Removing Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool - July 2008 (KB890830)

Something that has happened to my system since the 30th June is causing
it to hang instead of presenting the Welcome screen after the display
has gone into power-saving mode and locked.

I did a system restore to the 30th of June and all was well. Windows
Update applied a bunch of fixes and the hangs came back. I did another
System restore to the 30th of June and turned off the automatic
application of fixes. Something turned it back on again, and the fixes
have been applied again. So I turned off Windows update again, and now
I'm removing the fixes manually.

The challenge is Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool - July 2008
(KB890830). It doesn't appear in Add/Remove programs, even with updates
shown (I've already removed KB953432 and KB951978). Is there a way to
remove it? The writeup implied that it downloads and executes once a
month, so perhaps there is nothing left to uninstall after it has run?

--
Steve Swift
http://www.swiftys.org.uk/swifty.html
http://www.ringers.org.uk

On Sat, 19 Jul 2008 12:51:31 +0100, Swifty wrote:

> Something that has happened to my system since the 30th June is causing
> it to hang instead of presenting the Welcome screen after the display
> has gone into power-saving mode and locked.
>
> I did a system restore to the 30th of June and all was well. Windows
> Update applied a bunch of fixes and the hangs came back. I did another
> System restore to the 30th of June and turned off the automatic
> application of fixes. Something turned it back on again, and the fixes
> have been applied again. So I turned off Windows update again, and now
> I'm removing the fixes manually.
>
> The challenge is Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool - July 2008
> (KB890830). It doesn't appear in Add/Remove programs, even with updates
> shown (I've already removed KB953432 and KB951978). Is there a way to
> remove it? The writeup implied that it downloads and executes once a
> month, so perhaps there is nothing left to uninstall after it has run?

The WMSRT does not show in Add/Remove Programs panel and I don't believe
it's the cause of your problem.
Have you downloaded/installed KB951748 and are using by any chance a 3rd
party software (so-called) firewall application from ZA?

"Kayman" wrote:

> On Sat, 19 Jul 2008 12:51:31 +0100, Swifty wrote:
>
> > Something that has happened to my system since the 30th June is causing
> > it to hang instead of presenting the Welcome screen after the display
> > has gone into power-saving mode and locked.
> >
> > I did a system restore to the 30th of June and all was well. Windows
> > Update applied a bunch of fixes and the hangs came back. I did another
> > System restore to the 30th of June and turned off the automatic
> > application of fixes. Something turned it back on again, and the fixes
> > have been applied again. So I turned off Windows update again, and now
> > I'm removing the fixes manually.
> >
> > The challenge is Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool - July 2008
> > (KB890830). It doesn't appear in Add/Remove programs, even with updates
> > shown (I've already removed KB953432 and KB951978). Is there a way to
> > remove it? The writeup implied that it downloads and executes once a
> > month, so perhaps there is nothing left to uninstall after it has run?
>
> The WMSRT does not show in Add/Remove Programs panel and I don't believe
> it's the cause of your problem.
> Have you downloaded/installed KB951748 and are using by any chance a 3rd
> party software (so-called) firewall application from ZA?
>

If you right click on details of your Windows Malicious Software Removal
Tool, and hit details, doesn't it say "Once you install this can't be
removed?"

Kayman wrote:
> The WMSRT does not show in Add/Remove Programs panel and I don't believe
> it's the cause of your problem.
> Have you downloaded/installed KB951748 and are using by any chance a 3rd
> party software (so-called) firewall application from ZA?

KB951748 is one of the fixes which were removed by System Restore back
to 30th June. I don't have anything by ZoneAlarm. I know about that
problem. My problem is completely different; the welcome screen fails to
appear about on in three times (other than the initial, post-boot one,
which is unaffected)

After regressing to 30th June, Windows update reapplied a bunch of
fixes, including KB951748 and the hangs came back. It could be caused by
any of the set of fixes applied, or it could be coincidental.

Having System Restored back to the 30th June twice, I made doubly sure
that Windows Update was disabled, by setting it neither to apply nor
download fixes. Since then, no hangs. I'm going to start applying fixes,
and other upgrades (newer driver for my video card) at about three day
intervals.

--
Steve Swift
http://www.swiftys.org.uk/swifty.html
http://www.ringers.org.uk

Eric Post wrote:
> If you right click on details of your Windows Malicious Software Removal
> Tool, and hit details, doesn't it say "Once you install this can't be
> removed?"

Where would I find Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool in order to
right click on details? I've never been able to find out what happens
to it after it downloads and installs. I know that if I ever need to use
it, I certainly won't be able to find it.

--
Steve Swift
http://www.swiftys.org.uk/swifty.html
http://www.ringers.org.uk