Windows 10: How do i remove MSERT infected files being detected but keep returning on Windows 10 Dell...

My laptop has Malwarebytes Premium installed which is not detecting any malware viruses etc on scanning. I carried out a Full scan on MSERT and it detected 24 infected files and after around 75 % of the scan the scan finished and said no viruses spyware or malware was detected. After one hour I carried out a full scan again and the infected files were still being detected but not removed. Any help would be great. John

:)

 

MSERT scanned 23 files infected, viruses/malware

If the Microsoft Safety Scanner shows clean (no detections found) when finished, then it's most likely that MSERT suspected a possible threat during the scan, displayed it as such (infected files) but determined the file(s) were not an actual confirmed threat(s) upon completion.

Keep in mind that Microsoft Safety Scanner (MSERT) is intended to be a supplement to an existing anti-virus program (not a replacement).

 

Why is MSERT is not producing a report even when it finds infected files?

I ran the MSERT. It found infected files. No report was produced. Why? So are the files removed or not?

 

MSERT finds about 40 infected files and then says there are zero infected files. Why does it find the same number of files when I run it again?

Hi

Welcome to Microsoft community.

The Microsoft Safety Scanner (MSERT) is a tool designed to find and remove malware from Windows computers. If it's detecting the same number of infected files each time you run it, but then stating that there are zero infected files, it could be due to several reasons:

1. False Positives: The scanner may be detecting benign or necessary system files as threats, known as false positives.
   
2. Temporary Files: The scanner might be detecting threats in temporary files which are being recreated each time you run the scan.
   
3. Active Infection: There could be an active malware infection on your system that is continuously generating new copies of itself.
   
4. Scan Completion: Ensure that the scan is completed fully and not being interrupted partway through.
   

To verify if these are truly infected files, consider using another reputable antivirus program for a second opinion.

Running MSERT from an administrator command prompt shouldn't make much difference compared to running it normally since MSERT requires administrator privileges to run anyway.

As for forwarding suspicious emails to Microsoft: Microsoft does have a process for reporting phishing attempts if you're using Outlook.com (Hotmail), Office 365, or Microsoft 365 services. You can report these emails by sending them as attachments through the "Report Phishing" option in Outlook's interface itself.

Please note that this doesn't guarantee they will be able to provide information about where those emails come from directly back to you - this reporting mechanism mainly helps improve the spam filtering algorithms.

Please feel free to let me know if you have any further updates, thanks.

Best regards

Derrick Qian | Microsoft Community Support Specialist