# Agent.exe....is it a virus ?



## twajetmech

Hello, I'm pulling my hairs out, task manager shows agent.exe consuming 40%+ of cpu usage, there is little on the internet about it, I run Avast, spybot, Adaware and Zonealarm, (all religiously updated and run atleast once a week) so I'm surprised to get infected. Does anyone know how to get rid of it ? TIA Twajetmech


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## Jack.Sparrow

Hey Twajetmech, 

Agent.exe isn't a virus, it's Acronis True Image Agent. 

Dell also has a process with the same name, which is a user interface to the monitor.


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## tetonbob

There are several processes using that same file name. Most are legit, as Jack.Sparrow has indicated. Acronis, Avira, Dell, InstallShield, Cyberlink among others.

Some are not legit. 

Determine the location of the file to help determine it's legitimacy and what program is running it. Check the file's properties.

Using Process Explorer rather than Task Manager can easily help with this, as there is a path to process function which the Task Manager does not have.


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## twajetmech

Thank you both I will look into it and post back what I find.....I don't use any of the mentioned software so I think this one is going to be malware


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## tetonbob

Ok, let us know.


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## twajetmech

Path: C:\PROGRA~1\COMMON~1\INSTAL~1\UPDATE~1\agent.exe
CMD Line: C:\PROGRA~1\COMMON~1\INSTAL~1\UPDATE~1\agent.exe -Embedding
Dir: C:\WINDOWS\system32\


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## tetonbob

InstallShield.

My guess is that you have some autoupdate feature sucking CPU time.

There would be some O4 entries in a HJT log. Fix them, and it should stop.

<edit> if you want, I'll look at a log for you.</edit>


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## twajetmech

Thank you, I'll take a look and post back if I need more help, I was able to suspend the app with the process explorer....nice to give the cpu some rest, I think I will also write macrovision and give them a piece of my mind.


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## tetonbob

Cheers. Glad to have helped.


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## Lowtech ZZZ

I recently installed Dragon Naturally Speaking version 9. After that my computer slowed down considerably. My Task Manager showed that I had Agent.exe using considerable CPU time.

As I understand it Dragon uses this for updating voice files. The updates are very infrequent. I disabled it and everything appears to be working fine again.

On the Dragon bar go to "Naturally speaking" and select close user. The go to tools and select administrative. Deselect automatic updates and close the program and restart your computer.

I don't know if this applies to you but if it does hope it helps.


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