What is osa.exe? Is osa.exe spyware or a virus?
How to fix osa.exe related problems?
1. Run Security Task Manager to check your osa process
2. Run a Windows Repair Tool to fix osa.exe related PC problems
3. Run an Antivirus to find persistent malware
Process name: Microsoft Office XP component
Product: Microsoft Office XP
Support: Help link Update link Uninstall tool
Company: Microsoft Corporation
File: osa.exe
Security Rating:
"osa.exe" launches common MS Office components to help speed up the starting of Office programs.
Some users claim there's no difference with or without it, but it isn't required anyway. It is not required at Startup.
Note that Osa9.exe is the Office 2000 variant.
Get more detailed information about osa.exe and all other running background processes with 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 osa.exe related Errors
Users Opinions
Average user rating of osa.exe: based on 83 votes. Read also the 72 reviews.
164 users ask for this file. 26 users rated it as not dangerous. 4 users rated it as not so dangerous. 20 users rated it as neutral. 9 users rated it as little bit dangerous. 24 users rated it as dangerous. 6 users didn't rate it ("don't know").
| All comments about osa.exe: | |
|---|---|
| Office Startup Assistant Alex | |
| Microsoft Office Startup Assistant that is loaded at start-up and improves performance by handling automation, Office fonts, certain Office commands, and Outlook notification. micxz | |
| it's next to useless | |
| One wonders why Microsoft developed it Hunter | |
| One wonders no more. End task and rename/delete executable. :-P no more | |
| it causes cpu to run at 100% robm | |
| Yes Why???? It's the more useless program of the history of computer science! Paolo | |
| I was running the word 2002 Help- Detect and Repair command and a pgm I have that watches over the start-up menu advised me that OSA,exe is being added to the start menu. **** | |
| it is a waste of RAM and CPU. disable it! one wonders... | |
| What is being referred here is about the time,when you are closing any application. Nebie | |
| It's worse than useless. Sometimes it's a resource hog, taking up all your cpu time at startup. | |
| Buganfällig, hohe CPU Auslastung = 100% Benchmarker | |
| It's the best to search whith properties and paths Sole_72 | |
| it runs with no problems | |
| it delay the open of all office file however the file will be opened faster once I kill the service Eric | |
| Causes CPU to peg at 100% with no visible gain. And no loss when you remove it from your startup folder. Bruce Johnson | |
| my ms word and excel sometime hang when opening - killing this process makes them work fine. other times it is okay. This is on windows 2000. brian | |
| Even though Microsoft wrote your operating system, and you are at their mercy, this item is removable and not well documented. Who knows what they are messing with, Get rid of it! Fox Mulder | |
| Not dangerous, but annoying. Hogs resources & as others said: Disable. Aaaalex | |
| Useless and it wastes your CPU. I disabled it. You should too. | |
| Its Useless Gerardo | |
| It is not needed and just puts kills machine performance. DGreth | |
| it change window title as chaatan Parthy | |
| I thought it was useless, but if I handles outlook reminders in the background without having to have outlook open, then I'll use it. Alexxx | |
| Forces 100% CPU usage, freezes computer. Can take 3~4 MB of RAM Get Rid of it | |
| It does have a performance gain but while it's indexing data and 'optimising', it eats resources and seriously degrades system performance while running - and it can run for some time. DiskJunky | |
| I agree with repoeted use, but when I removed and disabled the service, my office apps actually started quiker- and I mean much quicker. For example Microsoft Word now starts fully in 4 seconds instead of the usual 11 seconds. Readers must remember that often these differences are machine-specific and may not produce the same resultd on your machine Smiling Carcass | |
| It's useless. I've removed it from autostart folder immediately after having completed the Office installation. Adler | |
| Without OSA.EXE I could overclock my Opteron to 3.48 GHz!!!! and stable!!! Reinvented | |
| Office 97 vruy slow for no apparent reason. Problem re-appeared afetr full uninstall and re-install. Stopping OSA.EXE in task manager solves the problem. Simon Fanshawe | |
| This file isn't visible in my drive but it's a listed application in my registry at HKCR & HKLM. Since this is a Windows 2000 (sp4) box without Office installed I wonder if it's used as a malware exploit tool. Tom | |
| a shortcut to OSA.exe with a "-s" option runs the curent screen saver as used to be in Office before 2003 | |
| Everyone says his bit but nobody states a solution - what a crummy page. What a dump | |
| Makes my comp CPU to peg at 100%. Not sure if its safe to get rid of it tho. sac_of_suc | |
| automatically ejects my cd drive continously jacob | |
| Killed the process and now my whole system crashed. Coincidence? I think Not Would'nt you like to know | |
| it makes my computer very slow... Gerrit | |
| It supposedly helps to launch Office faster, but I disabled it and if anything, Word launches faster than before. However, if you use the MS Office shortcut bar outside office applications you should leave it enabled, just FYI! See also: Link Emma | |
| It is not dangerous but it consumes cpu and ram, and Office runs the same with or without it. My advice - disable it. Isolytic | |
| I've read the information about this file on this site, my opinion is: if this file is included in your startup entry for the first time when you have installed the MS Office - it is not dangerous. If there's more of them - then you should be warned. Eleave | |
| Started via 'Autostart', everything in Autostart folder is useless Gerrit | |
| Part of Microsoft Office XP, if you disable certain services in Windows (Task Scheduler?), this process may get stuck upon windows startup and consume all free CPU resources (Task Manager showing 99% cpu usage for OSA.EXE). Sonic | |
| From the Microsoft Knowledge Base: The Office Startup Assistant (Osa.exe or OSA) is a program that improves the performance of Office XP programs. The Osa.exe file initializes the shared code that is used by the Office XP programs. When you use the Osa.exe file to initialize shared code, the Office XP programs start faster. You can safely remove the Osa.exe file without causing the Office XP programs to fail. However, if you remove Osa.exe, you no longer benefit from the performance advantages that are provided by running Osa.exe. See also: Link Developers developers developers | |
| it makes the office progs start faster. can safely be removed See also: Link myself | |
| I renamed it but it still starts. But when I close it I seem to get an error every time I open Word about a problem with links to other programs sttav | |
| This causes my school computer to be unuseable. If you have it, remove it from the proces list Skr3d3 | |
| Logging in and running office are faster after I removed the shortcut from the programs- startup folder. I guess it's only good at hogging CPU since office runs better without it. The shortcut was called something like "microsoft office." Austin | |
| hangs the computer at shutdown Erika | |
| i was reading this and i clicked the "end task" button and my comps CPU usage went from 99-100% down to 5% then 1%, that might just be my comp but i doubt it, ctrl+alt+delete, processes, highlight it, then click end task Joe | |
| Useless resource-hog. I deleted it altogether. Veronica | |
| Win XP | |
| Win XP, SP2, Office 2003. With osa.exe disabled, C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Source Engine\ose.exe does not initiate, which disallows windows update "Update for Outlook 2003 Junk Email Filter (KB925534)" from installing succesfully. Be mindfull of this when choosing whether or not you will disable osa.exe. Link to simple way to enable OSE from command prompt: See also: Link Braeden101 | |
| I have run Ofiice applications with and without OSA.exe and there seems to be no performance difference, (Other than freeing the resources it uses - 4MB Mem, 1.5 MB VM, 0% CPU) I have experienced no crashes, hangs or delays without it. If it is using alot of your CPU, it would be advisable to scan the file for mal-ware. MCDST 3844559 | |
| osa = office shortcut bar mark | |
| my office 2003 don´t opens, it says osa.exe error Trab Nitnelav | |
| Not dangerous, but it consumes too much CPU time & slows down OS. It is useless, as well as FINDFAST. Recommendation: disable it. ip | |
| Should speed up MS Office startup. Like every "quick launch" tool, if you're not using the related application every given time you boot your System, you probably don't need it: why consume system resources to improve the performance of something you often don't use? It can be safely disabled. To prevent it from running, choose Start, Run, enter "msconfig" (no quotes) in the 'Open' text box, click OK. Select the 'Startup' tab, uncheck the 'Microsoft Office' item (its line has ...\OSA.EXE in the command value). Hit 'OK'. See also: Link danjar | |
| Uses all my CPU Someone | |
| It makes computer slower. Hence when anyone wants to run eclipse,weblogic,tomcat or any software development,then make it disable.After disableing eclipse or any software will run fast becauseof consuming 0% cpu usage rather than 100% cpu usage. sanjay kumar gupta | |
| This program uses all of your CPU. When my computer was running slowly I tried to open Task Manager and it took almost 1 minute to open. When i say that 'OSA.EXE' was using 99% of my CPU and other programs that needed the CPU were figthing for it, I ended the 'OSA.EXE' process. Plasma Ball1 | |
| Uses all my CPU (90-100%) shut down this process Mrkvo$rot | |
| On XP, sp3, OSA.EXE consumes 99% of CPU time and takes too much time to finish. Zotty | |
| Not dangerous, but Office 97 won't run until I disable it. Anon | |
| do not delete file. Simply delete its shortcut. | |
| 100% CPU upon startup, a serious computer slow-me-downer staticpunk111 | |
| C:\PROGRAM FILES\MICROSOFT ACTIVESYNC\WCESCOMM.EXE | |
| End the process by going to TaskManager- select OSA.exe - Right Click- Endprocess. Your problem will solved. vijay | |
| After loading, prevented my pc from shutting down proper, repeatedly forced me to power reset, searched under SAFE boot multiple times, downloaded new antiviruses, didn't know it existed until loggedc in under 2nd admin acct and found it on dsktop. 2nd acct was not running it , and worked fine. installed as part of Powerpoint update, I don't have powerpoint! Gary - Minneapolis Minnesota | |
| Hasn't been used in Office since Office XP. Not used in Office 2007 and above. See also: Link Franklin | |
| I dont have Powerpoint,Office,him uses big CPU usage disable him! NicN5ering | |
| OSA.exe komt van MS office prof.97, en is volkomen veilig Theoard | |
| It's useful for firing off your screensaver. jdg | |
Show all 72 comments
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