wininit.exe - Vista Ultimate x64

Craig321 · 11 Oct 2008 at 23:04

My brother just noticed this running in the background on his PC, he ended it which made his PC blue screen.

I just checked my PC & I also have it.

When I put the file name into Google everywhere says it's a virus/trojan.

My Dad also has it running on his PC.

Can anyone confirm it's safe/unsafe?

From what I can tell it's safe, I'm guessing wininit.exe was just a popular name used for certain viruses which is why all these sites report it as bad?

Thanks,
Craig.

Pigeon_Killer · 11 Oct 2008 at 23:07

Craig321 said:
I'm guessing wininit.exe was just a popular name used for certain viruses which is why all these sites report it as bad?

Correct.

helmutcheese · 11 Oct 2008 at 23:09

I hate these sites that get you to Hi-Jack log your PC because of something before they even try other aspects.

I have that process, every Vista PC does but unfortunately many Viruses name themselves after legit Windows and 3rd Party software.

Running Vista:
WinInit.exe is a system critical process, even though some malware scanners identify it as a bad apple. This file should exist in C:\Windows\system32 (or more accurately - %windir%\system32)

Details (Windows Vista Home Premium) as of Today:

File Description: Windows Start-Up Application
File Version: 6.0.6000.16386
MD5: D4385B03E8CCCEE6F0EE249F827C1F3E

http://www.computerdefense.org/2008/03/09/what-is-wininitexe/

Freeman · 11 Oct 2008 at 23:10

Can anyone else try to end the process of wininit.exe in the task manager? I tried and I just got my very first blue screen. Gay

Craig321 · 12 Oct 2008 at 00:34

Thanks for the replies.

The main reason why I was wondering is because is BSOD'd my brother's computer when he closed it... usually when the user tries to closer a vital Windows process it refuses to :confused: