Is Winstat32.exe

Norton Security | Norton Internet Security
1

Is winstat32.exe a virus?  I woke up to find my new comuter system had rebooted itself and when I turned my machine on it went through this winstat32.exe which took awhile. The last thing I loaded was my new logitech webcam and from there there was an offer for magix photo manager and I have hp assist running too.

thanks for any help with what this file means.

2

I would suggest running a full system scan.  What Norton product are you running?

3

I did run a full scan hopefully that will take care of it.  So was that a virus???  I  have norton Internet Security 18.6.0.29

4

Hi machop66:

 

Could you double-check and make sure it's winstat.exe and not winsat.exe?

 

If it's winsat.exe and you run Vista, this program is used to calculate the Windows Experience performance on your PC.  If that's the case, check out the post here titled WinSAT Suddenly Kicks In and an article Optimizing the Windows Vista Settings here (search for "winsat" on that weg page).  I'm not certain, but I think winSAT.exe is scheduled to run weekly in the Task Scheduler, and I believe it also runs after hardware/driver upgrades.  Maybe your webcam install triggered a new system scan.

 

I'm a Vista user, but it's also possible the winSAT.exe is a component of XP and Win7 as well.

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Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit SP2 * NIS 2011 v. 18.6.0.29 * IE 9.0 * Firefox 6.0.0
HP Pavilion dv6835ca, Intel Core2Duo CPU T5550 @ 1.83 GHz, 3.0 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS

5

Machop66:

 

You did not advise whether Norton found any infection.  It is difficult to identify any infection just using a file name.  Names can be changed slightly or common files can be infected. 

6

Hi machop66:

I hope I didn't create any confusion.  Malicious software programs like trojan horses often try to masquerade as benign applications or files, so even if you're seeing increased activity by a file named winSAT.exe it's still possible that you're infected by malware trying to pose as a legitimate Windows system file.

You still need to check the detailed results of your NIS 2011 full system scan (History | Scan Results) as delphinium suggested to ensure that the scan didn't detect anything more serious than tracking cookies and that all security risks were resolved.  Whenever I see suspicious activity on my computer I usually run an on-demand full system scan with the free version of Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware (available for download here) in addition to a NIS full system scan just to be extra safe.

 

Full System Scan.jpg

 

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Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit SP2 * NIS 2011 v. 18.6.0.29 * MBAM Pro 1.51.1.1800 * IE 9.0 * Firefox 6.0.0
HP Pavilion dv6835ca, Intel Core2Duo CPU T5550 @ 1.83 GHz, 3.0 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS