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Ikepuska
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Popup executable

Sat Jun 03, 2017 6:50 pm

So I need some help.

I've got some kind of executable creating a window and then immediately closing it on my system. I'm not sure what's executing or why, and it's intermittent. It steals focus even when I'm in a full screen game, but it closes too fast for me to be certain what the window is. Given the size and placement I suspect a CMD window. I'm on Win10, is there a way to check logs to see what's executing or to force cmd to create a log file for every command put into it, so that I can track down what's happening?
 
whm1974
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Re: Popup executable

Sat Jun 03, 2017 8:37 pm

At first glance I suspect malware. I would check for that before doing anything else.
 
morphine
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Re: Popup executable

Sat Jun 03, 2017 8:44 pm

I'd get a hold of Malwarebytes Anti-Malware. Make sure you grab the free version, it's not immediately obvious in their website. Have it run a full scan.
There is a fixed amount of intelligence on the planet, and the population keeps growing :(
 
Noinoi
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Re: Popup executable

Sat Jun 03, 2017 9:40 pm

Do you have Office 365/2016 installed? Recently there was a bug in it that's causing Office to create a command prompt every so often that disappears just as quickly. The bug is already fixed in Insider Slow, or you could wait for the patch to roll out for everyone else.

I've found out about it here: https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/c ... caused_by/

See also: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/mso ... 1cd2c3ea13

"This issue is fixed starting with build 16.0.8201.2025 which is now available as the latest update for those participating in the Office Insiders Slow program. It will be included in a future update for those not participating in Insiders."

If your Office version below 16.0.8201.2025, I think you might have run into it.

If not, then yeah, might be malware and you should follow their advice :)

Hope that helps.
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Ikepuska
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Re: Popup executable

Sat Jun 03, 2017 11:21 pm

I did run a malware scan, and didn't find anything. But it definitely looks like it could be the office bug. Just need to double check the version
ETA:
Version 1704 Build 8067.2115

Looks like that might be it.

ETA2: HUZZAAAAAAA, that was it. I ran the process and it generated exactly the same popup! For now I've disabled the scheduled task, I'm not interested in switching my office build to insider, so I'll wait for the fix and re-enable the task then.

The timeline matched with when I started seeing it too, so I think this is solved! Thanks so much for the tip. I've been knee deep in a major project and just didn't have the time to read reddit or anywhere which would mention this bug.
 
bfg-9000
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Re: Popup executable

Sun Jun 04, 2017 1:42 am

It's not just Office 365! Even if you have Office 2016 installed Microsoft keeps pushing their "Get Office" notification app to your PC hoping to annoy you enough to also buy 365 to get the Metro App version of Office. Go ahead, uninstall Get Office notifications and watch it get reinstalled on the very next reboot.

You can either use one of the hacks to keep it uninstalled, or just disable the Task that's causing the command prompt window to briefly pop up hourly and minimizing your full-screen applications:
Open Task scheduler
In left column click the arrow next to Task Scheduler library
Click the arrow next to the "Microsoft" Folder
Click on "Office" folder and in the right column, search for OfficeBackgroundTaskHandlerRegistration task and disable it
 
Noinoi
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Re: Popup executable

Sun Jun 04, 2017 2:05 am

bfg-9000 wrote:
It's not just Office 365! Even if you have Office 2016 installed Microsoft keeps pushing their "Get Office" notification app to your PC hoping to annoy you enough to also buy 365 to get the Metro App version of Office. Go ahead, uninstall Get Office notifications and watch it get reinstalled on the very next reboot.

You can either use one of the hacks to keep it uninstalled, or just disable the Task that's causing the command prompt window to briefly pop up hourly and minimizing your full-screen applications:
Open Task scheduler
In left column click the arrow next to Task Scheduler library
Click the arrow next to the "Microsoft" Folder
Click on "Office" folder and in the right column, search for OfficeBackgroundTaskHandlerRegistration task and disable it


Something must be broken on your setup as it stayed uninstalled in my systems, and that program isn't the one producing the errant prompts, anyway.
[email protected] | Patriot 2x16GB | Asus GTX 970 | Aorus Z390 Pro Wifi | Intel 660p 512GB + Kingston Fury 240GB + 2x4TB WD HDDs | Win 10
 
LostCat
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Re: Popup executable

Tue Jun 06, 2017 10:58 pm

bfg-9000 wrote:
Go ahead, uninstall Get Office notifications and watch it get reinstalled on the very next reboot.

The only time things get reinstalled without user intervention that I've seen is if they're in the process of the OS updating them on a fresh install.

Simple solution: Go to the Store and tell it to update everything before you start removing them.

Is it annoying? Sure. But it happens once in an install and then it's done.
Meow.
 
bfg-9000
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Re: Popup executable

Wed Jun 07, 2017 12:58 am

Hmm, googling "get office" reinstalls itself results in mostly hits from 2015 so perhaps this was fixed sometime after everyone gave up on trying to uninstall it, and it now only reinstalls itself on Windows version updates. This behavior is gone for sure in Creators Update 1703, but I'm sticking with 1511 until end of life in September 2017 or 1511 Current Branch for Business end of life in January 2018.

But the point is "Get Office" did indeed last week cause an hourly pop-up of a command prompt window which minimized full-screen applications, which is what OP complained about, and one fix for that was as posted--although if it can stay uninstalled it would be more elegant to simply do that.

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