The Microsoft Safety Scanner is a free security tool that provides on-demand scanning to help remove malicious and potentially unwanted software. It works with your existing antivirus or antimalware software.
You can get it from the Microsoft Safety Scanner download page.
The Microsoft Safety Scanner can also help when your existing antimalware software isn’t working properly. This could be because malware is disabling your antimalware software or stopping you from downloading updates. You can download the scanner from another computer and then run it on your infected computer.
Here’s how to use the Microsoft Safety Scanner:
From the Microsoft Safety Scanner download page, choose Download Now:
Click Run if you are downloading the tool from the computer you want to scan - the tool will automatically start when it has finished downloading
Choose Save as if you are going to use the tool on another computer, and save the file to a USB flash drive or blank CD. Once it’s finished downloading, run the file on the other computer by double-clicking it from the CD or USB flash drive
If you are prompted to run the file as an administrator, click Yes.
Read the license agreement. If you agree, check the box beside Accept all terms of the preceding license agreement and click Next. The tool guides you through the next few steps.
Choose the type of scan you want and which folders you want to scan and click Next.
If the tool finds any infections, it will tell you what malware it has found and removed from your computer
Update your existing security software and run a full scan when the tool has finished running
Note: The Microsoft Safety Scanner expires after 10 days. To rerun a scan with the latest antimalware definitions, download and run the Microsoft Safety Scanner again.