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How do i disable agent.exe from starting up.


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#1
Jimmy2012

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Hello,

The other day i was looking in my windows task manager and every few minutes my CPU usage would go up high(80+) and then go back down to normal.So i looked in the processes tab to try to find out what is doing this, well every time my CPU went up like that there was a program called agent.exe that would come on stay for about 10-15 seconds then go back off again.And the CPU for agent.exe is 99 then goes down,then the program closes off.
I went on google to try and find out what this program is and think it is part of Installshield update service, i then looked in my Zone alarm firewall and there is a program called Installshieldupdate service and under the entry detail the file name for it is agent.exe(the path to the file is,C:\program files\Common Files\Installshield\UpdateService\agent.exe). It is set where Zone alarm will not let it online, also i looked in the alerts and logs on Zone alarm and agent.exe is trying to get on the internet every time it loads up(every few minutes).It trys to connect to a few different destination's.If you need to know what the destination's are i will post them in my next reply.

So my questions are,is it safe to turn agent.exe off from stating without have any side effects on my computer(all my programs will still work/update, etc)?And how do i turn this off from stating i have looked in Msconfig and could not find anything, some of the sites i found on google said you should be able to turn it off with MSconfig i looked for agent.exe and anything with installshield and did not find a thing.Or should i just let it online and see if that fixes it?

If you need any more info i will post it.(also i am running Windows XP, service pack 2)

Thanks for any help.
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#2
Neil Jones

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agent.exe could be used by any number of programs.

3 examples:

Note: agent.exe is also a process from Dell that gives the user an interface to monitor and administer the system. This is a non-essential process. Disabling or enabling it is down to user preference.

Note: agent.exe is also a process associated with the Forte Agent Newsgroup reader, this is a is non-essential process to the running of the system, but should not be terminated unless suspected to be causing problems.

Note: agent.exe is a process belonging to Acronis Disk Management which protects your computer against Internet-bound threats such as spyware and trojans which can be distributed through e-mail or attack directly to the computer allowing unauthorized access to your computer. This program is important for the stable and secure running of your computer and should not be terminated.

A lot depends on where the program agent.exe is running from. It's unlikely to be in the InstallShield folder as those are only invoked when you (un)install something.
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#3
Jimmy2012

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Hello Neil Jones thank you for your help.

I looked in the folder that i said agent.exe is in and it is there, i right clicked the properties and here is the info i got from it.(under the General tab)

Type of file: Application
Description: InstallShield Update Service Agent
Location: C:\Program Files\Common Files\InstallShield\UpdateService
Size: 568 KB (581,632 bytes)
Size on disk: 568 KB (581,632 bytes)
Created: Monday, January 03, 2005, 7:11:05 PM
Modified: Wednesday, February 16, 2005, 4:15:20 PM
Accessed: Today, December 02, 2007, 11:09:56 PM



Would there be any more info i can give you that would help?

Or should i just leave agent.exe alone?


Thank you :)

Edited by hhhkingofkingswwe1, 03 December 2007 - 03:49 PM.

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#4
Neil Jones

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Are there any other instances of "agent.exe" on the computer or does it only live in this folder?
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#5
Jimmy2012

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I just did a search of my computer for agent.exe and agent, and the only file that just said agent was the one i told you about.So as far as i know that is the only place agent.exe is.
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#6
Neil Jones

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This belongs to a program, a program that is trying to update every time you go online. Perhaps as a temporary basis you should allow this program access to the Internet, once its done whatever its trying to do, it should be content to stop interferring. Where is it trying to connect to?
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#7
Jimmy2012

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In my Zone alarm alerts and log it says it is trying to connect to these.(if you need the IP's i will give you them next post)
Loopback
update.intervideo.com
updates.installshield.com
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#8
Neil Jones

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This seems to be the update service for either Corel Active Video or a Macromedia product, most likely Dreamweaver. Apparently letting it patch itself from updates.installshield.com should solve these issues.
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#9
Jimmy2012

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I went ahead and let it go online for more then 1 hour then put it where it could not get online and rebooted my computer and it is still doing the same thing as before.


Apparently letting it patch itself from updates.installshield.com should solve these issues.


Just letting it online would patch it or do i need to download the patch myself?
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#10
Neil Jones

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This is capability built into whatever program you're using or have installed that is causing this behaviour. Therefore you should fire up the appropriate program and update from there. Alternatively uninstall the Macromedia/Corel product and see if the issues continue.
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#11
Jimmy2012

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I have a question, i did a search on my computer for Macromedia and the only place i found it was "C:\Documents and Settings\HP_Owner\Application Data\Macromedia" there is a folder of it there and when i open it there are 2 more folders that has a flash player and shockwave player.As far as i know i never installed them(came with the pc?) and was thinking could this be why agent.exe is running?If so is there a way i can uninstall these programs(i don't think i use it).
I looked in the add/remove programs and the only thing i see that is close to these 2 programs is.

Adobe Flash player 9 active x
Adobe Shockwave player

It does not show the size of the file for either one of these.But i don't know if the 2 things in the add/remove is the same things that the macromedia folder has?

If they are the same if i remove them from add/remove programs should that fix the agent.exe from starting?

Edited by hhhkingofkingswwe1, 04 December 2007 - 11:40 PM.

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#12
Neil Jones

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We're at a point now where there's not a lot more I can really do. Something you have installed on that computer is causing this behaviour. Without knowing what you've got installed and what you've installed since, there's little else I can suggest. It might be worth running a HiJack This log through the Malware forum but I'm sorry about that.
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#13
Jimmy2012

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We're at a point now where there's not a lot more I can really do. Something you have installed on that computer is causing this behaviour. Without knowing what you've got installed and what you've installed since, there's little else I can suggest. It might be worth running a HiJack This log through the Malware forum but I'm sorry about that.


No problem, i would like to thank you very much for all of your help. :)
I will go ahead and try messing around with the programs i have on my computer and try to see what one is doing this,and if i find out what one i will post the results.



Thank you.
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#14
Jimmy2012

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I have figured out how to stop my agent.exe from running. I will post here what i did so if anyone else has the same problem as me you can fix it.

Go to start>run>and type in msconfig and click ok.
Now click startup and uncheck these items.

ISUSPM
issch

Then click apply, then ok and restart your computer.That is what i did to fix mine.

Edited by hhhkingofkingswwe1, 09 December 2007 - 05:33 PM.

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#15
Zach055

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Another way you could do is to go to the task manager, click on the processes tab, find ISUSPM.exe and click End Process. Its basically that same thing Jimmy2012 did, its just a different way of doing it.

Edited by Zach055, 14 May 2008 - 04:18 PM.

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