Author Topic: many instances of rundll  (Read 1767 times)

Offline ruggb

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many instances of rundll
« on: December 21, 2009, 05:18:26 PM »
don't know if this is the right place to post this but...

I looked at my task manager via Process Explorer and found about 20 instances of rundll associated with wininet.dll.
I totally don't understand this.

I have researched viruses and found no traces related to the virus form of wininet.dll.

After I rebooted things look normal.

Can anyone give me a clue?

Offline riso

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Re: many instances of rundll
« Reply #1 on: December 21, 2009, 06:54:08 PM »
Windows errors related to wininet.dll?
wininet.dll - wininet - DLL Information:
wininet.dll is a process belonging to the Windows program . wininet.dll is a module that contains Internet-related functions used by Windows applications.

Note: wininet.dll is a process which the Troj/Zlob-AO trojan tries to disguise itself as under the true process name of %systemroot%mscornet.exe. "This process is a security risk and should be removed from your system."
Check that wininet.dll is stable on your computer.
More info:
File purpose and description:

This is a module that contains many different internet functions, like all DLL's, many of them are used to share functions for various applications. In this case, Windows uses the wininet.dll for various internet related functions. For example, if you run Microsoft's anti-spyware program, you may see the wininet.dll appear in your startup list, as it may call this to perform a function during bootup time. (See the details below for the actual location of this file.)

Actual file or task name:
wininet.dll

File type:
This is a DLL program file.

File or folder location:
This will be found in your system32 folder, at c:\windows\system32\


General information:
Be aware that many tasks will be similiar names to existing tasks or processes. You can always view the running tasks on your computer by pressing ctrl-alt-del to view the windows "task manager", and then view the "processes" tab. This will show you all tasks running or currently active on your PC. Although this shows you all running tasks, it does not show dll file thats are loaded, as they get loaded as part of other processes. Many spyware writers attempt to hide their files on your computer, for example, wininet.dll may be intentionally misspelled to look like a similiar task, or spyware may be named very similiar to a Windows system task. The reason they do this is so you cannot easily recognize the name in your tasklist as I have mentioned above. Make sure always check the location of the file if you are concerned. You can always find the location of wininet.dll on your computer by using your Windows search options, but I will also try to list the file location of every file described on this website, so you can verify the correct location.


Recommendationwininet.dll should not be disabled, required for essential applications to work properly.


Determining whether wininet.dll is a virus or a legitimate Windows DLL depends on the directory location