S24evmon

S24EvMon.exe

(Intel)

Service installed on Windows 2000/XP by the drivers for the Intel wireless adapter on laptops where both the onboard network card and wireless adapter are both Intel based.  This service acts as a software “bridge” between the drivers for the network card and those for the wireless port.

Recommendation :
Essential for the proper of your wireless port.  If you do not use your wireless port then you can set the  Startup Mode  of this service to  Manual  on the  Services  tab of  The Ultimate Troubleshooter.

Saea

Saea.exe

See   IWAR.
 

Savedump

SaveDump.exe

(Microsoft)

Microsoft  Windows NT4/2000 SaveDump  utility.  This program will appear on a reboot of your Windows NT4/2000 PC if the PC crashed or rebooted without warning.  As per Microsoft’s description :  On this next reboot  “SAVEDUMP  transfers the Windows crash dump from the paging file to the Memory.dmp file during the system startup. Other programs and services that are started during this process may perform poorly.  If the server is providing services to users, those services may not provide timely responses to client requests.”.   Once  SAVEDUMP  has performed this operation, it normally terminates automatically.

Recommendation :
Unless you have a support contract with Microsoft, the information saved into a dump file by SAVEDUMP will be useless to you as only Microsoft can decipher this information.  Additionally, SAVEDUMP can sometimes significantly hinder the proper booting up of a PC, specifically if that PC is a server, with some services refusing to start.  Lastly, SAVEDUMP will itself sometimes refuse to terminate automatically, thus causing significant performance degradation to the PC while it continues to run.  For all these reasons our recommendation is to disable the  “Save Dump”  feature of Windows 2000 in the following manner :
1)   Click on  “Start \ Run”.
2)   Type   DRWTSN32.
3)   Uncheck all options on the screen that comes up.
4)   Click  OK.
5)   Reboot your PC.

Savscan

SAVScan.exe

(Symantec)

Auto-Protect service for Norton AntiVirus 2004/5 under Windows 2000/XP/2003.  This service scans files for viruses in the background as and when they are accessed or created.

Recommendation : 
Absolutely essential for the protection of your PC against viruses – Leave alone.  Note, however, that the early versions of this background service (October to December 2003) were occasional prone to using excessive amounts of CPU, so ensure that you sometimes do a manual  LiveUpdate  from within Norton AntiVirus 2004/5 in order to pick up the latest software updates (as distinct from the “virus definitions” updates which the automatic LiveUpdate picks up and installs silently in the background).

Sbhc

SBHC.exe

(Gigatech Software)

SuperBar Internet Explorer Plugin which purports to enhance your web browser (movie listings, password helper, form filler, search engine enhancement & phrase finder).  Note :  this is a different product from the SuperBar Toolbar management and configuration shareware utility of the same name.  Most users who have SuperBar, the IE Plugin, never willingly installed it, it got installed with other software, typically MP3 software.

Recommendation :
At the time of writing, March 2004, we have only seen this program on a handful of PCs, but every time we have come across it we were able to measure performance degradation directly linked to this program.  Although there is now an uninstall program on the Gigatech site, we ourselves uninstalled it by simply deleting the entry on the  Startups  tab of  The Ultimate Troubleshooter, and then deleting the folder  “C:\Program Files\Superbar”.

ScardSvr

SCardDrv

Smart Card

Smart Card
Helper

ScardSvr.exe

(Microsoft)

Microsoft’s Smart Card & Smart Card Helper service, also called  Smart Card Resource Management Server.  This service has a dual function :  on the one hand it enables support for old non Plug & Play smart card readers, and on the other hand it also provides support for Plug & Play smart card readers.  Our Thanks to Microsoft for thoroughly confusing descriptions !!  In short :  if you have a Smart Card reader, you should have this service running whatever the age of your reader.

Recommendation :
Essential if you have a Smart Card reader, otherwise disable it by setting it to  Manual  in  “Control Panel \ Administrative Tools \ Services”.

Scardsvr32

Navpw32

Smart Card Helper

ScardSvr32.exe

Navpw32.exe

(???)

