to do its job if i do get one
corey

Seems to be part of ms's malicious removal software included in windos update. It usually searches the computer for hazardous software. When complete it stops and wont run until next update (about once a month). In some cases it might crash, and use 100% of cpu all the time, and might keep running every reboot until its task is completed. MRT is not an essential application nor is it dangerous, however its could still be nice to have just in case....
Dan -K

Part of Norman Malware Removal Tool- freeware and trustworthy. Should be run in safe mode
Eric Leinbach (further information)

Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool
Nick (Almere) (further information)

Malicious Software Removal Tool from Microsoft. Not essential and a drain on resources.

Turns computers into slugs when you need speed
rs

malicious removal tool

When I was online surfing the web I noticed my computer was slowing down alot for no reason! I was trying to load a page and it took forever. I figured Firefox was just using up alot of CPU usage, but I was wrong. I checked my Task Manager and noticed a file running called "MRT.exe" which I had never seen before. It was soaking up all my CPU usage. I wasn't sure if I should end the process or not. So I went on to Google and searched "MRT.exe" and I am reading all these diffrent reviews on whether it is dangerous to my computer or not. Alot of people are saying there is nothing to worry about.
Kevin

It started after I did Windows update... Though it takes up a lot of resources, it didn't seem to affect anything afterwards.

ohh its the malware removal tool for windows,

Windows program
A. B. (further information)

it's a system component.
JFX (further information)

Task manager did not starts, tskill MRT.exe does not work, tasklist.exe never ends. May be ofice spyware
Andy

cames and goes when running automatic updates just let windows do it's thing for a while and it will go away (well most of the time)
Slartibartfast

Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool. Works in the background removing malware when it finds it, but if you want to run it in interactive mode, type mrt.exe in the Start Menu Search Box or in the Run window.
foobar (further information)

It comes with installing Windows Internet Explorer 8. It's required from microsoft...
Skog

slowing donw, disable possible
Bug

I found it on removable flash drive F
randy nelson

Mircosoft`s malcius software removal tool
Lee

Malicious Software Removal Tool from Microsoft

I have an external (backup drive). I checked the drive contents and see my back up there, but there are also about 8 or 9 folders that have a very long random set of numbers and letters. Each of those folders have MRT.exe in it. So, I have numerous instances of it. I guess that it somehow downloads onto the external drive every month or so. It doesnt seem to do anything, and I never see it running.
Mike

It is the Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool. It is not malicious, and it is not a vital process
Nick

On my PC, it works with mrtstub.exe and a process called something like windows-(numbers and letters) because they disappear (all the 3) when I remove MRT from ym running processes. But MRT.exe is the only that uses 100% CPU or near and my old PC slows down. I don't know much about it, it seems to be a malware for me, but it can be false!
Reventon94

windows malisious software tool
Just Me

Belongs to malicious removal tool from microsoft.You can find it to system 32 folder.Starts automatically by microsoft when you install the MSRT
Xphell

It's Microsoft's Malicious Software Removal Tool, but it can slow your computer down. Let it run for a minute or two and it'll go away.
HK

When it acts funny it's probably something disguised as MRT.exe maliscious software remove tool
Yo

My audio mysteriously quit working on the same day this program was installed.
Tim

I was rather annoyed when my computer was crawling and all I was doing was ebay. I checked the task manager and MRT.exe was occupying nearly 200mb's of my RAM. I looked it up and found this wonderful page. One of the first user comments said just let it do its thing cause it's just checking some stuff for viruses and it's from microsoft as a part of the malicious software removal junk they're constantly sending updates to us for. As I read, it finished up whatever it was doing and went away on it's own. *shrug*
Mikey Bear

I ran it quick scan it found nothing, I ran free malwarebytes which picked up 4 and also super antispyware which picked up 11 (still running as well). if its not good for anything but slowing down systems then I think we should get rid of it. Also found 4 other folders under temp numeric/alphabetical long names with it in as well.
Waylander

I found files with this name in several locations on my machine, but not any of the places listed above. although they are proportedly from microsoft they do not match the file sizes given above (these are far far bigger). I'm really not sure what to do.
chris

MRT: Malicious-software Removal Tool. Let it run, it will scan your PC then won't run anymore until the next windows update. (Unless set to autostart by an administrator.)
3ICE

Norton Antivirus scan
Bobb

I have 6 different MRT.exe files all about the same size
McGib

Talk about a resource hog, big time! I have a 1.8Ghz dual core laptop which was virtually unusable till I disabled MRT. exe Microsofts answer to a threat - BLOATWARE
The Narseman

It caused problems for my computer and stopped it cold. It ran the system processes 100% and didn't stop until I terminated it manually.
Tom J

it's get my uers at 100%
freddie simmonds (further information)

first time i saw it running was 2-3 days ago.....It showed me that i have about 1000 infected files of the 1 million it scanned. (i didn't know i had that much).When it stopped scanning for infected files, it showed me a window and told me that the program can remove the threats.but it freezes without doing nothing when it reaches that.
Jim

