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The Windows startups, Windows Processes, and Windows Services below are only a subset of the massive database used by our The Ultimate Troubleshooter product. Try it out
— it's simpler than searching these pages. |
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Task
List
Name
|
PROGRAM
&
MANUFACTURER
|
WHAT
IT IS
AND WHAT YOU CAN DO
|
|
i.Disk |
i.Disk.exe
(Matthew Allen) |
You have
Matthew Allen’s i.Disk hard disk space manager
currently open (or set as a startup item). i.Disk
is a free program which displays folder sizes so the user
can work out which folders take the most hard disk space and
might need pruning. |
|
Iaas |
Iaas.exe |
See IWAR. |
|
Iamapp |
IAMAPP.exe
(Symantec) |
Background task which is an
essential part of the Norton Internet Security and Norton
Personal Firewall security products. Do not confuse this task
with the IncrediMail IMApp task described further down on
this page.
Recommendation :
Leave alone if you are using any of the above two products. |
|
Iamsetup |
IAMSETUP.exe
(CallWave)
|
CallWave’s
Internet Answering Machine application. This program
enables you to receive phone messages while you are online
browsing the web. Instead of your line signalling
"busy" to the caller, Internet Answering Machine
answers the call and prompts the caller to leave a
message. As soon as the caller has finished his message,
Internet Answering Machine replays it over your speakers.
Recommendation :
This is not a free service – also, it only works in Canada
and the USA. Therefore, if you are not using it, de-install
Internet Answering Machine through the "Add/Remove
Programs" icon in the Control Panel (the entry to
de-install is "CallWave Internet Answering
Machine").
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Iap |
IAP.exe
(Dell) |
Dell’s
OpenManage Instrumentation Access Provider. This service looks
up the Dell database of DMI enabled hardware (DellOMCI.mdb) for
configuration information and passes that information on to
other OpenManage modules that require it.
Recommendation :
If you use Dell’s OpenManage software, you need
this service running, otherwise you can disable it by setting
its startup mode to Disabled on the Services
tab of The
Ultimate Troubleshooter. |
|
Ibmpmsvc |
IBMPMSvc.exe
(IBM) |
IBM Power
Management Windows 2000/XP service which
implements ACPI (Advanced Configuration and Power
Interface) on IBM ThinkPad laptops. In effect it
provides support for the FN+FKEY combinations which
enable the end-user to do such things as putting the laptop in
standby mode, switching the display from the laptop to an
attached monitor, etc... While the FN+FKEY combinations
provide varying degrees of facilities across the ThinkPad range
of laptops, you will find nevertheless that, in general, the
following key combinations perform the following functions on
almost all ThinkPad laptops :
FN+F1 : Unused
FN+F2 : Unused
FN+F3 : Turns off the LCD display. Press any key, or
move the mouse to get the display back.
FN+F4 : Puts the laptop into Standby mode.
Press the FN key on its own to wake it up again. This is also
called the Sleep function. The setting for FN+F4 can
be changed so that it puts the computer in hibernation mode or
so that it shuts the laptop down.
FN+F5 : Enables/Disables Wireless and/or Bluetooth if
the laptop has them.
FN+F6 : Unused.
FN+F7 : Toggles the display between the LCD only, the
attached external monitor only, or both at the same time. This
function does not work if you are in the middle of playing a DVD
or a video clip.
FN+F8 : Enables the user to switch the screen size
between Expanded and Normal mode when the
display image is smaller than the physical screen. This feature
is not available under Windows 2000/XP.
FN+F9 : Opens the IBM ThinkPad EasyEject software which
enables you to stop and eject all ejectable devices connected to
the ThinkPad, to the ThinkPad Mini Dock, or to the ThinkPad Port
Replicator.
FN+F10 : Unused.
FN+F11 : Unused.
FN+F12 : Puts the laptop into Hibernation
mode. To return to Normal operation, press the Power button for
less than 4 seconds.
FN+PgUp : Turns the ThinkLight ON/OFF.
FN+Home : Makes the display brighter.
FN+End : Makes the display dimmer.
FN+Spacebar : Enables the full screen Magnifier
function.
Recommendation :
We view this service as an essential service as almost every
user will need to use one or more of the above FN+FKEY
combinations once in a while. Leave alone. |
|
Icmon |
ICMon.exe
(Sophos) |
Sophos AntiVirus InterCheck
Activity Monitor. InterCheck is the on-access virus scanning
feature of Sophos AntiVirus. "On-Access Virus Scanning" means
that files are virus scanned in the background as and when they
are accessed. The InterCheck Activity Monitor, ICMON, is no
more than a System Tray icon which you can click on to check
that on-access virus scanning is enabled (Active), to check how
many files have been virus scanned since your last boot, and to
see what was the last virus scanned file.
Recommendation :
This is a harmless System Tray icon. We would suggest to leave
it alone so that you are always able to check quickly that your
Sophos AntiVirus software is active. |
|
Iconclnt |
Iconclnt.exe
(APC – American Power Conversion) |
System Tray
icon installed on Windows 95/98/ME by APC’s PowerChute
UPS monitoring software. You can right-click on the icon to
start the PowerChute software to check what events were recorded
by your UPS (power cut, power dip/hike), or to schedule a UPS
self test.
Recommendation :
Down to end-user preference since you can access
the PowerChute software from “Start \ Programs”. Note,
however, that this particular task has a history of problems
ranging from hogging up the CPU and therefore slowing the PC to
a crawl; or preventing the PC from shutting down properly; to
preventing ScanDisk or Defrag from completing. If you
experience such problems, try first downloading from our
Drivers page the latest version of the PowerChute
software that is supported by your UPS. If that does not solve
the problem, then disable this task on the Startups tab
of The
Ultimate Troubleshooter – PowerChute will
still continue to monitor your UPS and gather statistics; you
just won’t be able to open the full program from the System
Tray. |
|
Iconfig |
Iconfig.exe
(Shuttle Technology / now SCM MicroSystems) |
System Tray background task
which gets installed by the drivers for Shuttle Technology
products (now part of SCM MicroSystems). SCM MicroSystems is an
OEM manufacturer – that is, it makes/assembles the original
products which are then sold under various badges by other
companies (e.g. DataFab, Hewlett-Packard, Apple, etc..). The
products include USB card readers, USB CD-Writers, USB Zip or
Flash Drives, USB LS-120 drives, etc.. ICONFIG sits in the
System Tray and its sole purpose seems to be to provide
connection and status info about your USB device.
Recommendation :
On some systems, and depending on which reselling manufacturer
has adapted the original drivers, ICONFIG hogs resources and
also causes crashes. Disable with The
Ultimate Troubleshooter if you have
unexplained problems. |
|
Icsmgr |
ICSMGR.exe
(Microsoft)
|
ICSMGR
gets installed on any PC which shares an Internet connection
using Microsoft’s Internet Connection Sharing protocol
(ICS). This program, which relays all DNS and DHCP requests,
is vital if your PC is accessing the Internet via ICS.
Recommendation :
Leave alone if you are on an ICS network. If you are
not, remove Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) from the Network
icon in your Control Panel as its presence can often cause
[sometimes serious] conflicts or unnecessary complications
when you are configuring network components of your PC.
|
|
Icwconn1 |
ICWConn1.exe
(Microsoft)
|
If this task is
currently running, then you have the Microsoft Internet
Connection Wizard currently open. If, however, this entry
is on the Startups tab of The
Ultimate Troubleshooter,
it will usually look like this : “C: \ Program Files \ Internet Explorer \ Connection Wizard \ icwconn1.exe / desktop”. It will have been put there by a past
installation of Windows or of Internet Explorer to ensure that
you always have an icon on your desktop labelled “Connect
to the Internet” and which enables you to start the
Internet Connection Wizard (if the icon is deleted from the
desktop, this startup entry ensures it is recreated at your next
bootup).
Recommendation :
As a startup entry, it is down to end‑user preference as to
whether you keep this entry or not. Advanced users who know how
to create Internet connections will usually have no need for
this entry and will delete it from the Startups tab of
The Ultimate Troubleshooter. Less advanced users, on the other
hand, may wish to leave it enabled so that they always have an
easy way to create new Internet connections straight from the
icon on the desktop (if you need to recreate your Internet
connection at some point and you ask your Internet Service
Provider to help, your ISP’s tech engineers will usually favour
walking you through via the “Connect to the Internet”
desktop icon).
|
|
Idrivert |
IDriverT.exe
(Macrovision) |
Macrovision’s
InstallShield’s InstallDriver Table Manager service
installed on Windows 2000/XP PCs whenever you install a software
program where the publisher has used Macrovision’s InstallShield
as the program installer software. This service only ever runs
when you are installing or uninstalling software packaged with
the InstallShield installer software – it helps the
InstallShield installer software track properly the various
products installed over the course of time on your PC and which
use InstallShield as their installer; this in turn ensures that
all those products can be uninstalled properly when needed.
Recommendation :
Leave alone. This service has no impact on the
performance of your PC and is inactive 99.5% of the time till
the day that you install or uninstall software packaged with
InstallShield. |
|
IDUServ |
IDUServ.exe
(OSA Technologies) |
Intel
Desktop Utilities CPU & Motherboard Temperature Monitor.
System Tray task which displays the CPU (processor) and
Motherboard temperature of your PC.
Recommendation :
Down to end-user preference. If you are not
interested in keeping track of the temperature of your PC
and would rather save additional memory, then you can
disable this task on the The
Ultimate Troubleshooter by settings its Startup
Mode to Manual or Disabled.
This program normally uses 2Mb to 9Mb of memory.
Note :
If you live in a
hot country or state, or you are in the middle of an
extremely hot summer, and you do not have air conditioning,
we would recommend that you keep this little utility running
so that you can occasionally quickly glance at the System
Tray to see if your PC is in danger of overheating (70C/158F
or above for the CPU). |
|
Iewersv |
IEWERSV.exe
(???) |
Part of the
Winpup adware. If you have Winpup on your PC and you use
Internet Explorer as your Internet browser, you will experience
endless popup and popunder advertisements.
Recommendation :
Remove immediately, as follows : Delete
this entry from the Startups tab of The
Ultimate Troubleshooter Next, search your hard disk(s) for all
winpup*.* files – delete all files that are found.
Next, search your Windows folder (C:\Windows or
C:\WinNT) for a file called telnat.exe; if you find
it, delete it. Hopefully this will do it; however, there is
nothing less certain as this software constantly renames itself
to random filenames. Finally, run Spybot from our
Downloads library to make sure there aren’t any
residues left. |
|
Iexplore (1) |
IExplore.exe
(Microsoft)
|
You have
Microsoft’s Internet Explorer running ! (if the full
path showing in The
Ultimate Troubleshooter is
C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\Iexplore.exe). |
|
Iexplore
(2) |
Iexplore.exe
(???) |
You have the
Backdoor.Aphexdoor virus, or one of the many other
viruses masquerading as Internet Explorer (most particularly
if the full path showing in The
Ultimate Troubleshooter
is C:\Windows\Iexplore.exe or C:\WinNT\Iexplore.exe). |
|
iFinger |
iFinger.exe
(iFinger Ltd) |
Background task
belonging to the iFinger program. iFinger is a
program which integrates content from well‑known publishers into
all your Windows programs (at the time of writing, 8‑Jan‑2006,
Oxford University Press, Merriam-Webster, Zanichelli, Bloomsbury
and Ernst Klett Verlag were a few of the publishers). This
integration gives the user instant access, both on and off-line,
to any reference content bought through iFinger or World Of
Reading and installed on the hard disk – you can also add your
own reference material to iFinger. With iFinger installed, when
you move your cursor over a word on a web page, or double-click
on a word or highlighted text in any of your Windows programs,
the iFinger program accesses the reference material you have
linked it to and returns in a pop‑up box relevant information on
the word or highlighted text.
Recommendation :
This task is the entire iFinger program – thus
leave it alone if you do use iFinger, otherwise either uninstall
the program through the “Add\Remove Programs” icon in
the Control Panel, or disable this task on the Startups
tab of The
Ultimate Troubleshooter. |
|
Igfxtray |
IGFxTray.exe
(Intel) |
Intel Graphics Tray. System
Tray icon which gets installed with the drivers for onboard VGA
cards based on the Intel 81x graphics chipset. Double-clicking
on it enables you to quickly change the display resolution, save
your current Display Scheme, or configure your onboard graphics
card. You can also configure keyboard hotkeys (shortcuts – this
is handled by another background task called HKCMD). You can
access the same features through the "Intel Graphics
Technology" icon in the Control Panel.
Recommendation :
Although great in theory, on some PCs we have found that
whenever IGFXTRAY and HKCMD are running, Windows Explorer is
prone to hanging and showing as "not responding" in the Task
List. Our recommendation, therefore, is that you should not
have this tray icon running, and that you should also not use
the hotkey facility that comes with it. Disable both
IGFXTRAY and HKCMD with The
Ultimate Troubleshooter. |
|
IJPLMSVC |
IJPLMSVC.EXE
(Canon) |
Canon PIXMA
communications driver service. Core
service installed by the drivers for your Canon PIXMA
printer and which handles the transmission of data between
your PC and the printer.
Recommendation :
Leave alone – your printer will not print if
this background service is not running. This service
normally uses 1Mb to 4Mb of memory. |
|
Imapi |
IMAPI.exe
(Microsoft) |
Image Mastering
API Service for CD-Burning. This service, introduced in Windows
XP and 2003, manages recording data & music to CD using the
Microsoft IMAPI standard, a standard which allows any
application which conforms to it, to be able to write directly
onto a CD using either the Redbook audio format, or the Joliet
or ISO-9660 formats for data CDs. When this service is enabled,
a Recording tab appears in the Properties sheet for
your CD-Writer and you are then also able to drop data directly
onto a CD‑R from Windows Explorer or from within Windows
applications, without the need for third party CD-Writer
software.
Recommendation :
This service is disabled by default in Windows 2003, and may be
enabled by default in Windows XP depending on the manufacturer
of the PC. When enabled this service often creates conflicts
with third party CD Writing software, from slowness to
complaints that another program is using the CD‑Writer, or
strange error messages from your CD‑Writer software. In short,
unless you have Roxio’s Easy CD Creator v5 or v6, using your
CD‑Writer software while the IMAPI service is running, often
leads to troubles. Our recommendation, therefore, is that you
either use Windows XP/2003 to write to recordable CDs, or you
use your CD-Writer software (and disable this service from
starting at boot-up), but not both. To prevent this service
from running at startup, set it to Manual in
“Control Panel \ Administrative Tools \ Services” – look
for “IMAPI CD‑Burning COM Service”. Note, if you
have IMAPI enabled then you should have at least Service Pack 1a
installed if you are running Windows XP. Finally, if you get
strange IMAPI errors when using Windows Explorer, then try
setting to ON the “Launch folder windows in a separate
process” setting on the VIEW tab of the “Tools \
Folder options” menu option of Windows Explorer. |
|
Imapp |
IMApp.exe
(IncrediMail Ltd) |
This is the
IncrediMail email program which you either have open or
minimized to the System Tray. Do not confuse this task with
IAMAPP described earlier in these pages (Norton Personal
Firewall).
Recommendation :
We first got acquainted with IncrediMail in early 2002 when
trying to solve numerous crashes on a PC. Well, from that time
to 2005, we have yet to ever come across a PC with IncrediMail
which was not suffering from horrendous problems, whether it be
unbelievable slowness because IncrediMail was consuming most of
the CPU capacity, to KERNEL32 errors, illegal operations,
Internet Explorer crashes, and more, and more, and more. All
such problems would disappear with the de-installation of
IncrediMail ! We do not have one single good word to say about
this program which has caused our clients endless nightmares
whenever an end-user thought it a good idea to install it on
their PC. If you want a free alternative to Microsoft Outlook
or Outlook Express, our advice is to de-install IncrediMail via
the “Add/Remove Program” icon in the Control Panel
(also delete any references to IncrediMail in Starter) and then
use a program like FoxMail available on our
Downloads page. 17‑Dec‑2003 update : we have had one AnswersThatWork user today making a point of telling us they
have IncrediMail, have not experienced problems with it, and are
a satisfied customer. Late December 2003 to January 2004 update : another five users tell us having used IncrediMail without
problems but indicate using IncrediMail Premium, the
non‑free version – this may be a crucial difference as all the
problems we have experienced at AnswersThatWork’s clients have
all been with the free version. |
|
IMEKRMIG |
IMEKRMIG.EXE
(Microsoft) |
Microsoft’s
Korean Input Method Editor. Startup task
found on PCs where the East Asian languages have
been installed through the Regional and Language options
icon in the Control Panel. This task ensures that your PC
is able to display Korean and also that you are able to
input characters in Korean should you need to.
Recommendation :
Leave alone – it is necessary for your PC to
properly support the Korean language support that you
installed into Windows through installing support for East
Asian languages. |
|
Imgicon |
Imgicon.exe
(Iomega) |
Background
Iomega program which gets installed when you install Iomega’s
Zip Drive Windows software (IomegaWare). IMGICON displays
pretty life-like icons for any Zip drives you have in your PC,
whether internal or external (Parallel, USB, Firewire). These
icons look exactly like the actual drives and you can even tell
whether the drives are external or internal.
Recommendation :
The visual differentiation provided by IMGICON’s
iconisation is extremely useful, particularly for non‑technical
users, so we would recommend you keep the IomegaWare software
even though it is not actually needed for internal zip
drives since Windows has inbuilt support for internal zip
drives without any additional drivers. Note, however, that our
experience under Windows 95 and Windows 98 is that the
IomegaWare software can create conflicts or random problems with
parallel port devices (eg. Your printer). If you experience
such problems then go to our Drivers
section and
download the very latest IomegaWare drivers as these newer
drivers (as of March 2005) seem to have cured all the problems.
|
|
IMJPMIG |
IMJPMIG.EXE
(Microsoft) |
Microsoft’s
Japanese Input Method Editor. Startup
task found on PCs where the East Asian languages
have been installed through the Regional and Language
options icon in the Control Panel. This task ensures
that your PC is able to display Japanese and also that you
are able to input characters in Japanese should you need to.
Recommendation :
Leave alone – it is necessary for your PC to
properly support the Japanese language support that you
installed into Windows through installing support for East
Asian languages. |
|
Imonnt |
IMonNT.exe
(Intel) |
Windows NT4/2000/XP version
of IMONTRAY below. |
|
Imontray |
IMonTray.exe
(Intel) |
System Tray icon for the
Intel Active Monitor utilities that come with the chipset
drivers for Intel chipset based motherboards. Asus have similar
utilities – it enables you to monitor your CPU and motherboard
temperature, the various fan speeds, and the voltages, all
within Windows without going back into the BIOS to see such
information. You can also set up alert thresholds for the
software to alert you when, for example, the system temperature
gets too high.
Recommendation :
If you live in a hot part of the world, or you experience very
hot summers, and you have no air conditioning, then this is a
very useful utility to alert you of impending overheating of
your PC. It is also useful in areas or buildings with power
problems and where your PC is not protected by an AVR based UPS
(Automatic Voltage Regulator). In all other cases this utility
is of very little practical use, so you may want to disable it
with The
Ultimate Troubleshooter to reduce the System Tray clutter. Note
that on laptops IMONTRAY can cause crashes if you change a
PCMCIA card (PC card) while the laptop is running – if that
happens to you, then disable Intel Active Monitor. |
|
ImScInst |
ImScInst.exe
(Microsoft) |
Microsoft’s
Input Method Editor Helper. Startup task
found on PCs where the East Asian & Right-to-Left
languages have been installed through the Regional and
Language options icon in the Control Panel. This task
ensures that your PC is able to display East Asian and
Right-to-Left (e.g. Arabic) languages and also that you are
able to input characters in those languages should you need
to.
Recommendation :
Leave alone – it is necessary for your PC to
properly support the East Asian and Right-to-Left language
support that you installed into Windows. |
|
Incd |
InCD.exe (Ahead
Software) |
This is the InCD software
which enables you to drag files onto a CD-R directly from
Windows Explorer, or to save onto CD directly from within
applications like Microsoft Word, without using the CD Recording
software that came with your CD-Writer (Nero). While a
great and potentially very useful concept, the limitations of
InCD CDs (CDs created with InCD are only ever guaranteed to be
readable in CD Writers that are the same model as the CD Writer
in which the CD was created – it is not unusual not to be able
to read a CD created via InCD, in another CD-ROM drive) lead us
to always recommend its removal. We advocate to instead always
use its sister product, Nero (also called "Nero Burning ROM"),
to create CDs, as that is the only method that guarantees that
you will be able to read the CDs you create in any other CD,
CD-Writer, or DVD drive – a crucial consideration if you are
using CDs for data backups !
Recommendation :
Unless you do make use of InCD, remove it via "Add/Remove
Programs" in the Control Panel. Otherwise right-click on it
in the System Tray and temporarily disable it whenever you need
to use other software that will want to write to your CD Writer. |
|
Incdsrv |
InCDsrv.exe
(Ahead Software AG) |
This is the
InCD software for Windows NT4/2000/XP/2003 which enables you to
drag files onto a CD-R directly from Windows Explorer, or to
save onto CD directly from within applications like Microsoft
Word or Movie Maker, etc.., without using the CD Recording
software that came with your CD‑Writer (Nero) – this type
of feature is also called “Packet Writing” software. While a
great and potentially very useful concept, the limitations of
InCD CDs lead us to always recommend its removal (CDs created
with InCD are only ever guaranteed to be readable in CD Writers
that are the same model as the CD Writer in which the CD was
created – it is not unusual not to be able to read a CD created
via InCD, in another CD-ROM drive). We advocate to instead
always use its sister product, Nero (also called “Nero
Burning ROM”), to create CDs, as that is the only method
that guarantees that you will be able to read the CDs you create
in any other CD, CD‑Writer, or DVD drive – a crucial
consideration if you are using CDs and DVDs for data backups or
movie presentations !
Recommendation :
In addition to our strong reservations expressed
above, there are significant problems with some versions of
InCDSrv, from excessive memory usage which adversely impacts
other applications, to the often reported inability to access
CD-ROM or CD-Writer drives when trying to use software other
than InCD (with error messages such as “Drive inaccessible”
or “Recordable CD device not detected”). That said,
make no mistake about it : it is our view that in March 2005
packet writing software, whether from Ahead or its competitors,
is still inherently unsafe – it will work reliably most times
but you can bet your bottom dollar that the day it won’t work it
will be on an absolutely crucial CD/DVD and you will only find
out days, weeks, or months later when you need to retrieve data
from it, and at that point it will too late ! Packet writing
software is there as a selling point because the competition
does it and it is a very attractive feature for
first-time users. Our recommendation is that if you are used to
using InCD, continue to use it but at the same time
educate yourself to becoming totally proficient and at ease with
the full Nero product, Nero Burning ROM, so that you can
eventually use it confidently and as a result feel safe in the
knowledge that all your CDs and DVDs will be reliable and usable
across all ranges of CD/DVD‑ROM and CD/DVD‑Writer drives. Once
you have reached that stage, remove InCD via the “Add/Remove
Programs” icon in the Control Panel. Alternatively, you
can temporarily disable InCD by switching over to the
Services tab of The
Ultimate Troubleshooter
and setting the Startup Mode of this service to
Disabled – simply set it back to Automatic
whenever you absolutely need to use InCD so you can save
directly onto a CD or DVD. |
|
Incmail |
IncMail.exe
(IncrediMail Ltd) |
Part of the
IncrediMail email program.
Recommendation :
We first got acquainted with IncrediMail in early
2002 when trying to solve numerous crashes on a PC. Well, from
that time to 2005, we have yet to ever come across a PC with
IncrediMail which was not suffering from horrendous problems,
whether it be unbelievable slowness because IncrediMail was
consuming most of the CPU capacity, to KERNEL32 errors, illegal
operations, Internet Explorer crashes, and more, and more, and
more. All such problems would disappear with the
de-installation of IncrediMail ! We do not have one single
good word to say about this program which has caused our clients
endless nightmares whenever an end-user thought it a good idea
to install it on their PC. If you want a free alternative to
Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express, our advice is to
de-install IncrediMail via the “Add/Remove Program”
icon in the Control Panel (also delete any references to
IncrediMail on the Startups tab of The
Ultimate Troubleshooter) and then use a program like FoxMail
available on our
Downloads page. 17‑Dec‑2003
update : we have had one AnswersThatWork user today making a
point of telling us they have IncrediMail, have not experienced
problems with it, and are a satisfied customer. Late December
2003 to January 2004 update : another five users tell us having
used IncrediMail without problems but indicate using
IncrediMail Premium, the non‑free version – this may be a
crucial difference as all the problems we have experienced at
AnswersThatWork’s clients have all been with the free version. |
|
Inetinfo |
Inetinfo.exe
(Microsoft) |
Microsoft
Internet Information Service. Seen primarily on Windows
NT4/2000 Server where it provides Internet Proxy and Web Server
services.
Recommendation :
If you use either of the above facilities, leave running,
otherwise you can set the service to manual. Note :
for some strange reason, this service will in some cases prevent
our product, The
Ultimate Troubleshooter, from
starting. When that is the case, do a Windows Update and see if
that solves the problem – if it does not, and you have no need
for INETINFO, then set its Startup Mode to Disabled. |
|
Inetp60.dll
Rundll32_8 |
Inetp60.dll
(BrowserAid.com) |
Startup entry
which loads one of the BrowserAid Internet Explorer
toolbars. This toolbar is typically loaded onto a PC when an
end-user clicks on some popup advertisement, or installs
specific software programs. Very often the end-user does not
realise that BrowserAid has been installed as an add-on
feature to the program they were installing, and when it is
installed from the Internet, the toolbar is usually presented as
a very useful toolbar which will “maximize your Internet
searching experience” or some other similar wording. In
reality this toolbar is what we call adware : it sends
information about your Internet browsing and searching habits
and it pulls up popup advertisements. Here is BrowserAid’s own
marketing text to advertisers on 8‑May‑2004 : “In today's
highly competitive business environment, it is essential for
companies to maximize marketing effectiveness. By empowering
your customers with a branded BrowserAid toolbar, this is
achieved in four ways: Persistent Presence - With a
BrowserAid customized toolbar, your customers will have constant
visibility of your logo and one-click access to key areas of
your website. This reinforces brand awareness and improves
customer loyalty and retention. E-Business Intelligence
- BrowserAid will provide you with advanced user profile and
click-stream analysis technology. This enables your company to
align marketing campaigns with optimal audiences to deliver
personalized, targeted marketing messages and track the success
of each campaign. Effective Customer Communication -
BrowserAid's customer segmentation technology will enable your
company to instantly distribute unique audio, video, and text
messages to various customer groups. By interacting with the
right customers at the right times, you will maximize
communication effectiveness. Instant Product Deployment
- Using BrowserAid's product deployment technology, your company
will be able to introduce new products or cross-sell existing
ones by instantly deploying them on the desktops of your
customers. By combining this technology with our e‑business
intelligence technology, your company will be able to target the
customers that are most likely to be interested in specific
product offerings and instantly offer them a demo or trial of
the product.”.
Recommendation :
If like us you do not like adware, delete this
entry from the Startups tab of The
Ultimate Troubleshooter and then download Spybot from
our
Downloads
section. Install Spybot, update it online, and then run it to
rid your PC of the BrowserAid toolbar and any other spyware or
adware that may be on your PC. |
|
Inetsw95 |
Inetsw95.exe
(Microsoft) |
Essential
component of Microsoft Personal Web Server for Windows 95. This
file will typically have been installed either through
installing the Personal Web Server component of Windows 95 SR-2,
or through installing the Personal Web Server that comes with
Microsoft FrontPage 97.
Recommendation :
If you are on Windows 95/98, and you use FrontPage 97/98, then
this task is essential to the proper running of the Personal Web
Server which enables you to test your websites before you
publish them to your webhosting servers. If you are on any
other version of Windows, you should be upgrading to the
Personal Web Server that is relevant to that version of Windows. |
|
Infuzer |
Infuzer.exe
(Trondent Development Corp) |
System Tray
icon for Trondent’s Infuzer software. Infuzer is a
piece of software which enables frequent travellers who use
Infuzer-enabled travel booking and reservation websites, to
copy through one click of the mouse all their travel and booking
details onto their desktop calendar. For example, you book a
flight with an Infuzer-enabled website and, on completion of
your booking, the website displays your itinerary details with
flight times, etc.., together with an Infuzer icon for you to
click on if you have Infuzer running on your PC; when you click
on that icon all the details of your flight are copied instantly
to your desktop calendar.
Recommendation :
Essential for the proper functioning of
Infuzer – Leave alone. |
|
InputPersonalization |
InputPersonalization.exe
(Microsoft) |
Task found on
Tablet PCs running Windows Vista. You either have the
Handwriting Recognizer (also called Handwriting
Recognition Personalization Tool or Input
Personalization) currently open and you are training your
Tablet PC to recognize your handwriting, or you are currently
entering free-hand text on your Tablet PC and the
Handwriting Recognizer is running in the background
automatically converting your handwriting to machine
understandable text. |
|
Instantaccess |
InstantAccess.exe
(Xerox) |
Background program which
interacts with Xerox Textbridge’s Instant Access feature app.
This gets installed when you install the Xerox Textbridge OCR
software. Few users use Instant Access. Worse, we have
experienced this background program to often cause software
installation problems.
Recommendation :
Not necessary, Instant Access works perfectly well without this
background program having been pre-loaded at boot-up. Delete
with The
Ultimate Troubleshooter (where it may show as INSTAN~1.EXE). |
|
Internat |
Internat.exe
(Microsoft)
|
This
Microsoft Windows program provides multilanguage support. It
will typically be running if you turned ON more than one
keyboard language, or if you installed some or all the
language options in Internet Explorer 5.0 or later. In
rare circumstances it conflicts with the Help in
Access 97.
Recommendation :
Unless you have the specific Access 97 problem above, this
program is harmless. So it is up to you if you want to
keep it or if you want to disable it with The
Ultimate Troubleshooter.
|
|
Internet
Answering Machine |
IAMSETUP.exe
(CallWave)
|
See
IAMSETUP entry above. |
|
Intrenat |
Intrenat.exe
(???) |
You have the
W32.HLLW.Doomjuice virus. |
|
Intuit.QuickBooks.FCS
QBFCService |
Intuit.QuickBooks.FCS.exe
(Intuit) |
QuickBooks
File Copy Service. Service which updates
QuickBooks in the background once the updates have been
downloaded from the QuickBooks servers.
Recommendation :
The Startup Mode of this service
is Manual, which means that it will start only as
and when needed, ie. when QuickBooks downloads updates –
Leave alone therefore.
Note :
If you have
QuickBooks set to auto-update automatically and the
update runs into problems contacting the Intuit servers
because of firewall issues on your PC, then there will be a
situation where every day this service will be running,
consuming upwards of 25Mb of memory, till the day that your
PC is able to auto-update. Thus, if you see this program
running on the TASKS tab of TUT day after day, then
either ensure that you resolve whatever communications
problems the QuickBooks automatic updating system is having,
or disable automatic updating in QuickBooks. |
|
IntuitUpdateService |
IntuitUpdateService.exe
(Intuit) |
Intuit
Automatic Update Service. Service
installed by some Intuit programs, Turbo Tax being one of
them, and whose role is to automatically update your Intuit
product in the background.
Recommendation :
Down to end-user preferences. From our own
experiences, however, and also from the experiences of our
TUT users worldwide, our own preference is to always turn
off Auto-Update from within the Intuit program and to
disable this program on the Services tab of The
Ultimate Troubleshooter
by changing its Startup Mode to Disabled.
We always perform updates manually and only after having
ensured we have a backup. In the past, Intuit have on one
or two occasions produced updates that have caused problems
– personal accounts, tax data,
and company accounts are not things you want messed up by a
rogue update with no backup to go back to !!!
This service normally uses from 1Mb to 7Mb of memory. |
|
IoctlSvc |
IoctlSvc.exe
(Prolific Technology) |
Utterly useless
and occasionally problematic background service installed
when a user installs the CD that comes with some USB thumb
drives (Memory sticks / Flash memory / USB memory / Pen
Drive). From our tests, and from our experience, despite
using very little memory this service performs no function
other than seriously impact the performance of some PCs. On
some PCs this service will often cause PC slowness or random
freezes.
Recommendation :
Immediately disable this task by setting its
Startup Mode to Disabled on the The
Ultimate Troubleshooter – your thumb drive
(Memory stick / Flash memory / USB memory / Pen Drive) will
work fine without it. |
|
ioloDMVSvc |
ioloDMVSvc.exe
(iolo Technologies) |
iolo DMV
Service. Shocking background service
introduced by iolo with System Mechanic 7 in mid December 2006.
We have no idea as to what this service actually does, and, at
the time of writing, iolo have not released any details about it
either. What we do know about is the incredible impact this
particular program had worldwide in preventing numerous
legitimate programs from working properly or at all, as well as
seriously destabilizing Windows itself. The behaviour of this
service is astounding and it is unimaginable that iolo released
a product which had such disastrous consequences. At the time
of writing, 27-Jan-2007 this service stops numerous programs
from starting; the list is endless : Zone Alarm, AJSystems,
Borland's Delphi programming environment, Intuit's QuickBooks,
Essential PIM, etc..., etc..., and our own TUT program. It is
nothing other than virus-like in all its aspects, starting from
the catastrophic effect it has on so many programs, to the fact
that even if you uninstall System Mechanic 7 this program stays
behind and continues its calamitous interference.
Recommendation :
Disable this service by changing its Startup
Mode to Disabled on the Services tab of
The
Ultimate Troubleshooter. System Mechanic 7
functions perfectly well without this service running.
10-Feb-2007 Update. Some users are reporting to us that
iolo have issued a fix. Our recommendation : update System
Mechanic 7 but, given the history, still keep this service
disabled.
12-Feb-2007 Update. Incredibly, after fixing the problem
in version 7.1.5 of System Mechanic, iolo Technologies
reintroduced it again with version 7.1.6 yesterday. Astounding
stuff.
|
|
ioloServiceManager
ioloFileInfoList |
ioloServiceManager.exe
(iolo Technologies) |
iolo Service
Manager. Core service of System Mechanic
which gets installed twice (!!) on the Services tab
of TUT. System Mechanic cannot work without this service
running in the background.
Recommendation :
Leave alone – System Mechanic cannot work
without this service running in the background.
Note : this service will occasionally decide to
gobble up memory. On most occasions it uses 2Mb to 12Mb of
memory. On other occasions, however, and we have no idea
what triggers it, it will keep gobbling up memory – 15Mb,
20Mb, 30Mb, 40Mb, 50Mb, and more ! This can only have a
detrimental effect on the performance of the PC. Make sure,
therefore, that you often check for updates. |
|
Iosdt |
Iosdt.exe
(???) |
You have a
Trojan virus on your PC – IOSDT.EXE is its main file. You
most probably tried to download illegal copies of Microsoft
software, and got infected by this trojan virus as a result (it
gives access to your PC from the Internet).
Recommendation :
Reboot your PC into Safe Mode and then do a search for all files
and folders which start with IOSDT and delete them.
Next, empty your Recycle Bin and reboot back into Normal Mode. |
|
Iowatch |
IOWatch.exe
(Iomega)
|
Iomega
Watch. This background task, installed with the
IomegaWare Zip/Jazz drive software, automatically prompts the
user for a password whenever a read-write protected disk is
inserted into the Zip/Jazz drive.
Recommendation :
Essential if you protect your Zip/Jazz disks with Iomega
Tools. The earlier versions of Iowatch caused conflicts
with other software under Windows 95/98. If you use a
really old version of IomegaWare (Iomega Tools 95), and you
are experiencing problems, then go to our Drivers
page and download and install the current version of
IomegaWare.
|
|
Ipmon32
IPInSightMonitor |
Ipmon32.exe
(Visual Networks) |
Task installed
by Visual Networks’ Visual IP Insight software. This
software will typically have been installed when you set up your
broadband Internet connection using your ISP’s installation CD.
At the time of writing, 13‑Jan‑2006, Visual Networks describe
Visual IP Insight as follows : “Visual IP InSight is
an IP service management system designed to help service
providers and enterprises manage IP connectivity and
accessibility to IP network services from the end-user
perspective. Visual IP InSight helps manage IP connectivity
across all IP access technologies, including dial, dedicated,
broadband (DSL, wireless, cable, ISDN), and VPN connections.
The product also features two application suites, Service Level
Manager and Customer Care. Service Level Manager helps monitor
and manage SLAs (Service Level Agreements), troubleshoot and
baseline network and connection performance-related issues by
setting alerts for predefined acceptable threshold levels.
Customer Care monitors performance from the end-user
perspective, whether the access technology is dial, DSL, Cable,
or VPN. Visual IP InSight is a three-tier architecture system
(LINK) comprised of ....... a back‑end composed of collectors,
aggregators and databases which collect, timestamp and store key
performance data .......”.
In summary this is a program which collects statistical
performance data about your Internet connection while you use it
and which sends it to your Internet Service Provider for them to
analyze and possibly pre‑empt problems and provide you with a
continually improving service.
Recommendation :
You should aim to get rid of this task immediately ! As with
many other organizations concerned with security, we do not like
the use of such data gathering programs – more importantly, in
2006 the network troubleshooting technology available to
Internet Service Providers is so advanced that there is
absolutely no need whatsoever for your ISP to run a
program on YOUR PC to help them pre‑empt
or troubleshoot Internet connection problems or improve the
quality of their Internet service. No need whatsoever.
Additionally, over the course of the two years since this task
has been around there have been in our view too many recorded
problems with it. Even Microsoft had to issue a Knowledge
Base article about this third party product, article KB892890,
as the bugs in this program were inconveniencing many users,
ranging, in our experience, from problems with errors when
opening or using the Control Panel, to boot-up errors, and
Access Violation errors.
To remove this program :
1) Disable this task on the Startups tab of
The
Ultimate Troubleshooter. Make sure to click
the big green APPLY button to make your changes stick.
2) Restart your PC.
3) To be totally certain that, in the case of your own
particular ISP, this task is not linked to areas other than the
ones explained above, run your PC with this task disabled for a
day or two.
3) Once you are satisfied that disabling this task has
not affected your Internet connection (if it has, re‑enable it),
if you want a guarantee you will definitely not have to
re‑install your Internet connection software, then go no further,
otherwise go into the Control Panel and run the “Add\Remove
Programs” icon.
4) If it is listed uninstall Visual IP
Insight.
5) Restart your PC.
6) Delete this task from the Startups tab of
The Ultimate Troubleshooter.
|
|
Ipodservice |
iPodService.exe
(Apple) |
Windows
2000/XP “iPod Hardware Management Services” service
installed by Apple’s iTunes music playing and
organizing software. In earlier versions of iTunes, on
installation iTunes would also install MusicMatch Jukebox. The
iPodService would sit in the System Tray and fire up MusicMatch
Jukebox whenever you connected your Apple iPod player. It is
also through this service that the sync’ing of your iPod and
MusicMatch libraries is done. In the later versions of iTunes,
such as version 6 or later, the iPodService is used by iTunes
itself to communicate with connected iPods.
Recommendation :
The Startup Mode of this service is Automatic
by default in earlier versions of iTunes, which is fine if you
have an iPod. However, if you do not use an iPod (ie. you only
use the iTunes software), then immediately set the Startup
Mode of this service to Manual on the Services
tab of The
Ultimate Troubleshooter as it uses up
to 5Mb of memory, which is significant. In the latest versions
of iTunes, such as version 6 or later, the Startup Mode of this
service is Manual, which is fine – in these newer
versions of iTunes this service gets started by the
ITUNESHELPER startup entry. |
|
Ipodsrv |
iPodSrv.exe
(Apple) |
Service
installed on Windows 2000/XP/2003 PCs when you install your iPod
software. We are not yet sure as to the role of this service.
Recommendation :
As we do not yet know what this service performs,
we can only recommend to leave it alone. |
|
Ipodwatcher |
iPodWatcher.exe
(Apple) |
iPod Watcher
Background task which watches for your Apple iPod being
connected to your PC and makes it available to Windows when you
physically connect your iPod to the PC. This task shows as an
Icon in the System Tray.
Recommendation :
Essential if you want to work with your iPod from
your PC – Leave alone. |
|
Iqrobot |
Iqrobot.exe
Remind.exe
(Hewlett-Packard) |
Registration Reminder
Program which gets installed with some HP drivers and which pops
up a reminder to register your printer.
Recommendation :
Disable this task with The
Ultimate Troubleshooter. Useless. |
|
Irmon |
Irmon.exe
(Microsoft) |
Infrared Monitor. System
Tray icon which enables you to monitor your Infrared
connections : you can see which infrared device you are
communicating with and monitor file or data transfer. Typically
installed by default on laptops where infrared is most commonly
used (with mobile phones), rather than on desktop PCs.
Recommendation :
If you do not want that icon cluttering your System Tray (ie:
you never use Infrared), go to the "Wireless Link" icon
in the Control Panel and disable Display an icon on the
taskbar. |
|
Isass |
isass.exe
(???) |
You have the
Backdoor.Futro virus.
Note – do not confuse this with LSASS which will most
times show as “lsass” in your Task List where the first letter
is in fact a lowercase “L” rather than an “i”. |
|
ISBMgr |
ISBMgr.exe
(Sony) |
Integrated
Sony Battery Manager. Task found on Sony
VAIO laptop and which shows up in the System Tray as a
battery indicator. It displays the charging status of the
battery.
Recommendation :
This task is essential for the proper
charging of your Sony laptop battery. Without it, on most
Sony laptops the battery will not charge. Leave alone
therefore.
Note 1 :
If your Sony battery dies and
you buy a non-Sony battery (ie. you buy a compatible battery
– compatible batteries are infinitely cheaper than Sony
batteries) this service will check whether the new battery
is a Sony or non-Sony battery. If it detects that it is
not a Sony battery, it issues an error message saying
that “Your computer is going to sleep because the
battery may be incompatible”, and then it puts your
computer into sleep mode. To restart the laptop you then
usually have to take the battery out and work the laptop off
the AC adapter. If you disable this task on the
STARTUPS tab of The
Ultimate Troubleshooter, you are then able use
the laptop with the battery but you will find that
the battery does NOT charge (you are simply working
off the charge it had when it was sold to you) and that the
battery indicator in the System Tray is unreliable.
So, what do you do if you absolute want to use a cheaper
non-Sony battery ? One solution that seems to work on a
number of Sony laptops is to do as follows :
1) Start the laptop without your new compatible battery.
Work off your AC adapter directly from the mains
2) Disable this task on the STARTUPS tab of TUT.
3) Download and install a program called “Notebook
Hardware Control” from this website
(at the time of writing,
13-Sep-2008, this website was deemed a safe site and free of
any malware by McAfee’s SiteAdvisor.com).
4) Install the program and configure it.
5) Plug in your new compatible non-Sony battery.
6) Configure “Notebook Hardware Control” to
ensure that it is able to recognize your new battery, its
charging level, and is able to charge it. If it is, then
you’re winning !
7) Test that your battery does charge by charging it and
then trying to work solely off the battery with the AC
adaptor unplugged.
Note 2 :
The above solution notwithstanding, some
Sony laptops will simply not work with a compatible battery
because Sony has hard wired into the laptop’s motherboard
the detection of a non-Sony battery (as opposed to leaving
it to ISBMGR). When that is the case the laptop will not
even turn ON. We currently do not have a workaround for
this type of situation.
This program normally uses 1Mb to 20Mb of memory. |
|
Isdbdc |
Isdbdc.exe
(Compaq / Trident??) |
Background task found
solely on Compaq Presario PCs and which seems to be related to
the Trident graphics video drivers – but we are not certain
about that. We do not know what this task does.
Recommendation :
If you intend to use Adobe products, make sure you have the
latest Trident drivers as there seems to be a conflict between
the early versions of ISDBDC and some Adobe products, resulting
in "Invalid Page Fault" errors. Other than that, as we
do not know what this task does we can only recommend that you
leave it alone. |
|
ispnews |
ispnews.exe
(F-Secure Corporation) |
F-Secure
AntiVirus System Tray icon. Icon for
your ISP-branded F‑Secure Internet Security Suite as
supplied by your Internet Service Provider. It enables the
end‑user to open the main F-Secure Internet Security Control
Center, or to run specific features (e.g. check for updates)
directly from the System Tray.
Recommendation :
Keep – this icon provides a quick visual
check that your F-Secure Internet Security is working
properly (or not) and it allows quick access to its various
functions and features. |
|
Iss_srvr |
ISS_Srvr.exe
(Intel) |
Internet Sharing Server
task which is part of the Intel AnyPoint network software. This
task enables the PC on which it is running, to be the Internet
gateway for the other PCs connected to the Intel AnyPoint
network.