You have the   W32.Femot.Worm / W32/MoFei.worm / WORM_MOFEI.A or B   virus.

SCKTSRVR

SCKTSRVR.EXE

(Borland)

Borland Socket Server.  Program usually run as a service and which enables programs running on client computers to communicate with a server program on the network fileserver.  Both the client programs and the server program will typically be written in Borland Delphi  (Note: sometimes both the client and server programs will be running on the same computer or server).

Recommendation :
If this program is running on your PC or server it is almost always because it was installed by software that needs it.  Thus, unless you know the full details as to why this program is running on your PC/server, leave it alone.

Scm

SCM.exe

(Microsoft)

Service Control Manager utility for Microsoft’s SQL Desktop Engine (MSDE) and which allows the user to start and stop SQL Server or the MSDE services from the command prompt or a batch file.

Recommendation :
If it appears in your Task or Services list, it is most probably by design.  Our recommendation, therefore, is to leave it alone.

Scnpanel

ScnPanel.exe

(Artec)

Artec System Tray Scan Panel application which is installed with the drivers for some of their scanners, typically the e+ 48U series.  This System Tray icon enables you to scan directly from the System Tray into a specific application, to email, or to OCR.  You can also do Direct (photo)copies from it, which effectively is scanning directly to the printer.  You can also configure the scanner and the various scanning functions through this icon.

Recommendation :  
Down to end-user preference, although we strongly recommend you never use the  Scan‑to‑email  function; it is buggy and in our experience freezes the PC in most cases !   Read on :  we have also come across many instances where  SCNPANEL  will make the entire PC freeze either when doing any type of printing, or when printing to a printer which has run out of paper.  For all these reasons we ourselves always disable this task on the  Startups  tab of  The Ultimate Troubleshooter  as it is too buggy for comfort.

Scrub2k

Scrub98

Scrub9x

Scrub2k.exe

Scrub98.exe

Scrub9x.exe

(Hewlett-Packard)

“Scrubber” application included with the drivers for some HP DeskJet printers and which gets rid of specific driver files and registry entries for the HP printer that it came with, in case should you have problems installing or de-installing the printer.   This utility is normally intended to be run manually, however sometimes the installation software for a particular DeskJet will use it as a pre-installation cleanup task, and will then in error leave it to auto‑start every time you start your PC.

Recommendation :  
This task should not be in your Task List after a fresh start/restart of your PC.   If it is, delete it in  The Ultimate Troubleshooter  and reboot your PC.

Scsiaccess

SCSIAccess.exe

(Photodex Corporation)

ASPI driver used by Photodex’s  CompuPic  &  ProShow  digital imaging and presentation products.  In earlier versions of the above products, SCSIACCESS was an ever present background program or service installed to enable CompuPic and ProShow to create CDs and DVDs using your CD or DVD Writer.  In 2005 this driver is only used on PCs where the underlying Windows driver is not recent enough.

Recommendation : 
When present this task is essential to the proper functioning of your CompuPic or ProShow software, so leave it alone.

Scureapp.exe

Scureapp.exe

(Softex Inc)

Background task which is part of the   OmniPass   software found on laptops for authentication into your laptop using fingerprints, smartcards, or other biometric method.

Recommendation :
Down to end-user requirements.  Read about the  Softex OmniPass Service (OMNISERV.EXE)  on the  Tasks  or  Services  tab of  The Ultimate Troubleshooter  to decide whether you want to have this startup enabled or not on the  Startups  tab of TUT.

Scvhost

Windows Service Host

SCVHOST.exe

(???)

You have the  Backdoor.Sdbot.N  virus, or one of the  Gaobot  viruses, or one of the many other viruses which drop  SCVHOST.EXE  (not to be confused with SVCHOST  further down this page).

Sear1

Sear1.exe
 

See   WINSERVN.

Services  (1)

Services.exe

(Microsoft)

Windows NT4/2000/XP/2003 only.  This is the Services Control Manager which is responsible for starting, stopping, and interacting with system services.  It’s full path as shown in  The Ultimate Troubleshooter   is either   C:\WINNT\System32\Services.exe  in Windows NT4/2000, or  C:\Windows\System32\Services.exe  in Windows XP/2003.

