what is wininit?

Hello, I'm new to Vista. I purchased a toshiba laptop and was just going
through all the processes that are running and I found wininit.exe and
wininit.dll. I looked the .exe up online and a lot of sites said it was a
virus. Computer seems to be running fine but curious if it is or if it's
just a normal process that vista uses. Btw I have Vista Premium if that
matters.

Thanks!!

Stephen Porter wrote:
> Hello, I'm new to Vista. I purchased a toshiba laptop and was just going
> through all the processes that are running and I found wininit.exe and
> wininit.dll. I looked the .exe up online and a lot of sites said it was
> a virus. Computer seems to be running fine but curious if it is or if
> it's just a normal process that vista uses. Btw I have Vista Premium if
> that matters.
>
> Thanks!!
I would run a virus scan just to be sure.

Hi,

Wininit.exe is a valid system process in Vista. There was, many years back,
a virus that used that name, but it hasn't been seen in a long time.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

"Stephen Porter" <> wrote in message
news:64103BCF-C66F-4E79-A047-...
> Hello, I'm new to Vista. I purchased a toshiba laptop and was just going
> through all the processes that are running and I found wininit.exe and
> wininit.dll. I looked the .exe up online and a lot of sites said it was a
> virus. Computer seems to be running fine but curious if it is or if it's
> just a normal process that vista uses. Btw I have Vista Premium if that
> matters.
>
> Thanks!!

Do not run any antivirus but I do suggest to download and install a free
(forever) for individual users antivirus and antispy program: Spybot Search
& Destroy (German).

I just checked my windows\system32 directory: your file is there. I have run
SB S&D many times.

Tomorrow morning I will check my brand new Vista machine at teh office and
see if this file is there. I am sue it is.

A lot of those websites are set by crooks. They claim that normal windows
execs are viruses. It frightens you and leads you to buy their wares. It is
not to say that there are no viruses and the same people may be writing
them.

Read this thread:
https://forums.microsoft.com/TechNet...3102&SiteID=17

Quotes from this thread:
I have seen, from a plethora of sites after searching for said .exe with
google, that this is a trojan lef tover from the wolf virus..
Is this true? If it is, it is cleverly disguised.
I tried searching the TechNet for pages on the .exe, but to no avail, errors
galore.

Answer:
Thank you for your post.



No, Wininit.exe is a system built-in file. Actually, it is called "Windows
Start-Up Application" and exists under Windows\System32.



I suspect that the websites you referred may be for virus with the same file
name, or the Wininit.exe was infected.



Thanks!



Sincerely,

Joson Zhou

Microsoft Online Community Support


"Stephen Porter" <> wrote in message
news:64103BCF-C66F-4E79-A047-...
> Hello, I'm new to Vista. I purchased a toshiba laptop and was just going
> through all the processes that are running and I found wininit.exe and
> wininit.dll. I looked the .exe up online and a lot of sites said it was a
> virus. Computer seems to be running fine but curious if it is or if it's
> just a normal process that vista uses. Btw I have Vista Premium if that
> matters.
>
> Thanks!!

"wininit.exe is added to the system as a result of the WOLLF.16 virus. It is
a backdoor Trojan horse allows unauthorized remote access to an infected
computer"
http://www.processlibrary.com/direct...es=wininit.exe

http://www.symantec.com/security_res...421-99&tabid=2

"Stephen Porter" <> wrote in message
news:64103BCF-C66F-4E79-A047-...
> Hello, I'm new to Vista. I purchased a toshiba laptop and was just going
> through all the processes that are running and I found wininit.exe and
> wininit.dll. I looked the .exe up online and a lot of sites said it was a
> virus. Computer seems to be running fine but curious if it is or if it's
> just a normal process that vista uses. Btw I have Vista Premium if that
> matters.
>
> Thanks!!

This is the correct answer from a very reliable poster. Ignore the other
posts. It is the windows initialisation program. If you have two copies of
it running it would indicate a potential problem, but not one copy.

