Unknown programs just appeared in wintop: any reason to worry?

[dennilfloss]

Ok, I am running Windows 98 original edition with all relevant patches along with cracking rc5. To monitor cpu use, I employ Wintop. Now, I just used the IE5.5 Internet Explorer Repair Tool as I routinely do about every two months. A couple of hours later, after a lot of surfing, Wintop shows running or simply listed programs that I've never seen before and I'm wandering if they could represent a virus or come from repairing IE 5.5. Most appear legit as part of Windows but I wonder why I see them now and not before. BTW, Task Manager is disabled on my machine and VxD is not installed according to setup. I am on a 56k dialup modem and this home PC is not part of a network.

screen capture

The proggies are listed as:

1: MSGSRV32.EXE--Windows 32-bit VxD Message Server--Part of Windows (R) Operating System--Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation

2: Mprexe.exe--WIN32 Network Interface Service Process--Part of Windows (R) Operating System--Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation

3: MMTASK.TASK--Multimedia Background Task Support Module--Part of Microsoft Windows--Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation

4: Tapisrv.exe--Microsoft Widows (TM) Telephony Server--Part of Windows (R) Operating System--Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation

5: Pstores.exe--Protected Storage Server--Part of Windows NT (R) Operating System--Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation

These 5 entries show under the running tasks in Microsoft System Information but not when I press ctrl-alt-del. Under Wintop,

#1 shows some 0.14 cpu time passed but does not register in % cpu utilisation;
#2 shows 0.00 cpu time and does not register under % cpu;
#3 same as #2;
#4 shows 0.04 cpu time and does not register under % cpu;
#5 shows 0.00 cpu time and does not register under % cpu.

One more program appears in Wintop but not in System Information's current tasks. It is called Idle, shows none to 0.20% cpu utilisation, 0.35 cpu time and its path simply says idle.

All these programs have a yellow gear wheel icon in Wintop.

I am going to scan my system now with Norton Antivirus and Ontrack's Improved PC-Cillin. I will post the results in about 11 minutes (time necessary for that successive scan of all files on my hard disk).

Results: no virus or trojan found.
My system appears virus free, should I worry about those programs? I am paranoid about those self-installing dialerprograms that switch your ISP in DOS ever since someone I know got a big telephone bill 2 months ago.

If these programs are legit, what do software do they belong to and how do I turn them off?

Thanks in advance for any insight.

 

[zzzz]

those all program are valid windows processes. don't worry.

 

[Ken g6]

Ya, I recognize all those processes from Another Task Manager, a similar program to WinTop. MsgSrv32.exe is involved in running 16-bit Windows and DOS applications under Win9x. MMTASK.TSK is one of those 16-bit apps, I think controlling the sound card.

As for the other three, I believe they are all used in connecting to the internet, though I'm not exactly sure of all of their purposes. They usually remove themselves a few minutes after you disconnect from the internet, though I'm not sure about Mprexe.exe because, as I'm on a network, it's there all the time. Sometimes they just forget to go away entirely because one crashed, but that's just normal Windoze bugginess.

 

[dennilfloss]

I have ATM but I rarely use it. While more comprehensive than Wintop, it really is a cpu cycle hog, 70% on my machine. I also use the Windows System Information system tool, the 3DO system information tool and the System Explorer one in my Fix-it Utilities 2000. I currently have not reinstalled motherboard monitor since I no longer overclock my celeron 500.