What is Winknz.exe ??

[fxcolin]

I'm wondering what this file Winknz.exe is ?
I'm running Win 2000 Pro.
This file keeps trying to access the internet through port 25 to several smtp ip addresses.
I thought initally it was spyware or something like that.
I ran spybot and adaware but didn't come up.

I have my firewall blocking it and doesn't seem to harm the operating system.
Although today I'm now getting a notice that 'Winknz.exe has produced errors and will be shut down'

I've done a search on google, tek-tips as well as microsoft, but to no avail.

Any clues anyone ??
This is bugging me
Later, Skater

http://www.chefmedia.ca

http://www.fxstudios.ca

 

[Eguy]

Hi fxcolin;

First of all congratulations on have the foresight to have a firewall up and running. Now for the bad news. Someone is trying to bounce SPAM email from your system and at the same time find other W2K systems. Notify your ISP, they should be blocking port 25. Most of the major ISPs' do, the smaller ones do not. Secondly check the settings on your email account, I'll assume Outlook Express. Go to Tools > accounts > mail > properties > servers. The outgoing mail should point to your ISP server.
Thirdly, search your hard drive for 'Winknz.exe' and get rid of it. Don't be surprised if there is more than one copy. Then look in Control panel > Administrative tools > Services and look for 'Winknz.exe' and disable it.
For more information do a Google Search for "Port 25 blocking".

Hope this helps.
Ed Please let me know if the suggestion(s) I provide are helpful to you.
Sometimes you're the windshield... Sometimes you're the bug.

 

[goodwitc]

Hope you have an anti-virus because that file sounds like the KLEZ virus. It's file always starts with the word wink and then is followed by a few random characters and then .exe. There is a fix tool for this virus on Symantecs site. Check there also.

good luck

 

[fxcolin]

Thanks very much for the imput !

I was pretty suspicious about it. I figured it was a virus and actually had problems installing the anti virus. I found out that the Klez virus prevents the install.

This is a friend's system who had picked it up at an auction with Win NT installed and it seemed to misbehave right from the beginning. I got fed up trying to fix the OS and decided to create a partition and install Win 2000.

Win 2000 was working great for the first 2 weeks and then all this crap started, so finally,
I grabbed the Mcafee MS DOS scan which
found and deleted a whopping 1100 infected files on both drives.
I figure the computer was already infected when purchased.
Go figure, the former owner was a dot-com company!?
Later, Skater

http://www.chefmedia.ca

http://www.fxstudios.ca