Recommendation :
An integral part of the operating system, leave alone.

Services  (2)

Services.exe

(???)

If, regardless of which version of Windows you have, this task appears on the  Startups  tab of  The Ultimate Troubleshooter,  then you most definitely have a virus such as the   W32.Ahker.B@mm   virus.

If you have Windows NT4/2000/XP/2003  and  the full path to this program on the  Tasks  tab of  The Ultimate Troubleshooter  is
C:\WinNT\Services.exe 
or 
C:\Windows\Services.exe 
or 
C:\Windows\inetg\Services.exe 
or 
C:\WinNT\inetg\Services.exe 
or  C:\Program Files\Common Files\Services.exe  or 
C:\Documents and Settings\ <anything_here>\Services.exe, 

then you also most probably have a virus such as the   W32.Netsky@mm  or  W32.Neveg.B@mm  or  W32.Conycspa@mm    virus.

If you have Windows 95/98/ME  and  this task is running in the background, then you most probably have one of those viruses too.

Servicese

(???)

Sessmgr

RDSessMgr

SessMgr.exe

(Microsoft)

Remote Desktop Help Session Manager.  This service manages and controls  Remote Assistance,  a  “named‑for‑lay‑persons”  subset of Microsoft’s Remote Desktop Sharing technology.  Introduced in Windows XP and also present in Windows 2003 server, but not present, by design, in Windows XP 64-bit.  As per Microsoft :  “Remote Assistance is a technology in Windows XP which enables Windows XP users to help each other over an internal network or over the Internet.  With this tool, one user, called the "Expert," can view the desktop of another user, the "Novice.".   With the Novice's permission, the Expert can even share control of the Novice's computer to resolve issues remotely.  With Remote Assistance, a Help Desk can assist users on the network, which is known as the Offer Remote Assistance feature.”.

Recommendation :
We do not see this feature ever taking off.  The mechanics for an end-user to invite assistance from an Expert are too long-winded and involve too many steps and programs.  In this day and age of speed, speed, and speed, it is faster to drop a quick email, or pick up the phone, to the Help Desk, so we really do not see Microsoft’s Remote Assistance feature getting anywhere fast !   Irrespective of our views, unless Remote Assistance has been set up on your PC by your network manager, or you set it up, then it is 99% certain that you do not need to have this service running.  To disable this service go into  “Control Panel \ Administrative Tools \ Services”,  look for the  Remote Desktop Help Session Manager  service and set it to  Disabled.

Sgtbox

SGTBox.exe

(Canon)

Canon’s ScanGear Toolbox System Tray application which comes with Canon scanners.

Recommendation : 
If you no longer have a Canon scanner, de-install via the "Add/Remove Program" icon in the Control Panel.

Shellmon

ShellMon.exe

(AOL)

Task which gets installed with AOL 8.0, AOL 8.1, and AOL 9.x.  At the time of writing, March 2005, we still do not yet know what this task does, and the response from some AOL techs is hilarious :  some of them do not even realise that this program is an AOL program and so they direct you to Microsoft for answers !!!  Stunning.

Recommendation :  
As we are not sure about what it does, we can only recommend you leave this task alone.

Sibc

Sibc.exe
 

See   IWAR.

Sideact

SideACT.exe

(Best Software)

SideACT! is an add-on to the well known ACT! contact manager software.  It enables you to create To-Do lists which are not tied to a contact.  By default the only way to be able to create a To-Do list, or a task, in ACT!, is to attach it to a contact in the ACT! database, which is a problem when you want to use ACT! for a to‑do task that is not contact related, such as :  Talk to the Bank Manager about a loan.  This sort of non-contact related to-do task is exactly what SideACT! was created for and allows you to have.  From ACT! 4.0 and later, SideACT! is installed at the same time as ACT! as a System Tray icon which you click on whenever you want to access your non-contact related To-Do lists.

Recommendation :  
Keep it.  Even if you disable it with  The Ultimate Troubleshooter,  ACT! re-instates it as a startup task when you next open ACT!.

