Background Application Running Continuously

Question

using windows xp sp2 all recent updates computer very slow, open task manager to see what application is using all resources it's 'explorer.exe' under administration i cant figure out for the life of my what is causing this app to run for 3-5 hours every day any suggestions would be appreciated   thanks   dabrusz

dabrusz · Answer

thanks for the quick response the actual usage is 90-99 percent. i have the most recent internet security suite from F-Secure which is supposed to be one of the best so it should not be a trojan. the explorer.exe only exists in the windows folder so that seems fine   dabrusz

ky331 · Answer

Windows Explorer (explorer.exe) should be running continually, but it shouldn't be using more than about 1% of your CPU.

tommyo1954 · Answer

There is also a trojan with the exact same (explorer.exe) name. You might want to run some spyware scans to verify that your particular explorer.exe is the legitimate Windows app, and not the masquerading trojan having the same name. That CPU usage you mention is way, way out of the norm...........

sparkenh · Answer

dabrusz,   You probably  have  corrupt avi files or a vundo trojan that F-secure fails to detect. There are  experts in the HiJackThis forum who can help fix your problem.

tommyo1954 · Answer

System resources running at 90% to 99% ????  I know what I'd be doing if I were you.... but to each his own I guess. Hope you figure it out; good luck.

dabrusz · Answer

thanks so much for your advice you were right on the money. symantic has a fixvundo removal tool that i downloaded, i ran it and it removed a vundo trojan. it was located in my iexplorer.exe thanks again   dabrusz

tommyo1954 · Answer

That's great... glad to hear that. Even though I'm not the most experienced forum member, I knew  something must have been amiss somewhere to have that much usage. From what I've read, it's usually a good idea to run a couple different scanners if you suspect something. Just in case one misses it, the other scanner might find it.   I kind of like the new one called SuperAntiSpyware. It gets updated very often and seems extremely thorough too. In fact I deleted Spybot and Adaware as those don't seem to be as good as they once were. Too bad, as they used to be good too.   Glad you foung your culprit.. take care bud..    Tommy

Windows General

Background Application Running Continuously

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