PC Pitstop is the undisputed leader in PC diagnostics. Our running process library is culled from our database of over 100 million PC diagnostics and scans.

Tip from the PitCrew

Every process running on your computer takes up CPU cycles and valuable memory. For optimal PC performance and resource utilization, you should be aware of every process on your computer. PC Pitstop designed this process library to help you know which processes are worthwhile and others that slow system performance.

Furthermore, perhaps the quickest and most straight forward method to detect malware is through a running process analysis.

Process Library

  
PC Pitstop Libraries > Process Library > mssearch.exe

mssearch.exe (MS Index Service)

Percentage of recently scanned PC's with this process running: 0.02%
Average CPU use for this program: 0%
Average RAM for this program: 1 MB

PC Pitstop Analysis

mssearch.exe is responsible for the cataloging of indexes for Exchange server and SQL server.

Recommendation

Win Patrol

mssearch.exe is an essential part of Windows and required for Windows to work properly. It should never be disabled.

PC Pitstop recommends WinPatrol Plus for monitoring all of the background activity on your PC. WinPatrol Plus provides a easy to understand descriptions of over 15,000 processes and programs.


Identification

In addition to the file name, mssearch.exe, the following version information is used to identify the file. If the file does not match this information, it may be a different file. To ensure the file is absolutely correct, run a free and comprehensive scan.

Vendor contains:Microsoft
Product contains:PKM

To view version information with Windows Explorer, right-click the file and click Properties, Version.

MD5 Hashes

MD5 hashes is the way that computers can define the uniqueness of a file. Anti malware vendors frequently use this technique to detect and clean malware. It is common for a program to have multiple MD5 hashes as the developers create newer versions of the program. For the program called mssearch.exe, we have detected 11 different MD5 hashes. Click on a hash to research the hash in Google.
MD5 Report Summary
Program NameMD5 Count
mssearch.exe11
#MD5Size
10x3a60eeab25214933b75c64bf9419402869632 bytes
20xd965449ab8e033be6b7a6eedfd5e306469632 bytes
30x0a888d52ae878649a020cc526c5665d769632 bytes
40x0d982fc2f69ceaa5773123a8719b57fd69632 bytes
50x5c7157451da94116443b96c4d59d059c69632 bytes
60x2b7615b62f2c0eccc443163b65cdbfcb73728 bytes
70xd02da157e549697154010280ddad45fd73728 bytes
80x1084403fa92d6bbc0a464df75c2a78f569632 bytes
90x6b521311c1d7b814eb228d1fc8c507b073728 bytes
100x2a02adbb53b67e3e3d7df287c01aec9565536 bytes
110xa9688d883419e9f03ab1732e27a3ffde65536 bytes

PC Pitstop Database Comparisons

Every week, we update our information about the running programs identified during the previous week's testing. mssearch.exe (MS Index Service) has been seen on 0.02% of systems tested at PC Pitstop. As a point of comparison, it is rare for a particular malicious program (virus or spyware) to be seen on more than one or two percent of all systems tested. The average RAM memory usage for this process was 1 MB. The average CPU load for this program was 0%.

Vendor or Distributor's Web Site

http://www.microsoft.com/

Detailed Description and/or Removal Instructions

http://www.liutilities.com/products/wintaskspro/processlibrary/mssearch/

Important note: A file name alone may not be enough for positive identification. PC Pitstop's Overdrive tests and spyware scan use information such as the company name, product name, or install directory. If you are unable to identify a file, ask about it in our forums after running our full tests.