WUDFHost.exe in the wrong folder: Is it a disguised infection?

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  1. Posts : 80
    Windows 7 Professional x64 | Windows ME | Windows 8 Dev Preview
    Thread Starter
       #11

    @A Guy,
    that's a mystery to me too. My mistake was I did not pay enough attention.
    PS: What are these (screenshot below). Those files with lots of letters and numbers. They showed up on my drive C:\ this morning.
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 53,363
    Windows 10 Home x64
       #12

    Hmmm, right click one and choose Properties, see if you can get any clue. Did you get any windows updates today? A Guy
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 80
    Windows 7 Professional x64 | Windows ME | Windows 8 Dev Preview
    Thread Starter
       #13

    Nope. Didn't get Windows Update. Files like that used to appear occasionally on my drive C:\ last year, but since I don't know what it's called so I can't research it. Is it related to Norton antivirus? Because I let Norton do a full scan before I slept and I assume it just finished scanning when these weird files appeared. Norton was the only active process when I slept.

    Below is a Properties screenshot of one:
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 6,330
    Multi-Boot W7_Pro_x64 W8.1_Pro_x64 W10_Pro_x64 +Linux_VMs +Chromium_VM
       #14

    Maybe try to rename and/or delete WUDFHost.exe ?
    If it is malware it probably would not let you, or it would "rebuild" it after a re-boot...
    If you can rename it and some legitimate program did put it there, maybe you'll get an error message when it looks for it so you would know where it came from.

    As far as the new files in question, maybe post the screenshot and ask if Norton might have created them on the Norton forum.
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 80
    Windows 7 Professional x64 | Windows ME | Windows 8 Dev Preview
    Thread Starter
       #15

    @David,
    I already renamed WUDFHost.exe to WUDFHost.exe.BAK (I think I mentioned this on my first post) and like what you anticipate, I am also waiting for a program to have an error related to this WUDFHost.exe
    If after a week and my laptop seems unaffected, then I will delete it.

    I postponed restoring my backup because A.Guy don't think I have an infection.
    So right now, all I have to do is monitor my laptop's behavior if there are any significant changes, etc.

    I will do what you say and post those weird files to Norton. But if anyone has any idea what it is, please share what you know.

    ADDITIONAL INFO: Last year, whenever those weird files appear, I move them to a different folder and see if it affects my system or produce any errors. Then I delete it when I'm sure it's safe to be removed. I'm just curious what they are, what they do, what produced them, why they appear in the first place.
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 6,330
    Multi-Boot W7_Pro_x64 W8.1_Pro_x64 W10_Pro_x64 +Linux_VMs +Chromium_VM
       #16

    Ah, i apologize - i didn't re-read the whole thread...

    It sounds like you're doing pretty much the same things i would do to figure this out.

    I agree with A Guy, it doesn't sound like an infection, but i would still be concerned/curious as you are...
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 80
    Windows 7 Professional x64 | Windows ME | Windows 8 Dev Preview
    Thread Starter
       #17

    @David,
    It's just weird how these things happen. And I don't always pay attention to them because I'm busy doing something else on my PC. It just freaks me out when something's being quirky and I want to figure it out so I'd know how to prevent/fix it.

    Thank you for your time, David. :)
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 53,363
    Windows 10 Home x64
       #18

    Would you believe...



    Popped up a minute ago. Only thing just added was a giveaway of Ashampoo Burning Studio 2012. I forgot to hit the Plus info and see what Winpatrol had to say about it. I blocked it and deleted the folder from common files. I was surprised to say the least having followed this thread

    A Guy
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 80
    Windows 7 Professional x64 | Windows ME | Windows 8 Dev Preview
    Thread Starter
       #19

    @A Guy,
    what a weird coincidence. But I don't have Ashampoo or any product related to it, so I still don't know where mine came from. I'm starting tot believe that mine came from a portable software. Hmmm.
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 37
    Windows 7 Ultimate 32 bit
       #20

    Response to "All of my restore points before [date] are gone"


    This is the most effective way that I know of to protect your restore points. It is not 100% bullet proof as I had all of mine wiped out by "something" a few weeks ago, but prior to that my restore points never disappeared on me. Not one. This method, I guess you could say, is the most difficult one to defeat by Malware or Microsoft, the two major threats whose purpose is to cut you off from the past.

    Step 1. Create a restore point if you don't already have one.
    Step 2. Go to Control Panel / Administrative Tools / Services
    Step 3. Locate the service called "Microsoft Software Shadow Copy Provider"
    Step 4. Stop the service if it is currently running.
    Step 5. Set the service's Startup Type to "disabled"

    Following this point no more restore points can be made by any software. The only way for you to lose them would be for "something" to completely wipe out all of your restore points (which happened to me so I had to go back to my "hard restore point" which is the installation disk for Windows 7).

    Now whenever you want to restore your system, or create a new restore point you have to re-enable that service and set its startup type to "Manual", and then take whatever action you wanted to do, and then repeat the above steps to lock your restore points once again.

    Prior to me losing all of my restore points I had never lost a single one. The event log is filled with the thousands and thousands of failures to create restore points (99% of which come from Microsoft). Allowing Microsoft to make restore points is tantamount to discarding all of your restore points as the daily (multiple) restore point creation does not care if there are any restore points already existing, it simply tosses them out in order to make space for a new one, even the ones that you explicitly made which the operating system has no right to destroy.

    - Alan
      My Computer


 
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