wuauclt.exe information

Information and startup locations can be examined on this page: verify all your files to make sure that they are legitimate, digitally signed and from the company Microsoft Corporation to which they should belong. wuauclt.exe security and file info Windows Update Automatic Updates - Microsoft® Windows® Operating System - Microsoft Corporation Filetype : executable An executable file is a program that can be executed in your windows environment. What is wuauclt.exe? Wuauclt.exe is the Windows Update Autoupdate Client. It is a background process that periodically checks with Microsoft's servers for updates to the operating system and drivers. If you wish to use Automatic Updates, this is a necessary process. If not, you can safely disable the Automatic Updates service, which will prevent it from running. While it is possible to kill this process through the task manager, it is likely that it will immediately come back if automatic updates are enabled. The screenshot below illustrates how it should appear in the task manager: Although in this screenshot, wuauclt.exe is running as SYSTEM, it can also run as the currently logged in user. Dangers of wuauclt As this is a process that runs on any Windows system with automatic updates enabled, it is common for virus writers and spyware vendors to disguise their malware as the genuine one. Some malicious files will have the same name but will be stored somewhere other than in %SystemRoot%\System32. Other malware will use a name that appears similar to that of the legitimate one but with slight differences in spelling or with appended digits. The following malware is known to disguise itself as wuauclt.exe: Backdoor.Clt (W32.Cult) This is a backdoor trojan horse that gives an attacker full control over your system. If your wuauclt.exe is connecting to port 6667, it is likely that your system is infected with Backdoor.Clt. There will typically be only one copy of this process running at a given time (although it is possible for there to be more). If multiple copies are running, one or more of the instances may be but are not necessarily malware. Common problems "Wuauclt.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close" when trying to update Look for wuauclt.exe in %SystemRoot%\System32\dllcache and, under properties, check the version. Ensure that it matches the one in %SystemRoot%\System32. If you have the KB927891 patch installed, try uninstalling it. If the problem persists, perform a repair installation of Windows. This process uses 100% CPU time This can be caused by wuauclt.exe being stuck in an infinite loop trying to download a particular update. To fix it, disable automatic updates via the control panel and reboot the system. If wuauclt.exe is not running after a few minutes, you should be able to reenable automatic updates. Possible error for this file: Application error, the application has generated errors and will be closed by windows Our recommendation:  Click here to run a FREE Scan for WUAUCLT.EXE related errors

MD5 File security rating

A MD5 hash is a unique fingerprint of a file. Different files/versions can have the same filenames. The MD5 hash verifies that the legitimate file is not altered. Runscanner (Freeware) can help you checking the file's MD5 hashes Wuauclt.exe files in Runscanner database   73 different item(s) in database   1 different item(s) in database   137 different item(s) in database Green items are verified safe to use Unrated items are not yet checked for safety. Red items are not safe (typically virusses, spyware or other malware) This file is digitally signed by it's publisher. This means that the file is from the company claiming to created it, this does not mean by default that the file is safe

General file info

Product name:  Microsoft® Windows® Operating System Description:  Windows Update Automatic Updates Company:  Microsoft Corporation Fix WUAUCLT.EXE errors:  Free registry scan

Pacman startup database

Added by the LAZAR.B TROJAN! Note - this is not the legitimate wuauclt.exe process, which should not appear in Msconfig/Startup! info provided by sysinfo.org