Recommendation :
Essential to the proper running of your Intel AnyPoint network –
leave alone. |
|
Issvc |
ISSVC.exe
(Symantec) |
Symantec’s
Internet Security Service installed on Windows 2000/XP by
Norton Internet Security 2005.
Recommendation :
While we do not know the exact role of this service, we do know
that Norton Internet Security 2005 cannot function properly if
this service is stopped – it is an integral part of Norton
Internet Security. Leave alone therefore. |
|
Istsvc |
ISTSvc.exe
(Integrated Search Technologies) |
Internet Explorer Toolbar
picked up mainly on pornographic sites. While it can be
responsible for popup advertisements, its purpose is mainly to
provide an Internet Explorer toolbar which enables the end-user
to (we quote) "find the best adult material available on the
net".
Recommendation :
Down to end-user preference. It can be de-installed via the
"Add/Remove Programs" icon in the Control Panel. Once done,
to ensure complete removal also run Spybot Search & Destroy
from our
Downloads library. |
|
IswSvc |
IswSvc.exe
(Check Point Software Technologies) |
ZoneAlarm
ForceField Service. ZoneAlarm ForceField
provides a protective layer around the web browser by
virtualising the web browser and therefore shielding your
preferred web browser from permanent infection from
drive-by-downloads, browser exploits, phishing attempts,
spyware and keyloggers, so that passwords, confidential
information and financial data remain protected (your
browser may become infected during a browsing session but as
soon as you close it the infection is removed – your real
browser remains uninfected). This service is the core
service of ForceField.
Recommendation :
Down to end-user requirements or preference.
All virtualization comes with a performance penalty, and
ZoneAlarm’s ForceField is no different. Our experience of
browsing the web with ForceField turned ON shows a
noticeable performance hit when browsing the web. Since we
consider ourselves safe users we would turn ForceField OFF
through the System Tray icon.
Your choice : if you find the performance hit too much to
bear, as mentioned you can turn ForceField OFF through the
System Tray icon and then following that by ensuring that
the Startup Mode of this service is set to
Manual or Disabled on the Services
tab of The
Ultimate Troubleshooter and disabling the ForceField
startup icon on the Startups tab of TUT. |
|
Ituneshelper |
iTunesHelper.exe
(Apple) |
Background task
installed by Apple’s iTunes music player and also by
version 7 of QuickTime which now comes inseparably
bundled with iTunes. We are not 100% certain but we believe
this task to be what used to be a 3rd party add-on
program in the early days of Apple’s iPod when its iTunes
software was incompatible with many CD-Writers. The then
ITUNESHELPER was an add-on that would sit between iTunes and a
PC’s CD-Writer, and would simulate being a compatible CD-Writer
that iTunes could then utilize to create CDs on an otherwise
unsupported CD-Writer. ITUNESHELPER is no longer a 3rd
party add-on, it is now an Apple program and part of the iTunes
software itself, and our guess is that it is now iTunes’ main CD
writing interface.
Recommendation :
If this task is currently running, and you have
iTunes open, leave it alone. That said, this task, usually
installed as a startup, does not actually need to be installed
as a startup since iTunes starts it up anyway when it needs it.
We recommend therefore that you disable ITUNESHELPER on the
Startups tab of The
Ultimate Troubleshooter
and let iTunes start it up whenever it needs to, particularly
since it has a history of occasionally conflicting with other
software and it uses nearly 6Mb of memory. |
|
IType |
IType.exe
(Microsoft) |
Microsoft
IntelliType Pro.
Recommendation :
Down to end-user preference. |
|
iviRegMgr |
iviRegMgr.exe
(InterVideo) |
Registration
reminder service for WinDVD. Service
installed when you install the WinDVD DVD player
(which often comes bundled with new PCs) and which
occasionally reminds the user to register WinDVD.
Recommendation :
Disable immediately. You can disable this
service on the Services tab of The
Ultimate Troubleshooter by changing its Startup Mode
to either Manual or Disabled. |
|
Ivpsvmgr |
IVPSvMgr.exe
(Toshiba) |
Toshiba IVP
Service Manager application which appears as a red satellite
dish icon in the System Tray. This is Toshiba’s equivalent to
the Windows Automatic Update feature as, whenever you are
connected to the Internet, it will check for Windows updates and
Toshiba updates.
Recommendation :
Automatic updating of a PC is a feature we always
recommend against, as from time to time supposedly necessary
upgrades significantly mess up a PC that was previously
working fine. Always manually update your PC.
Additionally, as regards IVPSVMGR specifically, we have noticed
that it is responsible for slower boot-up times, and, worse,
slower Internet access. We recommend therefore that you disable
this task with The
Ultimate Troubleshooter. |
|
Iw |
Iw.exe
(InternetWasher.com) |
You have the Internet
Washer program open or minimized to the System Tray
(Internet Washer is a program which enables you to manage your
cookies, delete all temporary files including temporary Internet
files, provides protection for your homepage settings, and
more). |
|
Iwar
Aaar,
Aasd,
Acao,
Aerr,
Amra,
Channelup,
Ctcr,
Deam,
Earu,
Eber,
Enns,
Euea,
Holu,
Iaas,
Oato
Oecm
Oeet,
Ohdd,
Oocs,
Opac,
Oses,
Resw,
Saea,
Saus
Sibc,
Sodd,
Tdrp,
Tesc,
Ttuh,
Whra,
Wted
Aatn,
Aida,
Auta,
Bnop,
Bssa,
Bssn,
Cspa,
Dsds,
Hela,
Hurd,
Laoc,
Lour,
Moun,
Mtst,
Muue,
Noha,
Notn,
Oewe,
Osus,
Rcsh,
Reoe,
Rper,
Smuc,
Sltr,
Upao,
Uate,
Woss
|
Iwar.exe
Aaar.exe,
Aasd.exe,
Acao.exe,
Aerr.exe,
Amra.exe,
ChannelUp.exe,
Ctcr.exe,
Deam.exe,
Earu.exe,
Eber.exe,
Enns.exe,
Euea.exe,
Holu.exe,
Iaas.exe,
Oato.exe,
Oecm.exe,
Oeet.exe,
Ohdd.exe,
Oocs.exe,
Opac.exe,
Oses.exe,
Resw.exe,
Saea.exe,
Saus.exe,
Sibc.exe,
Sodd.exe,
Tdrp.exe,
Tesc.exe,
Ttuh.exe,
Whra.exe,
Wted.exe
|
Task which is
dropped onto your PC when you run the free “hidden
pornography” scanner from PuritySCAN.com. At the time
of writing, 9‑May‑2004, PuritySCAN.com purports to scan your PC
for hidden pornography and help you remove it. For a start, at
the time of writing, 9‑May‑2004, the scan for pornographic
content is a total scam and downright dangerous. The
scan will reports files like ASSETS.GIF and
ASSETS.EXE as files containing pornographic material
because, wait for it, because ..... the names of the files
contain the word “ass”. Shocking, shocking, shocking. If we
had gone ahead and “cleaned” our test hard drive of the
reported files, we would have lost “ASSETS.GIF” which is a
graphic file that is part of Microsoft Office 2000, and we would
have lost “ASSETS.EXE” which is asset management software !!
And it gets worse : STRIPED.GIF will also have been deleted
because the filename has the letters “strip”, and,
unbelievably, SUNBANNA.GIF will have been deleted because the
filename contains the letters .......... “Anna” ! There are no
words to describe a scam like this one.
