-1

On Windows 10 machine: I have two apps named Windows on my Startup page of Task Manager and they're enabled to launch at start-up. Can anyone identify it if it's malware or not. Or maybe, Can someone check their Task Manager > Startup to check if they also have 2 "Windows" program that wants to launch automatically in startup?

I am suspecting that its a malware because I don't remember seeing that there before. But, I'm thinking twice about disabling it as maybe they're really are part of Windows and not malware. Also, I am not sure if it's not there before as I rarely access that part of Task Manager

I think they are malicious programs as in the Publisher tab, no "Microsoft Corporation" is written unlike other Microsoft programs. Also, no icon of Windows is written and I think, those are giveaways.

Image of my Startup page

hamthenormal
  • 163
  • 2
  • 8

1 Answers1

0

I would guess that that's malware. I mean, it has all the key features a malware program would have. It runs at startup, there's multiple of them, there's no signature, no icon, and no startup impact status. If it was a true Microsoft program, it would certainly have a digital certificate with the publisher name of Microsoft, no doubt. However, if it runs at startup, it's more than likely a backdoor file, which is the hacker making a pathetic attempt to make sure that he/she has access to your computer at all times.

Without more information, there's not really any way of telling for sure if it's malware or not. But based on all of the information given, I would say it's malware.

To be safe, you should try to find the source file of the startup program; it's probably an EXE. When and if you find it, use some kind of antivirus to scan the file, and the AV will tell you whether or not it's malware. The source file might be kind of hard to find, because if the hacker was smart, they would store the file somewhere among the operating system's important files, like System32 or something, where AV doesn't scan very often.