Here is the situation: Starting two days ago, I began getting an error message saying winras.exe caused an invalid page fault. This error message now comes up about once every single freaking minute! I cannot do scandisk, because it keeps getting interrupted saying that something is writing to my hard drive. The longer I have my computer on (and the more "winras.exe" IPFs I get, the worse my system performance gets. I also get kernel32.dll IPFs every now and then, too. Programs that used to work fine now say I don't have enough system resources (and I'm running a powerhouse maching). I finally just renamed winras.exe so it wouldn't run, but I still get memory error messages and performance is still crappy, so I've just hidden the problem. Does anyone know what winras.exe is and what is causing this problem? It's annoying as crap............

Well, considering you didn't give me any error messages, I'll do the best I can to help you. What it sounds like the problem is is a problem with Kernel32.dll. I know for a fact that in Windows 95 (I'm not sure what operating system you're using, you didn't say) there is a memory leak problem with Kernel32.dll. What this means is that if you use a program for an extended period of time, it can completely drain the system resources. This could be causing problems in winras.exe. However, I don't suspect it's this. But, just to be sure, download the fixed version of Kernel32.dll from: http://support.microsoft.com/download/support/mslfiles/Krnlupd.exe Now, if this doesn't work (and I suspect it won't), then the problem is in your memory usage. Hit alt-control-delete and see what programs are running. I'm willing to bet that you have a number of programs that you don't need running. You should only have Explorer and Systray in the pop-up box. Hit end task on everything else. If you have two explorers open (I've run into this problem numerous times) then close the one that is furthest to the bottom of the list. This is probably your problem, and this should free up memory. However, if this is the case, chances are that you'll need to do this everytime you start up. To fix that, I'd have to look at your WIN.INI files, and that's just getting into too much depth. Good luck fixing this problem. Best Wishes, -Alan Bannet

winras.exe in a myterious file that "every-once-in-a-while" gets put in the windows\system dir. I've seen it a few times. It should NOT be there if you never intended to be a Remote Access Server a.k.a. RAS (and U probably didn't). It's a "backdoor" type program to allow outside access to your computer (kind of "backorifice lite"). Watch out for the "rouge" better known as warez sites as they know how to "invade" you thru your browser, and put these kind of things there. You see running it if you run Wintop. Sometimes it runs intermittently - evidenced by the mouse curser as an hourglass for a few seconds about every 5 to 10 minutes. Shut down and reboot to "command prompt only", go to windows\system and rename this file to winras.exi (don't delete it just yet in case its supposed to be there(but i doubt it)). Delete it sometime later (a few weeks or so) when you "know" its not needed) P.S. I never did. P.S.S. Watch out for VNC also.

I located this charmer running on a system this morning, and found some interesting information besides. The system was experiencing a drastic slowdown, and Ctrl-Alt-Del showed two unknown items running: "winras" and "ver_chk". I checked the normal load locations: win.ini, autoexec/config, registry, and found that only "ver_chk" was referenced in the registry at \HKU\Default\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run => C:\windows\system\ver_chk.exe. I used my trusty hex editor to view the file, and found references to a program/Web site called CyberAudio Library. It also contained references to "winras.exe". Since CAL isn't currently installed, I moved those files along with "du_cal.exe" (referenced to in ver_chk as well) out of \windows\system to a temporary folder, removed the references in the registry, and rebooted. So far, no ill effects, and no additional instances of either.

I found the aforementioned winras.exe and ver_chk.exe files in the system directory on my fiance's computer. Her system runs very little on it other than some games and applications.. the only things normally in startup are Intellipoint drivers and antivirus software. I removed both files from her system directory and submitted them to sarc.com to get an auto-reply that neither files had virii in them. I don't quite believe their AI. I found ver_chk.exe in the same key mentioned above. Upon removing the reference to that "Windows Version Checker", neither winras nor ver_chk loaded on next boot, and everything seems fine. Any of the software she's run on her PC has been run on mine, so i can't figure out where these files came from. I did not, however, find the du_cal.exe file on her system. I have kept the files, and if you would like them for comparison to yours, i'd be happy to send them to you. Perhaps we should get a human to analyze these files for trojan-like activity.

i have also noticed these files appear in the alt+ctrl+del menu i think they do have someting to do with a trojan 2 days ago my icq password and hotmail password were hacked i have also noticed that when i closed winras i heard a siren noise? if anyone knows what this is and how to get rid of it i would like a reply thank you

Here's a relatively simple solution. While it's been some time since I used Win95, under Win98, click Start> Run... In the window that pops up, type "msconfig"... Click the System.ini tab, and then double click the "Boot" entry. You should see listings for EVERYTHING that loads on startup. Uncheck the entries for "ver_chk.exe" and "winras.exe", then click the "Apply" button, and click "OK". As the program closes, it'll ask you if you wish to reboot. Go ahead and reboot, and those two apps won't bug you any longer... As said, I forget if Win95 handles this as cleanly, if it does, then no probs, it also automatically shifts the registry entries for the two apps to an unused section (presumably for the purpose of debugging your system, but seperate from regular Windows operations). A bit late, but hopefully this helps others in the future...