"Rick Rogers" <> wrote in message
news:%...
> Hi,
>
> Wininit.exe is a valid system process in Vista. There was, many years
> back, a virus that used that name, but it hasn't been seen in a long time.
>
> --
> Best of Luck,
>
> Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
> http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
> Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
> My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com
>
> "Stephen Porter" <> wrote in message
> news:64103BCF-C66F-4E79-A047-...
>> Hello, I'm new to Vista. I purchased a toshiba laptop and was just going
>> through all the processes that are running and I found wininit.exe and
>> wininit.dll. I looked the .exe up online and a lot of sites said it was a
>> virus. Computer seems to be running fine but curious if it is or if it's
>> just a normal process that vista uses. Btw I have Vista Premium if that
>> matters.
>>
>> Thanks!!
>

"Bob" <> wrote in message
news:3ImdnTluHt04NRfanZ2dnUVZ_v-...
> "wininit.exe is added to the system as a result of the WOLLF.16 virus. It
> is a backdoor Trojan horse allows unauthorized remote access to an
> infected computer"
> http://www.processlibrary.com/direct...es=wininit.exe
>
> http://www.symantec.com/security_res...421-99&tabid=2
>
> "Stephen Porter" <> wrote in message
> news:64103BCF-C66F-4E79-A047-...
>> Hello, I'm new to Vista. I purchased a toshiba laptop and was just going
>> through all the processes that are running and I found wininit.exe and
>> wininit.dll. I looked the .exe up online and a lot of sites said it was a
>> virus. Computer seems to be running fine but curious if it is or if it's
>> just a normal process that vista uses. Btw I have Vista Premium if that
>> matters.
>>
>> Thanks!!
>

But wininit.exe and .dll are also legitimate files that need to be there.

--
Frank Saunders MS-MVP IE,OE/WM
www.fjsmjs.com
Do not reply with email

Ok guys, well thank you for all the responses. I ran AVG and was no viruses.

Been such a long time since I posted/read newsgroups, glad people still use
them!!!

Take care,
Stephen

"Frank Saunders MS-MVP IE,OE/WM" <> wrote in message
news:198C92F2-3E3E-4EC7-A2B2-...
> "Bob" <> wrote in message
> news:3ImdnTluHt04NRfanZ2dnUVZ_v-...
>> "wininit.exe is added to the system as a result of the WOLLF.16 virus. It
>> is a backdoor Trojan horse allows unauthorized remote access to an
>> infected computer"
>> http://www.processlibrary.com/direct...es=wininit.exe
>>
>> http://www.symantec.com/security_res...421-99&tabid=2
>>
>> "Stephen Porter" <> wrote in message
>> news:64103BCF-C66F-4E79-A047-...
>>> Hello, I'm new to Vista. I purchased a toshiba laptop and was just going
>>> through all the processes that are running and I found wininit.exe and
>>> wininit.dll. I looked the .exe up online and a lot of sites said it was
>>> a virus. Computer seems to be running fine but curious if it is or if
>>> it's just a normal process that vista uses. Btw I have Vista Premium if
>>> that matters.
>>>
>>> Thanks!!
>>
>
> But wininit.exe and .dll are also legitimate files that need to be there.
>
> --
> Frank Saunders MS-MVP IE,OE/WM
> www.fjsmjs.com
> Do not reply with email

They are not running on my PC.

"Frank Saunders MS-MVP IE,OE/WM" <> wrote in message
news:198C92F2-3E3E-4EC7-A2B2-...
> "Bob" <> wrote in message
> news:3ImdnTluHt04NRfanZ2dnUVZ_v-...
>> "wininit.exe is added to the system as a result of the WOLLF.16 virus. It
>> is a backdoor Trojan horse allows unauthorized remote access to an
>> infected computer"
>> http://www.processlibrary.com/direct...es=wininit.exe
>>
>> http://www.symantec.com/security_res...421-99&tabid=2
>>
>
> But wininit.exe and .dll are also legitimate files that need to be there.
>
> --
> Frank Saunders MS-MVP IE,OE/WM
> www.fjsmjs.com
> Do not reply with email

It's there... Have you tried "Show Processes from all users"?

Emil Lulic

"Bob" <> wrote in message
news:. ..
> They are not running on my PC.
>
> "Frank Saunders MS-MVP IE,OE/WM" <> wrote in message
> news:198C92F2-3E3E-4EC7-A2B2-...
>> "Bob" <> wrote in message
>> news:3ImdnTluHt04NRfanZ2dnUVZ_v-...
>>> "wininit.exe is added to the system as a result of the WOLLF.16 virus.
>>> It is a backdoor Trojan horse allows unauthorized remote access to an
>>> infected computer"
>>> http://www.processlibrary.com/direct...es=wininit.exe
>>>
>>> http://www.symantec.com/security_res...421-99&tabid=2
>>>
>>
>> But wininit.exe and .dll are also legitimate files that need to be there.
>>
>> --
>> Frank Saunders MS-MVP IE,OE/WM
>> www.fjsmjs.com
>> Do not reply with email
>