What is mssearch.exe? Is mssearch.exe spyware or a virus?

How to fix mssearch.exe related problems?
1. Run Security Task Manager to check your mssearch process
2. Run SpeedUpMyPC to fix related speed issues
3. Run Spyware Doctor to remove persistent malware

Process name: Windows Search Engine

Product: Windows Vista/7

Company: Microsoft

File: mssearch.exe

Security Rating: 1


"mssearch.exe" is the process for the Search Engine of Windows Vista. There is also a file named mssearch.exe that is related to Microsoft SQL Server (Microsoft Search for full text indexing). http://www.neuber.com/taskmanager/process/mssearch.exe.html 

Note: The mssearch.exe file is located in the folder C:\Windows\System32. In other cases, mssearch.exe is a virus, spyware, trojan or worm! Check this with Security Task Manager.

Virus with same file name:
Troj/Zlob-BC - Symantec Corporation
and other...


Click to Run a Free Scan for mssearch.exe speed issues.


Users Opinions

Average user rating of mssearch.exe: 4 based on 18 votes. Read also the 16 reviews.

390 users ask for this file. 10 users rated it as not dangerous. 1 user rated it as not so dangerous. 3 users rated it as neutral. 2 users rated it as little bit dangerous. 2 users rated it as dangerous. 1 user didn't rate it ("don't know").


All comments about mssearch.exe:
rate1 Microsoft SQL Server related. Microsoft Search (for full text indexing), not dangerous   Quel Thallas
rate1 Microsoft SQL Server related. Microsoft Search (for full text indexing), not dangerous  
rate1 mssearch.exe is a process relating to Microsoft Windows Server Suite, which is responsible for the catalogueing of indexes for Exchange server and SQL server. This program is important for the stable and secure running of your computer and should not be terminated.   Eamon
rate1 Microsoft SQPKM Service, used in SQL Server and others, mainly used for indexing   Damien Jorgensen
rate3 its spyware , your computer might detect it ( mine did) it is bundled with another procees i for got the name. to get rid of it do a search of system32 open that folder and go down till u find it and look for the date it was put on your computer. After that restore your computer to the day before it got on your computer and u should be good. And the reason i said it was a 3 cause it downloads other viruses so get it off asap.   Dan the Man who just figure this stuff out
rate4 It is a malware, if you want to try this, all you have to do is go to some ads or sex sites.   Hernan Crespo
rate5 Is part of an extremely bad spyware called "spyware quake". Be careful.   Daniel Mercer
rate5 On XP machines = spyware   Microboy
rate1 Microsoft Search (for full text indexing), not dangerous   dk
rate1 Its an indexing service. it will use resources and depending on settings it can be quite heavy in usage. so you can see a 100% CPU with a lot of pagefile swapping. check out the link for more details to get some inside inforamtion about the service.  See also: Link   Paul Fijma
rate2 This is the Microsoft SQL Server component for Full Text indexing. If you have SQL Server installed then you can expect to see it, otherwise it _may_ be malware   Gavin
rate0 Microsoft Office Sharepoint Server Search. If you are running a server with MOSS (Microsoft Office Sharepoint Server 2007) the executable for the search engine is mssearch.exe. I see two of these in my Task Manager.   Jean-Pierre Fouche
rate1 SQL SQL SQL. If you run SQL server, leave it !!   myself
rate1 Installed as part of MS SharePoint Portal   Red Baron
rate1 This file is important to Microsoft SQL Server. It is not malware, spyware or a virus.   E-rich
rate3 mssearch.exe can either be the aforementioned process by Microsoft, or it is malware indeed. Check whether Windows Search is installed, if yes, than uninstall it clearing all indexes with it and check again if process mssearch.exe is running. If yes again, it's certainly malware and running folder should be something like c:\windows\temp\ghtsrvc\. Refer to Antivirus solutions to solve this issue.   Harro

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More process information

Is mssearch.exe spyware or a virus, trojans, adware or worm? Is there a known mssearch.exe error?


Other Processes

mssearch.exe
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