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My computer seemed to be running a bit slow and laggy. So I checked the processes in the Task Manager to see if there were any hogging a lot of memory.

I came across these two strangely named processes. I have no idea what they are, and when I tried to end them, I got an error saying access denied.

enter image description here

Anyone have any idea what these are? Do I have some type of bug? I am running windows 7.

Edit to answer comment:

When I right-click and do Open File Location, nothing happens (for either of them). However, I can open the file location of other processes just fine.

jlars62
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  • Definitely suspicious, can you right click it, click 'Open File Location' and tell us where they are stored on your computer? – Jonno Dec 31 '15 at 05:24
  • @Jonno See edit – jlars62 Dec 31 '15 at 05:33
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    I'd run a virus scan, there are a few free ones you can try such as [MalwareBytes](https://www.malwarebytes.org/), and I've tried the trial of [Hitman Pro](http://www.surfright.nl/en/hitmanpro/intronew) before which has found things others don't. Also if you can click 'Show processes from all users' in the bottom left of your screenshot, as it appears not to be running under your user account. You could also try and find where they are using [Process Explorer](https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/processexplorer.aspx). – Jonno Dec 31 '15 at 05:39
  • also that Kaspersky killer whatever it's called – Erik Humphrey Dec 31 '15 at 08:30
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    Possible duplicate of [How can I remove malicious spyware, malware, adware, viruses, trojans or rootkits from my PC?](http://superuser.com/questions/100360/how-can-i-remove-malicious-spyware-malware-adware-viruses-trojans-or-rootkit) – DavidPostill Dec 31 '15 at 10:05

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enter image description here Right click the process and select Open File location and you will be able to see what the process it.

EDIT: have just seen that you can't open the location! Sorry.. A tool like Process Explorer (https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/processexplorer.aspx) should be able to tell you what the process is and where it is.

You can also try a search across your computer for (abc123.exe) and see which folder comes up as the culprit.

You may be able to disable the culprit by going to start > Run (or windows key + R) > msconfig > OK and then going to the startup tab and disabling anything that looks dodgy (if you break anything doing this, boot to safe mode and re-enable things) enter image description here

These processes are definitely suspicious at the very least. You should start cleaning your machine as soon as you can. Most Antivirus/Anti-Malware/Alty-Spyware applications these days can catch most stuff, but industry experts predict they can have as low as a 20% detection rate for advanced infections. The easiest way to try and catch everything is to install and update a free AV, scan with it, cleanup anything thats found and then uninstall and move onto another one. Some recommendations for good freebies:

Alternatively, you may want to consider backing up your data and formatting your disk - but dependant on the infection you find, this may be overkill.

Hope this helps.

Fazer87
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