Every time I look at my process tree, I see a program called "adsnw831.exe" running. I tried to search google on "adsnw831.exe", but didn't get any results. So I searched for "adsnw" and found out that adsnw.dll is a standard windows dll.

But now I still don't know what adsnw831.exe is doing. I tried to search the forum, but didn't find anything useful. Autoruns told me a program called 279dbfcf4ed7.exe runs on logon, and the image path of that program is adsnw831.exe. Because of that, I post this in the WIndows Startup Programs Database. I really don't have a clue what an image path is - I'm kinda n00bish - so I hope I chose the right forums.

Can anyone tell me what adssnw831.exe is doing and if it's a genuine process/startup program?

Thanks in advance!

Tomas


Oh before I forget, I run Windows XP Professional.

This is probably bad. Can you submit the file to http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/submit-malware.php

Ok, done.

Thanks!

BTW, the process has been running for as long as i can remember - might even be a year or so. So if it's something bad, shouldn't it been identified as a threat already? Or isn't that necessarily so?

This is definitely malware related. It is being seen as Adware.Toolbar-15

Ok, good to know that. What should I do now? I've used several antispyware programs, but none of them were able to detect it as malware. Can I just remove adnsw831.exe from my computer and be safe, or should I do more than that?

If you want, you can post a hijackthis log in the hijackthis forum and I will take a look at it for you if you reply back here with your link.

Otherwise you can just delete the file.

I'll delete the file from my system. I don't think there's any need for you to go to more trouble, as this this doesn't seem to be a widespread or unknown problem. Thanks very much for your help!

Kind regards,

Tomas