when i look at my running tasks i have these ...rpcss (distributed com services) and wmiexe (service exe housing)...when i researched them, they seem to be win system files for NT programs...they also seem so be networking programs...i'm not networked and i have win98se and ie5.5...how do i find out what is using these programs, and how do i stop them from running if i don't need them? thanks...

Run msconfig; if they are in the startup list you can just uncheck them and they won't load in the future. You can also run a FIND and see what folder or application they are associated with.

they aren't in my startups...when i use find they are small aps...about 20kb...and they both belong to win NT(TM)...no other links...when i click on them in find they don't open either...

Interesting... I checked and I have both of these files in my Windows/System folder, but they aren't loaded (running)and I have no idea if they are ever used. You might look through the other things that load drivers etc at start up (msconfig, and look through winini etc.) and if that's fruitless do a FIND in Regedit to see if they show up in the Registry. Since thet are little aps, I doubt if their presence in your running files does any harm resource-usage-wise, however they get there.

You can stop Rpcss from running by going into Regedit to the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\OLE Look for the string: EnableRemoteConnect, and give it a value of N. Wmiexe, I don't know. You can follow this thread http://www.compucheap.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/004597.html Implication is that it has something to do with a WinModem being installed. And that if you disable Systray, it will not start up.

enable remote connect already is "N"...i guess i'm just worried that someone networked into my computer...i've only been at this for 8 months so my tech level isn't very high...thanks though...

Are you running a firewall like ZoneAlarm? Then as long as you haven't allowed some strange program access to the net, you should be fine. If not, get it at www.zonealarm.com Also, a full AV scan with uptodate definitions will detect common trojans. I don't know of one that uses rpcss though. If you are NOT running NT, you could try just renaming it. I have seen posts that indicate that stops it from running with no sideaffects.