I just ran a virus scan, and it appears that my file, C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\MMTASK32.EXE is infected with a Trojan virus called “BackDoor.BackGate.A.” AVG can’t clean the file and recommends it be removed. However, being in my \SYSTEM32 directory, I can’t imagine that this file is unimportant. Any advice?
Adam
Never in my life did I think I would post a computer question on the SDMB.
Free online virus scan at Trend Micro.
Assuming it was a typo, and you meant ‘MSTASK32.exe’, looks like its a trojan, and can be deleted. Still, you need to scan, since you most likely have multiple instances on there.
If not, I have never heard of ‘MMTASK32.EXE’, and googling turns up nothing, so maybe try renaming it to MMTASK32.BAK and rebooting?
Usually, when Google turns up nothing when entering a file name, it means it’s a randomly generated filename (or a very new bit of spyware or virus). These are never good. Since it’s a complete blank from Google, and Ad-Aware has flagged it, it probably should be removed.
Lots of trojans, viruses, and spyware run from the Windows\system32 folder, just to make people think twice about deleting them.
I’ve deleted it and doused my computer with holy water. 
Thanks, guys, and congrats on 9,000 posts, Chuck.
Adam
You might find this site useful: http://www.answersthatwork.com/Tasklist_pages/tasklist.htm
MMTASK has 2 listings:
Neither one is listed as mmtask32 though. Sounds like a typical trojan to me. It installs somewhere where you’ll think it’s important, and has a name similar to existing files there. Deleting it was the right thing to do.
MSTASK is the scheduling agent (more info on the above web site). Unless you have tasks that run on a scheduled basis (like a backup or something that uses the windows scheduler) then you don’t really need it. If this was the file that was infected then you can either copy it off of a clean system or just forget about it if you don’t need it.