MRT.exe on my XP Asus Eee netbook with precious little room has a filesize of 48.324.552 bytes.
Robert C. VanWaning

The size of mine was different from anything mentioned above, so I downloaded a new copy from Microsoft to be certain I had a good copy. It had the same size: 54,867,776 bytes, dated December 07, 2011. The file size probably changes as not malicious software is added to what is checked.
Victor (further information)

Evil or not was consuming 98% of my single core cpu, win XP, if is a tool from Microsoft thei should make those tools invisible to user, dooh, i killed the process and deleted the file. Fixed.
Valentin

Naffed up PC a couple of days after an auto update from MS (which I set to inform me of updates so I can choose to install or not, but every now and then MS seems to overide the setting. On this occasion, it even re-started my PC on it;s own!).

It slows down a computer incredibly. One of my colleagues had this on his laptop, making it practically unusable (e.g. opening Explorer took about 30 seconds instead of 1 second). Once the process was killed, the laptop worked normally. It might be benevolent, but renders a computer unusable.
Gregory K.

could not remove or stop it the 'usual' way so I removed it via the registry startup menu. Before my HDU stumbled around wild in half an our and I had a black screen never to return live. My MRT.exe sample was definitly malware
IT-phd

It was running when I was receiving an update from M$. Once the update was in, it shut off by itself.
Pete Dvarackas

Was running with high cpu load for some time. Dissapeared as the windows update popped up.
Yngve T

Slows down my computer
Peter

Legitimate but obnoxious malware removal tool by Windows. Classic Microsoft software: a bloated resource hog whose job is done better and cheaper by independent programmers. Don't rely on this paper tiger of a program and get yourself a real anti-malware program.
SysAdmin Prime

Well its from microsoft and it is a thing that helps removes malious
trollman328

MRT for Vista size on disk 69.9 mb

Its safe
Epic

I have XP Professional, and on my system MRT works just like an application. I double clicked the .exe file in system32 and it opened into a little window saying what it was and asking if I wanted to scan my computer. After the scan was done I exited the window and the process stopped, not running in the background. Seems a fine secondary antivirus scan if you want it.
Jonathan P

i noticed it recently, and since i have my computer seems very slow. have found many conflicting views on it online. norton does not detect anything wrong with it but i am still suspicious. it is 72.2 megabytes and contained inC:\WINDOWS\system32 on my old xp machine.
rp

if it location is in %windir%\system32 and if cliced on it and chose propertis and there is indicated that it is application of MIcrosoft etc and it is signet by Microsoft then this is The Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool
darko555 (further information)

found a 78.106.760 byte MRT.EXE after installing open office 4.0.1 eating 35% of my CPU
Reinier Bakels

This program can be hijacked by malicious software. Any form that is above 20,000mb should be checked. It's a good idea to set a system restore point, and have a plan in case the hijacker fights after deletion.
Mal-Review Expert Mathew

I have about 4 of these files in my "C" folder under things like "093923715c4cda27d5d". Can I get rid of 3 of 'em?
Joe

Show all user comments

Summary: Average user rating of MRT.exe: based on 90 votes with 71 user comments. 31 users think MRT.exe is essential for Windows or an installed application. 18 users think it's probably harmless. 25 users think it's neither essential nor dangerous. 12 users suspect danger. 4 users think MRT.exe is dangerous and recommend removing it. 18 users don't grade MRT.exe ("not sure about it").

Best practices for resolving MRT issues

A clean and tidy computer is the key requirement for avoiding problems with MRT. This means running a scan for malware, cleaning your hard drive using cleanmgr and sfc /scannow, uninstalling programs that you no longer need, checking for Autostart programs (using msconfig) and enabling Windows' Automatic Update. Always remember to perform periodic backups, or at least to set restore points.

Should you experience an actual problem, try to recall the last thing you did, or the last thing you installed before the problem appeared for the first time. Use the resmon command to identify the processes that are causing your problem. Even for serious problems, rather than reinstalling Windows, you are better off doing a repair of your installation, or in the case of Windows 8, executing the DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth command. This allows you to repair the operating system without losing data.

To help you analyze the MRT.exe process on your computer, the following programs have proven to be helpful: Security Task Manager displays all running Windows tasks, including embedded hidden processes, such as keyboard and browser monitoring or Autostart entries. A unique security risk rating indicates the likelihood of the process being potential spyware, malware or a Trojan. Malwarebytes Anti-Malware detects and removes sleeping spyware, adware, Trojans, keyloggers, malware and trackers from your hard drive.

Other processes

wdvrctrl.exe mzvkbd.dll mediadet.exe MRT.exe axcmd.exe sbamsvc.exe w3dbsmgr.exe jkkjh.dll iepro.dll scrchpg.dll cygrunsrv.exe [all]

	Do you have additional information?
What do you know about MRT.exe:
How would you rate it:
Link for more info:
Your Name: