Can someone please tell me what these are?

[nodnerb2]

Hi,

I've got a couple of Programs on my PC that are wanting to access the net and I get Alerts from Zone Alarm about these. I don't know what these programs are or waht they do so if someone could give me a heads up on either or both I would be very grateful.

The first one is called RPCSS.EXE - Distributed Com Services. It seems to have been produced my Microsoft.
The second is called STIMON.EXE- Still Images Monitor and it wants to act as a Server.

I have probably been allowing these to acces the net before but last week I was having so much trouble with ZA blocking things from me accessing the net that I removed all the progs and started again. I was amazed at the number of things that want to access the net of their own accord. I use AdWare 5.5 and haven't found any spyware for a while so I'm a bit stumped as to what the story is.

Thanks

Nodnerb2

[Buji]

http://www.cexx.org/rpc.htm http://www.google.com/search?q=RPCSS.EXE+&btnG=Google+Search http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q257/8/15.asp

[nodnerb2]

Thanks for the Links Buji,

The machine I'm using at the moment is using ME as it's OS so I guess I can let RPCSS.exe access the net.

The STIMON.EXE one still has me confused. I do have a scanner hooked up to a USB Port.Why would this want to access the net and act as a Server?

Nodnerb2

[This message has been edited by nodnerb2 (edited 08-22-2001).]

[OuTpaTienT]

I too have a USB scanner and after doing a routine install of it's drivers I also ended up with STIMON.EXE loading at start up. I disabled it, as I do with pretty much everything that tries to load itself at start-up. If it didn't ask me during the install then it does NOT have my permission to just run itself when I start Windoze. So I just disable it, usually just my using the MS Configuration Editor (MSCONFIG.EXE). If it turns out to be an important & needed file then I just re-enable it. But, in my experience I'd say that probably 80%-90% of the **** that attempts to load itself at Windoze start-up is not needed at all.

After disabling my Start-Up STIMON.EXE I was pleasantly surprised to find that my scanner still worked exactly how I expected it to.

As far as why it's trying to contact the net...it's most likely just searching for newer versions or updates to the scanner drivers/software.

I'd advise to just remove it from it's start-up place (either the Start-Up folder or one of the 'run' lines in the registry. And don't forget to check the WINDOWS.INI file because it has two lines that will start programs upon start-up. They are under the section [windows]
and begin like this:
load=
run=

As long as they are empty, that's good.