Should I delete wininit.exe?

[BarneyKatz]

While running a search for wininit.exe at ProcessLibrary.com, I
discovered that "wininit.exe is added to the system as a result of the
WOLLF.16 virus. It is a backdoor Trojan horse that allows unauthorized
remote access to an infected computer." ProcessLibrary.com recommends
that I "DISABLE AND REMOVE wininit.exe IMMEDIATELY. This process is most
likely a virus or trojan".

However, I have read elsewhere that wininit.exe is a legitimate and
important file within Vista and should not be deleted so I'm not sure
what to do. I have checked the file with my anti-virus program and it's
fine.

Wininit.exe is located in 2 places on my computer. C:\Windows\System32
and a subfolder of C:\Windows\winxsx

Actually, even if I should delete the file, I'm not sure how to do so
because Vista stops me from deleting it. What should I do?

 

[Andrew McLaren]

However, I have read elsewhere that wininit.exe is a legitimate and
important file within Vista and should not be deleted so I'm not sure what
to do. I have checked the file with my anti-virus program and it's fine.

C:\Windows\System32\wininit.exe is a crucial system file. It is the second
user mode process which runs when you start Windows, after the Session
Manager, smss.exe. It is responsible for starting the service control
manager, the LSA Subsystem and the Local Session Manager. If you delete
wininit.exe, Windows cannot run.

Fortunately, in Vista you are prevented from accidently deleting this file,
even if you are the Administrator. People sometimes grumble that Vista
prevents administrators from doing stuff; but as you can see, it's actually
a Good Thing .

There may have been a virus that masqueraded as winnit.exe back around
Windows 95 days, but that info seems very out of data, now. Every correctly
functioning Vista machine has a wininit.exe file.

The best way to protect again viruses is to run one of the well-known
anti-virus programs, keep it up-to-date (including program files and
signature files) and let it scan your system on a regular basis. Combine
that with a good firewall (like the one built-in to Vista) and you won't go
too far wrong.

Hope it helps,

 

[Communikator]

In the future that may be the case that you'd want to take my advice:
Please, don't heed to everything you hear about deliberate poisoning of
Windows with malicious even by MS itself. I heard a lot of things about some
weird registry settings, and these keys and values were there, alright, but
they were legitimate despite the badly-chosen names, set by MS itself,
indeed. There's just some words-of-mouth launched, possibly, by Windows
haters to make the fools destroy their Windows systems by themselves. Just
trust your system as it is installed from a legit disc; from that point on,
your luck drives you. Cheers.