Every now and then, at random times, my computer tells me in a popup box that it cannot find nodejs.exe. I have tried downloading it, but that had no effect, and it is very irritating.
I would be most grateful if someone could tell me how to prevent it
Node is a free program that lets your computer run Javascript apps outside of a browser. It can be used to run both legitimate apps and maybe malware.
Any legitimate software that needs Node should know how to install it, and if you don’t know what it is that needs it and all your apps are running OK, I would probably suspect malware. Especially if it’s a periodic warning not tied to anything obvious you’re doing.
If I were you I’d run a malware scan and check your startup apps…
Alternatively, if you have an AI like Claude Code, ask it what’s causing that pop-up the next time it comes up. It knows all the Windows internal tricks and is very good at troubleshooting computer issues.
Took about 5 seconds:
https://windowsreport.com/node-exe/
Apparently, it is a valid file that works in the background for things like Discord, Slack, VS Code, Adobe Creative Cloud, or certain VPNs, BUT …
if just seemed to appear out of nowhere, and you do not use development tools or heavy apps, that’s a sign that it is being misused or is malware disguised as the valid file. Since you seem to be a standard user, I suspect the latter.