Shoutbox

It's in C:\WINDOWS and looks suspicious.

Serpop.exe
14.5KB

When googled, only russian sutes come up (they have nothing to do with the file - it's a guys name on some really badly laid out forums)

Command prompt says it's asking for an illegal instruction.

Notepadded, well, pretty much what you would see inside a normal .exe.

What the hell is it?
And is it part of Windows or something?

Delete it, shouldnt be needed if google has no info on it.

That's a pretty weird attitude, SonicSam. It might be part of some relatively unknown application. Deleting the exe might cause the program to become corrupt.

Not even Google "knows" everything about everything.

Did you try scanning the file with a virus scanner?

How big it is? Try sending i tto the recycle bin and if nothing is affected then delete it. Make a backup just incase.

SonicSam has a point: If it was a needed program for windows google would defianlty know about it

There is an alternative to deleting -- rename it to something else, such as _serpop.exe.  That will suffice to prevent it from executing on startup (if it is).  Leave it that way and see if everything seems to work.

The size and location make it sound like malware of some kind, though.  You should scan your computer thoroughly with both a virus scanner and an anti-spyware scanner (I suggest Ad-Aware).  Malware doesn't usually come alone -- one piece you get infected with quickly downloads "friends" -- so if you've been infected, there's probably a lot more to find.

It doesn't have any mention in startup.

My guess is that it is something to do with my copy of VB 2005 Express, but I can't risk uninstalling it and losing my projects.

Scanned with the only program I have that scans from shell (AVG 7.5 Free), it says it's fine, but I dunno...

I tried to rename it, but it says it's in use (you know the error).
Obviously the same fate if I tried to delete it.

Should I venture into safe mode?

I have VB2K5 Ex., but I don't have this file. It's unlikely to be the output of one of the programs you've made as well.

Since Windows XP, very few programs put files in C:\WINDOWS - I have 6 windows exes and a bunch of uninstallers in this folder.

Personally, I think it's dodgy. It's likely to be minor malware - ie. it's not so much a virus as an annoyance, or a backdoor for other virii to come in.

Reboot to safe mode, rename it, see if everything still works, if it does, just leave it renamed.

You could also try running an AdAware scan, or something similar.

Just leave it, you can't risk deleting random files in your Windows directory. If AVG says it's fine, it probably is .