Sisswled

SiSSwLED.exe

(Silicon Integrated Systems – SiS)

System Tray utility for the SiS 900 network cards (these are usually onboard network cards).  This program displays a network usage LED in your System Tray.  This LED lights up whenever network traffic takes place, much in the same way as Windows 2000 and Windows XP provide by default.

Recommendation : 
Network traffic LEDs are quite useful, particularly when troubleshooting problems. Unless you experience problems with this program, leave it running.  If you are using Windows 2000/XP/2003, however, then disable this utility and use the native Windows network traffic LED instead.

SkypePM

SkypePM.exe

(Skype Technologies)

Skype Plugin Manager.  One of the new features introduced in Skype in February/March 2007, is the Extras Gallery.  Extras are third-party plug-ins that let users expand Skype’s functionality (You can see what extras are available at extras.skype.com).  At the time of writing, 31-May-2007, the Gallery is protected against unauthorized copying or unlicensed use by a plug-in manager software framework, this program, which was developed by a company called EasyBits Software.

Recommendation :
Down to end-user requirements.

If you have purchased some Skype Extras, then you will need to leave this program running.

If you have  NOT  purchased Skype Extras, on the other hand, then you should uninstall this program as, at the time of writing, 31-May-2007, it is responsible for a number of problems, including the inability for the PC to hibernate or go into sleep mode, crashes on some PCs, or inability to shut Windows down at the first attempt – you have to tell Windows to shut down twice (double shutdown).  To disable the Skype Plugin Manager, do as follows :

1)   Uninstall Skype.

2)   Re-install Skype.  On the initial first window you should see in the bottom left an  OPTIONS  button.

3)   Click that  OPTIONS  button and uncheck   Install Skype Extras Manager.

4)   Continue with the installation.

5)   That’s it.  You’re done !

SlowDownCPU

SlowDownCPU.exe

(MSI Computer Corporation)

SlowDownCPU utility.  Disastrous motherboard utility found on PCs built with specific MSI motherboards.  This utility is supposed to increase the compatibility of those motherboards with Windows XP SP2.  Well, all it does is generate startup delays,  “Failure to load hardware monitor driver”  errors, random computer crashes or seizures, random shutdowns, and random reboots.  This is a terrible utility !

Recommendation :
Immediately disable this utility, SlowDownCPU, on the  Startups  tab of  The Ultimate Troubleshooter  and reboot.  After a week, if disabling this utility has not caused problems, delete it from the  Startups  tab.

Sm1bg

SM1BG.exe

(Cypress Semiconductor)

Background task installed by the drivers for USB based hard disks or other such storage devices (MP3 players, etc...).  Cypress Semiconductor is the OEM manufacturer who will have made the interface and written the driver for your USB storage device;  this will in turn have been packaged into the product that you bought (an OEM manufacturer is a manufacturer who builds products for other manufacturers to sell under their own badge – it is unlikely, therefore, that your USB storage device will bear the Cypress name).

Recommendation :
Essential for the proper operation of your USB storage device.

Sm56hlpr

SM56Hlpr.exe

(Motorola)

Tray icon which gets installed with the drivers for the Motorola SM56 range of modems.  As with most modem tray icon software, this is of little use and simply clutters the System Tray.

Recommendation : 
Disable using  The Ultimate Troubleshooter.

Smagent

SMAgent.exe

(Analog Devices Inc. – ADI)

SoundMAX System Tray icon which gets installed with the drivers for soundcards or onboard sound based on Analog Devices’ chipsets.   It gives you access to the SoundMAX v4 software suite from the System Tray.

Recommendation :  
Down to end-user preference.   You can disable it with  The Ultimate Troubleshooter.

SmartCenter97

SmartCtr.exe

(Lotus – IBM)

Lotus SmartSuite 97 Toolbar.  As with the Microsoft Office Toolbar, this toolbar initially sits at the top of your screen and gives you access, from that toolbar, to all the programs in the SmartSuite office suite.  Again, as with the Microsoft Office Toolbar, you can customize it to include non-Lotus programs.

