wdt.exe - any ideas what this is?

Factual Questions
1

Recently when booting up my computer, a window appears labelled wdt.exe. I’ve not seen this before, and have no clue what it is. I am running an anti-virus scan and Window’s Defender scan, and it doesn’t seem to be finding anything, but have also just run into a problem with an unauthorized purchase on PayPal.

I’ve changed all my passwords through my iPad not this computer, but wondered if anyone could tell me:

a) is this a problem?
b) what is it?
c) how do I get rid of it if it is a problem?

Thanks in advance…

2

I just googled “wdt.exe” and found several articles claiming that it’s malware (and that you have to purchase their software package to completely remove it).

Here’s one such article that also includes instructions for manual removal. I have no idea how accurate they are.

3

That was what worried me. All the articles seemed to suggest I buy something from them. :rolleyes:

4

Watch when Googling wdt.exe, it seems to me that most of the search results are suspicious at best. And Google, it’s really stupid that I have to add + before a keyword to ensure it’s really in the search results.

Anyway, it’s getting harder and harder to repair malware while you’re booted in Windows. The malware is very sneaky and tenacious and is written to block itself from being deleted.

If you have a spare USB flash drive that you can overwrite, I’d make a bootable USB virus scanner and boot your computer from that. That will keep the viruses from running so they can be easily scanned and cleaned. Here is a link to one reputable site that offers a bootable USB virus scanner: http://support.kaspersky.com/faq/?qid=208282163

5

Thanks control-z. I think it is clear after an hour with Macafee support but will save your link for future problems.

6

Do you have an Intel network card installed? It might be part of the driver utilities (the “watchdog timer”).

7

I’d pull the drive and scan it with another PC.

Roswill makes a USB SATA adapter that works with 2.5", 3.5", and 5.25" drives. Makes it very easy to scan a drive from another pc. If you decided to format, you can copy/backup any files to your other pc.

I had to do that with my Dell notebook a couple months ago. Copied off all my Docs, music, etc. Then reinstall the drive in the notebook and formatted. After reinstalling Windows I copied my files back from a CD I burned off the other PC.

I did the same thing 20 years ago. Except back then I had to pull the cover off the second pc to temporarily install the drive. A PITA. These USB adapters make life so much easier.

8

one page googled has it as part of this: 2-Port PCI Ethernet Adapter with
Wake-on-LAN

9

It seems to be gone, and the Macafee dude seemed to think it was a bad thing. Thanks for the help everyone. At least it taught me just how computer inept I am.