Windows 10: Microsoft Safety Scanner, was this a Windows Defender Tool?

It looks like this has been removed. So, it was a tool used by Windows Defender? But tampered with so it was removed?

:)

 

Unable to Load Microsoft Safety Scanner Web Page


Hi, Which specific URL are you having problems with?

Does this help?
You cannot download the Microsoft Safety Scanner because of a malware infection
"If a malware infection is preventing you from downloading the Microsoft Safety Scanner to your computer, use one of the following methods to download and run the tool.Method 1: Run the Microsoft Safety Scanner from removable media

Save the Microsoft Safety Scanner to removable media on an uninfected computer, and then run the tool on the infected computer. To do this, follow these steps:........................................"

You can also get the scanner here e.g.
Microsoft Safety Scanner Download

 

Windows Defender compared with MS Safety Scanner Compared with Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool

Thank you for your question.

Microsoft Safety Scanner is scanner only and it contains removal for all malwares that have been detected by Microsoft Anti-Malware engine. Normally we use Safety Scanner when a system is infected and for whatever reason we are unable to install Anti-Virus
software or Anti-Virus software is not working or there is non-Microsoft Anti-Malware there and we want to verify whether is there any virus which is being detected by Safety Scanner. MSRT has list of some of well known and dangerous malwares. The size of
it is smaller compare to Safety Scanner, so if you want to rapidly check a system for malware or rescue it before install other Anti-Malware product , it is good tool, but it is not detecting all malwares and it is just good for a rapid malware removal to
start other procedures to remove malware. For complete removal, it is better to use Safety Scanner.

Windows Defender has Safety Scanner engine and it is real-time protection and it supports Cloud-based scanning which is good for detecting unknown malwares. In general, if you are using Windows Defender, you don't need to run Safety Scanner or MSRT , you
just need to update Windows Defender and run scan with it. Safety scanner is for systems which are using non-Microsoft Anti-Malware and you want to do a check with Microsoft Scanner without installing Microsoft Anti-Malware products. It is also good when you
want to check a system with scanner.

There is also Windows Defender Offline which build into Windows 10 but you may download it for Windows 7 and it performs deeper scan before system boot up:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/17466/windows-defender-offline-help-protect-my-pc

 

What's wrong with Microsoft Safety Scanner?

Huxg,

I've deleted the replies of IA MaritzaCapiro because they're not relevant (actually nonsense).

Why are you downloading Safety Scanner and Malicious Software Removal tool? Are you using Windows Defender or another third-party free or paid security program (eg. Avast, Norton, etc.)?

The Malicious Software Removal Tool will be automatically updated and run a scan every second Tuesday of the month in conjunction with Windows security updates. It's only meant to be a secondary monthly check. The Safety Scanner is also mostly a second opinion
scanner as it functions much the same as Windows Defender would for scanning but adds no real-time protection. The Safety Scanner is provided by Microsoft mostly for instances when Windows Defender may be disabled due to a malware infection or as mentioned
as a second opinion scanner if you're using something other than Windows Defender.

Not sure why the latest version of Safety Scanner is not working for you, but sometimes Microsoft products can be a bit "buggy". Perhaps delete it and download a fresh version. Did you receive Windows updates this past Tuesday? Did they install properly?

Hope this helps.

~