Is asp.exe safe or is this task spyware?



Purpose of asp.exe:









File purpose and description:

This program is part of the AOL spyware protection program. If you are running the latest version of America Online, then you most likely have this spyware task running, although it can also be deactivated. Note also that some other programs may also use this name, like the active server pages installation. (See the details below for the actual location of this file.)

Actual file or task name:
asp.exe

File type:
This is an executable file.

File or folder location:
This is located at :\Program Files\Common Files\AOL\AOL Spyware Protection\asp.exe


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, asp.exe 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 asp.exe 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. You can view the entire tasklist directory with the link below.

Lookup other processes below.
acu.exe ad.watch.exe adbltzun.exe adgjdet.exe adialhk.dll
adobe gamma loader.exe adobe reader speed launch.lnk adobeupdatemanager.exe adperform180safull.exe adusermon.exe
advchk.exe aec.sys aexplore.exe agrsmmsg.exe ahqinit.exe
ahqtb.exe aim.exe aim95.exe aimbar.dll aimhelper.dll
aimwdi~1.exe alaunch.exe albd_server.exe alcmtr.exe alcwzrd.exe
alcxmntr.exe alerteng.dll alg.exe alogserv.exe alot.dll
alxtb1.dll alxtb2.dll amoumain.exe antivirusgold.exe aol 9.0 tray icon.lnk
aol.exe aolacsd.exe aoldial.exe aolhostmanager.exe aollaunch.exe
aolload.exe aolservicehost.exe aolsoftware.exe aolsp scheduler.exe aoltb.dll
aoltpspd.exe aoltsmon.exe apdproxy.exe apoint.exe applemobiledevicehelper.exe