For people who come across mrt.exe with high CPU or memory, but even failed to determine what this mrt.exe file does on their PC, please dive into this post to see this Windows system file in Windows 10.
Let’s learn what the MRT is, whether to disable it, and how to fix mrt.exe error in Windows 10 with the following content.
What is mrt.exe ?
MRT refers to the Microsoft removal tool on Windows systems. And the mrt.exe is a necessary file to run this Microsoft removal tool on Windows 10.
Once you have enabled Windows 10 updates, every time you update your system, this MRT will also update along with system updates. This way you can obviously see the Microsoft Removal Tool running every second Tuesday of every month. Scans for malware or viruses on your PC.
From this perspective, it is not advisable for you to choose to remove mrt.exe from Windows 10 for the sake of computer security.
Should you disable the Mrt.exe file?
Normally mrt.exe file is not a virus, it is safe on your PC. As a significant system file to perform Microsoft Removal Tool, this mrt.exe should not be removed whenever you want to enable MRT to protect your PC from malware or threats.
On the other hand, the mrt.exe Windows process will not take high CPU usage in Windows 10 by default.
mrt exe is not likely to cause you any problems.
If unfortunately, your computer comes across high CPU Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool, you can take the below measures to solve mrt.exe error in Windows 10 effectively. Or at that time, you can try to disable mrt.exe to deal with high CPU or mrt.exe virus.
Is the mrt.exe file on your PC a virus?
What has been discussed above is what happened in most of the cases, it is possible that the mrt.exe becomes a virus unintentionally, disguised as some malware on your PC.
Based on this condition, you’d better check if mrt.exe virus really exists or not in Windows 10.
As for how you can detect mrt exe virus or corruption, just try to check where this system file is located on your computer.
It says that the mrt.exe is placed in C:WINDOWSSystem32 . So, in File Explorer, go to the System32 folder to find the mrt.exe file.
If you can locate it here, it means MRT.EXE file on your PC is safe as usual.
Although you cannot find it in this folder, it is possible that the mrt.exe file has been corrupted or infected by other programs or applications on your PC. You can try to uninstall mrt.exe, which is allowed and will not bring you any problem.
How To Fix Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool High CPU Windows 10?
When it comes to MRT, mrt.exe high CPU or missing error, the first thing that comes to your mind is that you can remove mrt.exe from Windows 10.
Here, you can also use other ways to resolve Microsoft Removal Tool issue.
Solutions:
Solution 1: Check the MRT return code
You can also know more about the running status of mrt.exe in Windows 10. The return code of Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool reflects whether the mrt exe is working fine on your PC.
Under these circumstances, it is possible to open the MRT notepad to see the return code.
1. Write the File Browser in the search box and then press enter to navigate to it.
2. In the address bar of the File Browser copy and paste into C: Windows debug and press Get in to search for it.
3. Then double click on notepad mrt to open it.
4. In the mrt notepad scroll down to locate and verify the return code .
Here the return code on this PC is which means that mrt.exe is not dangerous.
Once you have noticed that the return code on your PC is not 0, you may need to search for mrt.exe virus in Windows 10.
Solution 2: Run Windows Defender to scan for MRT viruses
In the event that the mrt.exe file is located somewhere else instead of C:WINDOWSSystem32 or the return code is not 0, you’d better start enable Windows Defender to monitor the virus in the Microsoft Removal Tool.
After activating Windows Defender in Windows 10, take advantage of it to fix mrt exe virus.
1. Enter Windows Defender in the search box and then press enter to go to Windows Defender Security Center .
2 in Windows Defender Security Center on Protection against viruses and threats click on Run a new quick scan .
Then Windows Defender will automatically scan for mrt.exe Windows process virus on your PC.
Of course, you can run a deep scan in Windows Defender instead of a quick scan.
Or try downloading and installing a reliable third-party antivirus software and use it to fully scan for viruses and threats, such as Malwarebytes or AVG.
Solution 3 – Delete mrt.exe file in Windows Powershell
Last but not least, since MRT cannot replace other antivirus applications, it is qualified to disable or uninstall Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool.
And that can largely stop mrt.exe file high CPU error in Windows 10.
1. Enter Windows PowerShell in the search box and then right click to Execute as an administrator .
Here administrative privileges are needed to perform this task.
2 in Windows PowerShell copy and paste the following command and press Enter to run this command.
Unregister-ScheduledTask -TaskName ‘MRT_HB’ TaskPath ‘Microsoft Windows RemovalTools’ -Confirm: $falseRemove-Item ‘C:WindowsSystem32MRT.exe’
After that, restart your PC for it to take effect.
It may move to C:WindowsSystem32MSchedExe.exe to delete the mrt.exe file as long as you can locate it in this folder.
In short, this post walks you through the Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool or mrt.exe. It shows you what MRT is and if you are supposed to remove it from Windows 10, and how to fix Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool CPU.
To be specific, it won’t cause problems even if you disabled mrt.exe, but you’d better not uninstall MRT unless mrt.exe error persists on your PC.