It gets worse
still : what this software also does do is drop this file
together with a second one onto your PC (The
Ultimate Troubleshooter will also highlight the second file),
sets both up as startup entries, and the PC then gets inundated
with popup advertisements and also experiences serious Internet
browsing performance issues. As much as it irritates us to be,
to be fair there is a license agreement which states, amongst
other things, that you agree to receive advertising : “By
installing PurityScan you understand and agree that PurityScan
will make the following changes to your Internet Browser:
Several PROMOTIONAL CONSOLES (daughter console/interstitial) may
be launched for the duration of time you spend online. These
consoles may continue to be launched as long as you have
PurityScan installed on your machine. PurityScan does not
monitor the activities or collect information from users once
they have left PurityScan. By downloading PurityScan, you
understand that these changes cannot be reversed without running
the removal executable of PurityScan. If you try to change
the items above manually, your changes will be lost when you
reboot or turn off your computer.”.
This is
nightmarish adware posing as a free service to the Internet
community – the publishers know full well that 90% of users
never read License Agreements and that they will therefore get
conned into running a not only useless but dangerous scan, and
they will also get infected with adware (advertising software)
! Since its introduction in 2002 this task not only constantly
changes name, to evade detection, but it has also
appeared in the Task List of users who have never accessed
PuritySCAN.com, so we suspect that ClickSpring have an
Affiliates programme which allows unscrupulous websites to
co‑brand the PuritySCAN program so they can lure users into
running scans of their PCs while at the same time dropping onto
those PCs this task which will continually pull up popup
advertisements about their products ! Through investigation
and talking to infected users, we even have strong
circumstantial evidence that this task is obtained, of all
places, on pornographic websites which provide a free “tool
to erase all traces of the user’s visit to those sites” !!
Finally, we
have also noticed that all users who had this task and who did
not have adequate antivirus protection, were all infected
with the Badtrans virus – we are not yet sure of the
reason for this strange coincidence.
Recommendation :
Get rid of this task immediately. Read the
following carefully to do so.
1) Terminate IWAR (or its equivalent) on the Tasks
tab of The
Ultimate Troubleshooter.
2) Terminate the second task which The Ultimate Troubleshooter
will have also identified as being ClickSpring software.
3) Switch to the Startups tab, highlight the
startup entry which has IWAR.EXE, right-click on it and
choose the “Delete from the hard disk the file that this
startup points to” menu option. Delete the file.
4) Repeat this file deletion process for all other tasks
identified on the Startups tab as being ClickSpring
software (do not assume there will only be two ClickSpring
startup entries – there are sometimes many more).
5) Search your hard disk for a file called PURITYSCAN.EXE.
If you find it, delete it.
6) Delete all ClickSpring entries from the Startups
tab of The Ultimate Troubleshooter.
7) Finally, make sure you have a reputable antivirus product,
manually update it fully, then reboot your PC into Safe Mode and
run a full virus scan of your PC.
8) Reboot into Normal Mode and empty your Recycle Bin.
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Iwctrl |
IWCtrl.exe
(NovaStor Corporation) |
NovaStor’s Instant Write
Control Center. Instant Write is the packet writing portion of
the NovaDisk CD/DVD mastering software for Windows 95/98. Packet
writing software is software which enables the end-user to put
data on a CD directly from any Windows application, e.g. drag
and drop from Windows Explorer, saving a document from within
your wordprocessor, etc...
Recommendation :
NovaDisk is an old no longer supported product. If your
CD-Writer is that old, the likelihood is that it will soon need
replacing with a newer one. All CD-Writers come nowadays with
some CD-Writing software, so when you eventually replace your
CD-Writer, install and use the newer software also (after first
de-installing NovaDisk). |
|
Izymail (1) |
IzyMail.exe
(IzySoft) |
IzySoft’s
IzyMail Server task which enables you to retrieve your
webmail from Yahoo, Hotmail, or MSN, into any POP3 email program
such as Microsoft Outlook, Eudora, Pegasus Mail, Netscape,
Mozilla, etc...
Recommendation :
If you are using IzyMail then this task is
essential for the proper functioning of the product – Leave
alone. |
|
Izymail (2) |
IzyMail.exe
(DigiPortal Software) |
WebMail Gateway
Server background task which enables the ChoiceMail
spam filtering software to retrieve mail from your webmail email
accounts with Yahoo, Hotmail, MSN and AOL. This software is the
customized‑by‑DigiPortal version of IzySoft’s IzyMail Server
software.
Recommendation :
Essential for the proper functioning of
ChoiceMail when interfacing with your webmail email accounts –
Leave alone. |
|
All of the tasks below, and many more, although not detailed on this page, are explained in full in The Ultimate Troubleshooter.
The Ultimate Troubleshooter (TUT), has the full database in a remarkably easy and pleasing interface which makes the process of fine tuning your PC, or troubleshooting your computer's problems, a snip. Get it here.
I11r54n4.exe, I1ru54n4.exe, I1ru74n4.exe, IAANotif.exe, IAANTMon.exe, Iakd.exe, IAM.exe, iAVEmailScanner.exe, IBMmessages.exe, IBMPRC.exe, IBMtcsd.exe, Ibot4.exe, Ico.exe,
Icon0240BDFB3.exe, Iconize.exe, Iconoid.exe, IconSaver.exe,
ICQ.exe, ICQLite.exe, ICQNET.vbs, Idd.exe,
IDMan.exe, IDTemplate.exe, IEExec.exe, IEHost.EXE, IEMaximizer.exe,
IEMonitor.exe, Ieplore.exe, IES4SERVICE.SYS, IEUSER.exe,
Iexp1ore.exe, IExpiore .exe, Iexploit.html, Iexplor.exe, IExplore .exe, Iexplore1.exe, Iexplorer.exe, Iexplorer0.exe, iface.exe, IFrmeWrk.exe, Igfxext.exe, Igfxpers.exe, Igfxsrvc.exe, ihsMailProxyServer.exe, ihsMain.exe, ihsService.exe, ihsSpamFilterEngine.exe,
IIabcoms.exe, iKnowPS.exe, Illustrator.exe, im_1.exe, Imager.exe,
Imagic40free.exe, ImapiRox.exe, Imbservice.exe, iMesh6.exe,
IMNotfy.exe, IMSpellchecker.exe,
Inclusive_CD_Player.exe, InDesign.exe, Indexindicator.exe, Inetdbs.exe, Inetman.exe, Inetupd.exe, Infocard.exe, InfoMyCa.exe, Informe.exe, Inicio.exe, Injobs.exe, InkMonitor.exe, InoRpc.exe, InoRT.exe, InoTask.exe, InPro.exe, InPro.exe, Wscript.exe Install.log.vbs,
InstallShield Licensing Service.exe, InstallStub.exe, InstantNotes.exe,
IntelDHSvcConf.exe, IntelHCTAgent.exe, Intell321.exe, Intellicast.exe, IntelMEM.exe, Internet.exe, Internt.exe, Intspvc.exe,
Intuit Fuse Service.exe, InvokeSvc3.exe,
IObit SmartDefrag.exe, ioloAV.exe, ioloFW.exe, IoloSGCtrl.exe, iPassConnectEngine.exe,
IPSSvc.exe, iPCAgent.exe, Ipccheck.exe, IPF.exe, Ipmon.exe, Ipnuker.vbs, Ipoint.exe, IPSecdialer.exe,
IPTray.exe, Ipwf.exe, Ir.exe, Irun4.exe, Irwftp.exe, iSafe.exe, isass32.exe, Ismserv.exe, ISPSelector.exe, ISPSupport.exe, isPwdSvc.exe, Israfel.vbs, Issch.exe,
ISSM.exe, ISStart.exe, ISUSPM.exe,
ISWMGR.exe, ITMRTSVC.exe, iTouch.exe, iTunes.exe, iTunesMusic.exe, Ivvtowii.exe
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