staarbox...
There is no evidence of this file as a result of searches
on the internet. You can safely assume this is a malicious
file, be it viral, adware, or spyware. Nevertheless, if
you want to play it very safe, you can make a copy of the
file in a safe and specific location before you delete it
from its current location.
Though Windows Task Manager gives no indication of the file's
location, there is a free utility which, among other things,
will list active processes and startup programs and provide
you their location. It's called WinPatrol, and you can
download a copy here:
http://www.winpatrol.com/
Just follow the link to the free download. I'm using version
7, but version 8 should be similar in use. Once it's up and
running, double-click on the tray icon to bring up the program
and select the Active Tasks tab, highlighting the program in
question. You can then click on the 'More Info' button at the
bottom and a window will come up detailing the location of the
file. You should be able to use 'Scotty' (WinPatrol) to kill
the program and remove it from the Startup Programs (in another
tab).
You should then be able to locate the file in Windows Explorer,
at the location specified by WinPatrol, and delete it.
Additionally, you don't mention having run any antivirus program,
or any anti-spyware/adware programs. Since this may well a virus
or spyware/adware, I would strongly recommend downloading and
running some form of each of these.
An exceptional free antivirus program is AntiVir:
http://www.free-av.com/
The following freeware programs are highly recommended as
a collective arsenal against spyware/adware:
AdAware:
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/
Spybot Search & Destroy:
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html
Spyware Blaster
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html
If you are attached to the need to identify this file's
source or its nature, you may want to install and run
these first, before you delete it. They may be able to
identify it in some way. Then again, it may be a file
which is too new to be positively identified.
Please do not rate this answer until you are satisfied that
the answer cannot be improved upon by way of a dialog
established through the "Request for Clarification" process.
sublime1-ga |
Clarification of Answer by
sublime1-ga
on
28 Sep 2004 10:44 PDT
staarbox...
I understand your frustration. The file is likely in use due to
having been activated at windows startup by way of an entry in
the registry or another startup location.
You can view these startup files by using WinPatrol, and remove
the entry calling for activation of this file under its Startup
Programs tab. Once this activation entry is removed, you would
need to reboot. When Windows has finished loading, you should be
able to delete the file, since it will not have been activated.
If you haven't installed WinPatrol, you can accomplish the same
task using Windows msconfig, depending on your version of Windows,
but I would highly recommend the use of WinPatrol for this task,
due to its ease-of-use and the other features of the program.
Another option is to boot into Windows in Safe Mode, which bypasses
all the Startup entries, and delete the file from there, however
you would still be left with an entry in the Startups which would
give you an error message when it was unable to find the file, so
you really need to delete the Startup entry, as well.
WinPatrol provides the simplest method of doing this.
sublime1-ga
|
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