Windows users have long been familiar with the concept of malicious software. Viruses, malware, spyware and other not-so-goodies are written specifically to target flaws in the Microsoft operating system. In response, Microsoft released the Malicious Software Removal Tool, an integrated part of the Windows operating system. The software removal tool is designed to target the most serious threats to the Windows operating system.

How Does The Malicious Software Removal Tool Rate?

The Malicious Software Removal Tool is updated by Microsoft once each month, so that should tell you that the software removal tool is meant as a stop-gap rather than a primary line of defense. The Malicious Software Removal Tool isn’t a real-time anti-virus or anti-malware tool, though it will remove selected virus and malware infections. Unfortunately for some users, the Malicious Software Removal Tool is the only defense they use. Monthly updates are relatively infrequent for anti-virus and anti-malware packages, and sometimes, anti-virus removal/protection requires immediate action.

Should you rely on MSRT? It’s probably not a bad idea to run the tool. If you have no other A/V software, then running the MSRT is probably a given in your situation. (Something is always better than nothing when it comes to anti-virus software.)

Malicious Software Removal Tool does have the advantage of being free, and the updates are fee as well. Most other anti-virus software packages require you to license the base product and then pay for periodic updates for virus definitions. The virus definitions are what determine how effective (and up-to-date) your anti-virus protection is, so it’s not sufficient to license the base product and move on. The MSRT also runs in the background and will inform you of new infections it knows about.

Removing viruses isn’t part of Microsoft’s core business, however the company at least acknowledges that keeping up with the ever-growing amount of malware is tedious and time-consuming, and may tempt users to look at less lucrative targets like Apple or Linux as an option. With a regular (read: predictable) update schedule, however, I’d be somewhat concerned that malware producers may try to “time” their releases to maximize the amount of time between their malware release and the release of updated Malicious Software Removal Tool definitions in an effort to extend the run of new malware.

With the prevalence of malware “in the wild” having Malicious Software Removal Tool operational (it works for Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003 and Windows 2000) on your computer is better than having defunct anti-virus protection or worse, nothing at all.

PC software removal isn’t often though of as a maintenance task, but today, it really is. As personal computers have evolved, they’ve gotten less expensive and easier to use. They’ve achieved this status by becoming more (not less) complicated. More people use computers regularly, but the computer actually has to perform many more hidden tasks – tasks users don’t see- in order to keep up the illusion of “ease-of-use.”

Software Management Can Be A Hidden Task

Take the Add/Remove Programs tool for example. If you want to get rid of a piece of software, why not just drag it to the Recycle Bin and be done with it? That’s one approach to getting rid of program files, and it will break the program but it won’t get rid of the program.

Programs aren’t self-contained in the application file anymore. There are registry entries that need to be removed, libraries that may (or may not) require removal, support files that help the program operate and other files (like icons) that don’t reside in the application itself. These files are distributed around the computer when the application is installed. Truly getting rid of the program means getting rid of everything that goes along with the program.

The user may still wonder. “Well, so what? If I get rid of most of the application, I’ve gotten rid of the program, right?” Not exactly. Registry entries that belong to the program may cause the computer to slow down or stall. You may find irritating error messages indicating that there’s a problem with the now-recycled program. If the program were set to start up automatically, the computer may complain each time you boot that the program or some of its files can’t be found.

Removing an application requires a tool that can help you remove all of the files associated with it. It also may require some registry editing to silence the error messages or time-outs that may occur if the computer continues to wait for the non-existent program to respond.

For software removal, I always recommend Perfect Uninstaller. Perfect Uninstaller does what Microsoft’s Add/Remove Programs tool doesn’t or can’t. Perfect Uninstaller doesn’t care what condition the application or file is in. Perfect Uninstaller can remove everything it sees, and it sees everything. For those stubborn cases where removal isn’t a first option, Perfect Uninstaller provides Force Uninstall, which doesn’t give up until the offending file is gone.

Perfect Uninstaller is part of my maintenance toolkit and I recommend it to everyone.

