My computer has a program running on it, but I don't know what it is. How do I find out?

Question

It shows up in the taskbar for a split second about every 10 minutes. It's particularly irritating when it boots me from a game like unreal tournament. My OS is XP Pro. Thanks.

The task manager doesn't help. The program doesn't stay active long enough.

I've tried several spyware programs. Nothing.

Answer 1

It might be spyware, try running anti-spyware software like Adaware. Also you could check the programs that startup automatically by going Start > Run > and type 'msconfig' then go over to the 'Startup' tab and unclick anything that looks dodgy.

In most cases you can untick everything except for the apps you want to run at startup.

Answer 2

Check the task manager (CTRL + ALT + DELETE) and click over to the processes tab. That way you can see a breakdown of what is actually running. You can pretty much identify everything there. All "System" processes, don't touch. Most of the "user" processes are just programs. You can end the ones you KNOW are just not needed.

Also run something like Spybot or AdAware to make sure you don't have some spyware running in the background.

http://www.safer-networking.org/en/spybotsd/index.html

http://www.lavasoftusa.com/products/ad-aware_se_personal.php

Answer 3

Control+Alt+Del will bring up the Task Manager.
This will show you everything that is running at the time.
Be careful here. Files include some Windows files, antivirus, along with wallpaper and screensaver if you are using them.

You might want to free up your RAM by streamlining your start menu - load at startup only those programs you need daily, lose the wallpaper and screensaver - they run constantly in the background and consume RAM.
- Run Disk Cleanup,Scandisk, defrag every two weeks.
I think you will see an improvement.

Answer 4

Press Alt+Ctrl hold them and press Del, the Task Manager will open and there you can see all the Programs and Processes which are running.
You can Terminate the Not-Responding Programs.

Answer 5

it could be a trojan or the phishing filter check by turning off the internet conection and running ad aware or lava soft for bots and spys and trojans , or use your own now check the tools in yahoo is the phishing filter on turn it off for a while ,, or do you have semantec or norton one of my old virus scanners would do a scan on every page i opened and repeat so check the settings ok or look in the programs on the advanced for the firewall if theres one you dont recognise try to open it if its the bad guy just set the firewall to deny it access to the internet then check the security in control panel for the firewall thats from microsoft being on they trojans turn off this first and fight to keep it off , so turn off the internet and run the microsoft trojan tool its free also from them or windows update

Answer 6

Check the task manager - ctrl-alt-del.

Answer 7

it might be a spyware..use kaspersky antivirus