What is acs.exe? Is acs.exe spyware or a virus?
How to fix acs.exe related problems?
1. Run Security Task Manager to check your acs process
2. Run a Windows Repair Tool to fix acs.exe related PC problems
3. Run an Antivirus to find persistent malware
Process name: Atheros Configuration Service
Product: Atheros Configuration Service (ACS)
Support: Help link [1][2] Update link [1][2] Uninstall tool
Company: Qualcomm Atheros
File: acs.exe
The Atheros Configuration Service (ACS) is a vital part of the driver set for WLAN cards or USB adapters which use the Qualcomm Atheros chipset to provide a desktop computer with wireless capabilities. Atheros was co-founded in May 1998 by the president of Stanford University and Teresa Meng, an engineering professor at Stanford doing research in digital signal processing and radio frequency technology. It went public in 2004 and was taken over by Qualcomm as a subsidiary in May, 2011. Numerous desktops use Atheros wireless as do wireless cards from D-Link, Netgear, and Linksys, among others. The ACS.exe process is installed alongside Atheros Wireless LAN and provides additional configuration options. Normally this process should only be present on a system known to have wireless capability, and then only one instance at a given time. Multiple instances or its presence on a system with no wireless capability indicates malware disguising itself with the name. On occasion this process has been said to use 100% of the CPU but there is no known cause; the recommended remedy is to reinstall the drivers for the wireless card.
If you want a detailed security rating about your acs.exe (and all other running background processes) read the following user opinions, and download the free trial version of Security Task Manager.
Note: Any malware can be named anything - so you should check where the files of the running processes are located on your disk. If a "non-Microsoft" .exe file is located in the C:\Windows or C:\Windows\System32 folder, then there is a high risk for a virus, spyware, trojan or worm infection! Check it out!
Click to Run a Free Scan for acs.exe related Errors
Users Opinions
Average user rating of acs.exe: based on 166 votes. Read also the 151 reviews.
2876 users ask for this file. 119 users rated it as not dangerous. 9 users rated it as not so dangerous. 25 users rated it as neutral. 6 users rated it as little bit dangerous. 7 users rated it as dangerous. 11 users didn't rate it ("don't know").
| All comments about acs.exe: | |
|---|---|
| Depends where it is located, Its not a windows sined .exe it dosent belong in c:/windows/system32/...... del it if you want but may be assoaited with freewere or paywere or choclatewere be careful save a backup just in case. LOW_RAM | |
| D-LINK wi-fi or Atheros based chips Justin C. | |
| ACU Configuration Service Atheros Configuration Service See also: Link John Brodeur | |
| Atheros chipset configuration used in D-Link wireless LAN See also: Link Eric | |
| Atheros Configuration Service See also: Link Boton | |
| needed for my atheros wlan thinkpaduser | |
| Atheros Configuration Service, software for a lancom pci adaptor See also: Link ken collins | |
| related to atheros wireless lan rick h. | |
| D-Link Wireless Access WLAN Berry O. | |
| may be dangerous (W32.Kelvir.W MSNM worm) or not, check link for information how to check if it is. Daniel Jars | |
| Part of the DLink AirPlus wireless card drivers install Renee | |
| Possibly it is Cisco Secure Access Connectivity Server (Secure ACS) S Donkers | |
| Wi-Fi application Spooner | |
| Atheros configuration util Andrew | |
| Used for D-Link Wireless Card IcyJ | |
| Run by SYSTEM. Uses 60 MB RAM and 220 MB pagefile. Can't be tha "Atheros" conf util! Simon Hoff Kunze | |
| Atheros Configuration service Krimo | |
| Atheros Configuration Service Jonatj | |
| Service for D-Link wireless Luis S. | |
| d-link atheros wireless lan Frank | |
| atheros wlan mjv | |
| Used for Wi-Fi application.Needed to connect via 802.11b/g.The file in my system is dated 12.07.2004 21:06 and has been installed with the driver of a PCMCIA Wi-Fi card Luca | |
| Atheros Configuration Service -- used by the software that came with my D-Link DWL-G650 wireless networking PCMCIA card T. Mark Gibson | |
| I don't have a D-Link product, but I do have a Netgear one, must be used with that as well Tom | |
| it's a pain on my win 2000 machine, it's a d-link program Michael | |
| Part of the DLink AirPlus wireless card drivers install MonarKc | |
| Configuration Service for Atheros Wireless Chipset See also: Link Liam | |
| DLink Airplus Extreme Wireless card driver Frank | |
| Atheros Configuration Service | |
| Wireless card on laptop Teresa | |
| D-Link Wireless Card Mike | |
| acs.exe is a worm W32.Kelvir.W. See also: Link cheryl higgins | |
| It appears after install D-link wireless card | |
| Once removed , connection lost Dave | |
| Startup program for Atheros Client Utility [Wireless] Jessie | |
| Atheros Configuration /Service file Uses network connection Jody | |
| Atheros Configuration Service Asher | |
| D-Link needed Helen M. | |
| It is part of my wireless netgear controller software. It disappeared when I removed it from add/remove programs and moved the device to different computer. Daniel Dykstra | |
| Flagged after installing netgear wireless card. Evidently needed by or bundled with wireless os. bertoray | |
| Atheros Configuration service ohm | |
| D-Link Wireless Lan process, Buffulo Wireless LAN. Slim network cards, comes with the driver disk. See also: Link M. Singletary | |
| It is the Atheros Configuration Service although there is no publisher info!! Jay H. | |
| It is service for WLAN cards with Atheros chipsets; example for Planet WL-8310 or D-Link card (US version) Voltar | |
| Part of the DLink AirPlus wireless card drivers install Kenny | |
| It's a driver file for wireless chipsets, often used by Atheros and Dlink. Darren | |
| D-Link Wifi thingie.. harmless Raven | |
| D-Link (Atheros Chipset) wireless PCMCIA card utility (~36Kb in Windows directory only; other locations may be a trojan that exploits this name) Sam | |
| its from my dlink g520M wireless network card. //copied to x:/wincows/systems32 scott | |
| ACS.exe is a process installed alongside Atheros Wireless LAN and provides additional configuration options for these devices. This program is non-essential process to the running of the system, but should not be terminated unless suspected to be causing problems. Julia | |
| I have an SMC wireless card and I still have this file on my computer Jonathan | |
| atheros chipset wireless card configuration service either d-link or netgear Tom | |
| Wireless NIC service also used by SMC Joe | |
| acs.exe is the D-Link wireless executable. Nothing to worry about, people. | |
| installs with my Atheros chipset wifi card | |
| Needed for WLAN Configuration - Has a memory leak that slows down computers. Stop/Start in Service control Mgr to regain memory. JEG | |
| Disabled and Atheros card still works fine Adam | |
| its the chip on the pc card used in netgear and dlink wireless cards made by atheros miguel | |
| Used for SMC wireless application Winga | |
| siemens gigaset pc wlan card 108 | |
| Atheros wireless configuration device. Wassup | |
| Atheros Configuration Service SMV | |
| Used for WiFi systems but runs cygrunsrv.exe at 100%. Not good! Remove it and lose WiFi connection. Slamlander | |
| Also used by Lancom Airlancer Products (Atheros) Totti | |
| not part of D-Link. | |
| On startup, acs.exe changes my video settings to minimum values. I added a D-Link Air Plus card and software 6 moths ago. R Smith | |
| Appeared after DLink router/ card install David Mann | |
| Internal wireless card that came with my toshiba laptop. Paul Bajaron-Nawlins | |
| Its both a worm, W32.Kelvir.W., and a wireless application for D-link and Atheros. All i can recommend is that if it gives you errors when shutting windows down, try running an AVG and Xoftspy scan. See also: Link Nick | |
| Its both a worm, W32.Kelvir.W., and a wireless application for D-link and Atheros. All i can recommend is that if it gives you errors when shutting windows down, try running an AVG and Xoftspy scan. Nick | |
| it takes 202 MB of my ram. but i didn't know what.... Amir | |
| WLAN for SMC USBT 108 Mbps adapter client utility Chris W PC TECH | |
| It belongs to my Wireless-USB utility, which shows all details about connections. It has a systray-icon, which shows how good connection is. My USB-108M-Wireless adapter is TP-Link TL-WN620G-11G. When I stop the acs.exe-process, my indicator in the systray is gone and with it all information, configuration etc. BTW, a cheap but very good adapter, connection even through several walls is very good. See also: Link Hardy | |
| is a d-link atheros connection executable(uses to much ram sometimes 110MB!!) beomuex | |
| WiFi chipser Mike | |
| When I performed a Norton Spyware scan it appears that acs.exe is infected with an spyware of medium risk. But the last time I've deleted it, when I start my notebook, it appears a message of error about Counter Spy (a software I've never installed), with a missing file SBFC.dat .... I've corrected it with a system restore point. Dante | |
| Got it with Bandridge USB WLAN adapter Igor Farago | |
| atheros wireless configuration utility koyot | |
| used also in TP-link PCMCIA wi-fi card. Sometimes takes even 300Mb in pagefile Michael | |
| ACS is a part of my Atheros Client Utility (wireless card) denn | |
| Virus! delete it | |
| it depends on location : it's a worm if located "under %ProgramFiles%\ACS-Style\acs.exe". It's a D-Link wireless PCMCIA card utility under %Windows%\System32 Sbreccius | |
| Runs with belkin wireless hardware. no big deal to leave it. rastafari | |
| Comes with the wifi transmitter/receiver in Toshiba. May not be neccessary in some cases. Alex | |
| Really slows down my Win-ME system. Needed for D-Link wireless card. Havn't found a way around Tony | |
| Comes with D-Link wireless adapter located in C:\Program Files\D-Link\D-Link RangeBooster N DWA-542 Norman | |
| installed along with the wireless router stuff | |
| Atheros configuration service shultz | |
| It came with my Level1 108Mbps Wireless card (WPC-0300 version 4). It's safe to have it. Levimor | |
| used for wlan | |
| its a worm, remove asap, keith | |
| With Vista it is a nuisance Jerry | |
| firewall outpost / agnitum client security service (windows vista) jito | |
| agnitum client service bbking | |
| "Agnitum Outpost Service" for Outpost Firewall Pro 2008. See also: Link Michael | |
| Part of OutPost Firewall security agent See also: Link The swax | |
| Atheros Configuration Service | |
| acs.exe is a worm W32.Kelvir.W. See also: Link loxare | |
| It is a part of Agnitum Outpost firewall, takes small amount of CPU capacity and about 25 MB memory. Can't be terminated unles whole firewall is ended. Think it is harmless Stoun | |
| If you are using an Outpost Firewall Pro 2008, is the main firewall process, check the properties of the "Agnitum Client Security Services", in the services management console See also: Link Dark Entropy | |
| It is Agnitum Outpost Firewall exe See also: Link John | |
| Belongs to Outpost Pro firewall George | |
| Part of "Agnitum Outpost 6.0", it may stand for "Agnitum Complete Security" as far as I know. RAM use varies from45M to 130M. See also: Link | |
| Agnitum Client Security Service. Used by Outpost Security Suite. Vadim | |
| Agnitum Client Security, part of Outpost Security Suite (Firewall) Junior | |
| it is the "Agnitum Client Security Service" from the Agnitum Firewall. just have a look under your Services list nimrodi | |
| acs.exe is also the main firewall component service (Agnitum Client Security Service) of Agnitum Outpost Firewall Pro 2008 | |
| It is the Agnitum Client Security Service David Simon | |
| OUTPOST FIREWALL process See also: Link Tropik | |
| agnitum outpost service/agnitum outpost firewall 2008 eemil | |
| acs = Atheros Configuration Service for wireless device kaimano | |
| ACS process is installed when installing a new D-LINK PCMCIA Wireless card Dave | |
| Comes from Outpost Firewall Pro..installed last night is there now..seems to be fine. See also: Link Jordan Hunt | |
| Its a Outpost Firewall process, and can take up to 30MB when idle. (Sourec: Xylber | |
| Was installed with Vodafone UTMS software Patrick | |
| Agnitum Client Security Service - acs.exe is the main firewall component service See also: Link audciz | |
| On my machine, it is "Agnitum Client Security Service"...part of the Outpost Security Suite. Des | |
| Part of Outpost security suite 2008 | |
| It is the Agnitum Outpost Firewall Pro 2009 process. George | |
| Part of the configuration program of OLITEC wifi cards Chrysander | |
| acs.exe works with a variety of wireless adapter cards. I am using it with Netgear 108 Mbs Wireless PCI WG311T. Recently, my wireless connection drops with strong signal level. Restarting acs.exe temporarilly restores the connection much faster and with better results than using "Repair" from Microsoft's "Wireless Network Connection" tray icon. I have not yet found the cause for intermittent signal loss. Please contact me at the link given if you have more information or want more information about what I find. See also: Link David Huett | |
| Name: AtherosConfigService. Part of Outpost Firewall (by Agnitum) Horst Gunter | |
| acs.exe can also be an Outpost Security Suite process Wasted | |
| This file belongs to "Outpost Firewall Pro 2009" on my PC See also: Link Jamie | |
| Outpost Firewall Pro | |
| Agnitum security! paul mcbride | |
| alot of people have said d-link i also have d-link so i dont think its a virus but mine is located in windows system32 so if it's located newere other than that its probly a virus loom | |
| Apparently it is both part of Outpost Firewall and Atheros for wireless configuration. If it is atheros and you don't need it, turn it off via msconfig services manager. Could be both, so if you have Outpost firewall don't disable it- it's the main firewall process... Yeah | |
| In my case it was installed with Outpost Firewall 2009. C:\PROGRA~1\Agnitum\OUTPOS~1\acs.exe and C:\WINDOWS\system32\ Pierre | |
| These last days i had an issue regarding acs.exe. I blocked its access to the network and the OS seems to work better Ob3 | |
| I have no WiFi on my comp, but I do have outpost. Only I do notic it sucks up about 60,000K of mem. Which makes it a bit of a nuisance. Dreamorpheus | |
| Running on a Thinkpad T60 when the computer is put to standby mode and then comes out of standby, I always get System Error on ACS.exe and that the process will be shut down with a note to send a message to Microsoft on the error. I've now renamed the acs.exe file to acs.exe.old in the Windows/system32 folder and the error had gone. Still checking to see if any another aps needed the file. Wireless is working fine. Ron | |
| agnitum outpost service aashay | |
| firewall agnitum outpost service | |
| ACS stands for Agnitum Client Security Service, part of Outpost Firewall Pro / Outpost Security Suite Alex | |
| Comes with Outpost Firewall, uses up some CPU time, can be annoying on low powered systems. Unagichan | |
| Atheros Configuration Service Associated with my wireless card. Vani | |
| I don't have any of the above applications or wireless cards but still have it running in my processes. Funky | |
| It is used by a TON of programs to check SOFTWARE LICENSES in a database. Look in your windows program (x86) folder, search for it, and you will find severl iterations. The more costly and more secure the software the more likely it has an ACS.exe program to check the license against the database created when installed. If you remove it, whatver program it was used by will no longer run. Good software will say "ACS SERVER NOT RUNNING" and quit. SCO TRIPLE ACE | |
| acs.exe is known to be an Outpost Security Suite process Michael | |
| wifi card - needed ! | |
| Installed under Advanced System Care 4 | |
| Agnitum Outpost Service (Outpost Firewall) | |
| It's a configuration service that is not related to any malicious program. Just like most ppl who posted here had said, it's AtherosConfigService. Part of the drivers set for WLAN cards, USB adapter's ect....In my case, it's a Belkin WLAN PCI card. It's harmless. See also: Link Jzee420 | |
| Used for NetGear N150 Wireless USB Adapter Jeremy O | |
| agnitum outpost firewall process | |
| didntblock my net after blocking it installed pc tools firewall and it was the second first popup aftrer installing the firewall, aftrer the new network setting was popped before it. if this message gets there, i can still be online with my wireless card in a tower after blocking its bad a*. | |
| Got this when U-Verse was installed, to enable wireless capabilities for my desktop computer. TxGirl | |
| its safe and importiant for running various of programs Shady Kamal | |
| Agnitum Client Security Service, part of Agnitum Outpost Firewall See also: Link D.J. | |
| More a driver than a service. Switch off to switch the wireless card of althogether. To protect against all remote access. Switch off WLAN AUTOCONFIG for wireless and/or all MS Remote .. services for any remote access Bert | |
Show all 151 comments
More process information
Is acs.exe spyware or a virus, trojans, adware or worm? Is there a known acs.exe error?
Other Processes
pnkbstra.exe msnlnamespacemgr.dll acs.exe mscordbi.dll starwindservice.exe lssrvc.exe firefox.exe kbd.exe [all processes]