Photo Credit: Maurizio Agelli, via Flickr

Software removal on your PC used to be as easy as using the DEL command. Not today. Software is too complex to be removed with a simple command. That’s in part because software is stored in many places around the computer. Applications are not usually self-contained, and haven’t been for awhile.

Getting Rid Of Old Software

This simple fact gets complicated by another simple fact: some software doesn’t want to be removed. Think of a virus, for example. Virus programmers go out of their way to ensure that cleanup of a virus is as complicated as possible. Viruses are written into volatile and non-volatile memory, the registry, even the CMOS in some computers. Virus programmers are clever, so getting rid of a virus can be time-consuming. Missteps can render your computer non-working in a hurry.

Microsoft found this out last month when it released the now infamous MS10-015 as part of a regular Patch Tuesday update. The update, which contained a little polish for the company’s Malicious Software Removal Tool, had the unintended effect of locking up tens of thousands of computers. After investigating the lockup, Microsoft claimed that the only computers affected by the old BSOD following the update were those already infected with the Allureon virus. Microsoft withdrew the Malicious Software Removal Tool patch a couple of days after its release, but re-released it March 9.Microsoft also released a tool that will scan a target system prior to installing the patch. The scan will not clean up any detected viruses, but will indicate the presence of the virus known to cause the patch failure.

If you have automatic updates turned on, you’ve already encountered the problem. (Or not, if your computer was not infected by the Allureon virus.) The point of my story isn’t that automatic patching is bad. (It’s not.) The point is that even Microsoft doesn’t have an easy time of removing software –albeit malicious software.

That’s why I use and recommend Perfect Uninstaller for software removal. Perfect Uninstaller works perfectly every time to remove the software you want gone. While some software makes itself deliberately difficult to remove, most unremovable software is unremovable because it’s gotten damaged and is no longer visible by the Add/Remove Programs tool. It’s also possible that some components of a program get left behind when non-standard removal techniques are employed. Regardless of how your unremovable software got that way, Perfect Uninstaller will remove it every time!

Photo Credit: Michael “Mike” L. Baird, via Flickr

As a professional computer technician, I’d like to be able to spend time learning why something doesn’t work. I like to be able to understand the way things fail because it increases my personal knowledge and helps me do my job. Unfortunately, some problems don’t allow me the luxury of developing a full explanation of the failure. Software removal failure is one of these things.

Many different things can cause software removal failure. A corrupted program component can throw off the Add/Remove Programs tool. A missing or damaged install log can eliminate valuable clues. Some software simply doesn’t want to be removed.

In the absence of time to understand the problem, my goal is to fix the problem. For stubborn software removal, or software removal failure, I always turn to Perfect Uninstaller because I’ve found it to be the ideal software removal tool.

Perfect Uninstaller sees what the Add/Remove Programs tool doesn’t see and removes what other third-party software removal tools don’t remove. With Perfect Uninstaller, nothing gets left behind. All program files are gone, all registry entries are gone, all program components like libraries are gone. And gone means gone for good.

Perfect Uninstaller also has the advantage of being easy to understand and easy to use. You don’t have to do anything other than install it and identify the software you want removed. Perfect Uninstaller doesn’t ask a bunch of questions or fail when it comes to removing programs. For the few programs that aren’t removable with the standard Perfect Uninstaller remover, there’s Force Uninstall.

Force Uninstall works. I don’t know how else to put it. Force Uninstall simply removes all of the software that other removers won’t or can’t touch. Gone is gone, and gone is good with Perfect Uninstaller. That’s why I use it myself and I recommend it for use with any Windows PC.

Perfect Uninstaller will provide access to all files on the computer. Choose the offending program from a list, a group of icons or by the program details. Once you’ve identified the program(s) you want removed, press the button and that’s it.

Perfect Uninstaller goes after the old, empty or corrupted registry entries, too. Nothing, and I mean nothing, gets left behind. More than 1,000,000 downloads of Perfect Uninstaller means that the program works like it says. It’s also easy to use … perfect for the novice user.

Photo Credit: Kaiton, via Flickr