What is makecab.exe?

[nulgathlarva123]

If i go on task manager and select show processes from all users, there is a ton of "makecab.exes"
http://imgur.com/5GVSCVw What are these? Ive ran malware and everything, nothing.

 

[kchurch98]

the makecab.exe is not a harmful program although it can be harmful. It has been linked to some Trojan virus activity though. If your antivirus software did not pick it up as being a Trojan than I do not think it wold be. Also make sure your antivirus software is up to date (software that is not up to date will not pick up all the new viruses). But if your antivirus is up to date i do not think you should worry. Although I will say if it would help you sleep at night remove the makecab.exe file. It is not worth i=keeping if there is any chance it is located to a virus.

 

[nulgathlarva123]

the makecab.exe is not a harmful program although it can be harmful. It has been linked to some Trojan virus activity though. If your antivirus software did not pick it up as being a Trojan than I do not think it wold be. Also make sure your antivirus software is up to date (software that is not up to date will not pick up all the new viruses). But if your antivirus is up to date i do not think you should worry. Although I will say if it would help you sleep at night remove the makecab.exe file. It is not worth i=keeping if there is any chance it is located to a virus.

The makecab.exe's only appear when ive started/finished downloading something, i restart my pc and they are gone. Could it be related to downloading?

 

[kchurch98]

Yeah the makecab.exe program is used to compressed CBS log files which can be large files. When windows scans for updates upon boot-up it often finds these CBS logs and compresses them, and the compression is done withe the makecab.exe program. I do not know if there are any CBS file scans being done while downloading, but it definitely is possible. If there are not a lot of resources being used up you shouldn't worry, that is just an autorun program doing its job. This is not abnormal, I have heard of makecab running while downloading before so I don't think there is a lot to worry about.