Recommendation : 
This is a matter of pure end-user preference.  If you need to you can disable it with  The Ultimate Troubleshooter.

Smlogsvc

SysmonLog

SMLogSvc.exe

(Microsoft)

Performance Logs and Alerts service – Windows 2000/XP/2003.  This background service collects performance data from local or remote computers based on scheduled jobs and either writes that data to specific log files, or it triggers an alert, or it does both.  Typically this service is started by performance jobs scheduled in  Administrative Tools \ Performance, or in other Microsoft applications such as the Performance Monitor of Microsoft ISA server or of Microsoft Exchange Server.  If the service is running and is then stopped by the end-user, currently running data collections will terminate and no future scheduled collections will take place. If started, this service will stop automatically when there is no longer any performance data to collect.

Recommendation :
This service will typically be set to  Manual  and should be left as such.  As and when a job is scheduled in the Performance Monitoring section of a particular Microsoft application, that application will start this service as soon as it needs to and the service will later stop automatically when there are no performance monitoring applications that need its services.

Smreminder

Smreminder.exe

(Shockwave.com)

Another registration reminder application, this time from Shockwave’s Shockmachine software.  This background registration reminder program gets installed when you install Shockmachine.

Recommendation : 
Delete using  The Ultimate Troubleshooter.

Sms

KernelFaultChk

Sms.exe

(???)

You have the   W32.HLLW.Deadhat / Vesser   virus.

Smss  (1)

Smss.exe

(Microsoft)

Windows NT4/2000/XP/2003 only.  SMSS is the Session Manager SubSystem.  SMSS’s purpose is to start, manage, and delete user sessions (or client sessions under Terminal Services).  Under Terminal Services the management part includes dealing with the different subsystems (OS/2, Win32, POSIX) which a client session may wish to run.   The full path to the genuine Microsoft  SMSS  shows in  The Ultimate Troubleshooter  as :    C:\Windows\System32\smss.exe.  If the path is different then you have a virus – see below.

Recommendation :
An integral part of the operating system, leave alone.

Smss  (2)

Services.dll

Smss.exe

(???)

If you have Windows 95/98/ME, then you have a virus.  If you have Windows NT4/2000/XP/2003 and the path to this task shows in  The Ultimate Troubleshooter  as anything other than   C:\Windows\System32\smss.exe,  then you have a virus, such as the   W32.Sober.L@mm   virus.

Smssnt

Smssnt.exe

(???)

You have the  W32.HLLW.Gaobot.EE  virus.

SMSvcHost

NetTcpPortSharing

SMSvcHost.exe

(Microsoft)

.Net TCP/IP Port Sharing Service.  Because of the advanced technical nature of this service, we will just once have a description aimed at the technical user rather than the layman.

When the TCP/IP protocol was first introduced, there were only a handful of applications for it.  From the start TCP/IP used port numbers to differentiate between applications by assigning a unique 16-bit port number to each of these types of application (application protocols). For example, HTTP traffic is standardized to use TCP port 80, FTP uses TCP port 21, SMTP uses port 25, DNS uses port 53, DHCP port 67, and so on. Other applications using TCP as a transport can choose available port numbers, whether standardized or de-facto port numbers, or their own defined port numbers.

The problem, however, is that any application which uses non-standard port numbers, finds itself vulnerable to end-user installation problems as most corporate and personal firewalls block all ports except for the well known ports, and many only allow the HTTP port, port 80, by default.  For the application to then work, the publisher finds itself having to provide detailed installation notes guiding the prospective user through configuring his/her firewall for the application’s own specific ports.

This is why many applications which can work through the HTTP protocol, make use of port 80 which is normally left open by most firewalls.  This in turn is only possible because Windows has for a long time had the ability for multiple HTTP applications on the same physical PC to share HTTP ports.

This particular service, the  .Net TCP Port Sharing Service, implements TCP/IP Port sharing in the manner described above but specifically for .NET applications using the .NET TCP protocol.

Recommendation :
Leave alone unless instructed otherwise.  By default this service is installed with a  Startup Mode  set to  Disabled.  This means this service will never start automatically at Windows boot‑up unless you change its  Startup Mode.  If you find yourself one day installing a program which needs this service, then the program’s installation instructions will guide you specifically through starting this service and configuring it.

Sndsrvc

SNDSrvc.exe

(Symantec)

Symantec Network Driver Service which is part of the 2004/2005 version of Norton Personal Firewall and Norton Internet Security.  According to Symantec this service is only used when you have enabled the scanning of incoming POP3 emails, whether for viruses, threats, or spam.

Recommendation :  
This service will be essential for most home users as they will all most probably have the scanning of incoming emails enabled.  For corporate users, however, there are particular instances when this service could be disabled – liaise with your Network Administrator for more details.  Make sure you occasionally perform  manual  LiveUpdates  on your Norton products as there were stability problems with this service in the first half of 2004.

Snmp

SNMP.exe

(Microsoft)

SNMP Service (Simple Network Management Protocol).  This service/task listens for SNMP requests, obtains the required information and data, and passes it on to the requester.  Additionally the SNMP service can be configured to generate trap messages when specific events occur :  eg. generating an alert trap if a request for information is received from an unrecognized requester.  When configured to generate trap messages, the trap messages are sent to a specific device or computer on the network which runs SNMP management software.

Recommendation :
In general this task/service is of little use on a standalone PC or on a home network where we suggest you disable it with  The Ultimate Troubleshooter  in Windows 95/98/ME, or set this service to Disabled or Manual in Windows NT4 (Control Panel \ Services) and Windows 2000/XP/2003 (Control Panel \ Administrative Tools \ Services).  If a particular software package requires SNMP, and tells you so, simply re-activate the task/service.  If you are on a network, contact your Network Administrator before changing the startup mode of this task/service.

Snmptrap

SNMPTrap.exe

(Microsoft)

This Windows NT4/2000/XP/2003 service listens for SNMP trap messages generated either on this PC or remote PCs, and forwards them to SNMP Management software running on this computer.

Recommendation :
As with the SNMP service, this service is in general of little use on a standalone PC or on a home network where we suggest you set this service to Disabled or Manual in  “Control Panel \ Services”  in Windows NT4, and in  “Control Panel \ Administrative Tools \ Services”  in Windows 2000/XP/2003.  However, if you have and need the SNMP service running, then you only need this service running if you have configured SNMP traps.  If you are an end-user running on a network, consult your Network Administrator before changing the startup mode of this service.  If you do need to use SNMPTRAP, make absolutely sure you have at least Service Pack 4 installed if you use Windows 2000, or Service Pack 1 if you use Windows XP.  In closing, if in doubt, set this service’s startup mode to  Automatic  if you know that you also need the SNMP service running because some application has issued a message to that effect.

Sodd

Sodd.exe
 

See   IWAR.

SoftwareUpdate

SoftwareUpdate.exe

(Apple)

Apple Software Update.  Software Update task which started appearing on PCs in October 2006 and which gets installed in most cases when a user updates  iTunes  and/or  QuickTime.  This program is scheduled to check once a week for updates to iTunes and QuickTime and, when updates are available, a big screen pops up asking you if you want to download and install the updates.

Recommendation :
At the time of writing, 26‑Nov‑2006, everything about this task is annoying.  First, both iTunes and QuickTime tell you, when you use them, that updates are available, so why also have this task which simply duplicates what iTunes and QuickTime already do !!??  Talk of overkill!  Secondly, once this task runs it stays running in the background even when updates are not available and, worse, we have never seen it use less than 16Mb of memory.  On some PCs its consumption of memory goes up to 25Mb or more !   Disable this task immediately as follows (and update iTunes and QuickTime as and when you wish through their  Help \ Check for Updates  menu options) :

1)  Open up the Control Panel.

2)  Open  Scheduled Tasks.

3)  Double-click on the  AppleSoftwareUpdate  scheduled task.

4)  Clear the  Enabled  check box.

5)  Click  OK.

6)  Alternatively, right-click on  AppleSoftwareUpdate  and choose  Delete.