Msedge.exe Malware

Msedge.exe

Msedge.exe is a legitimate process related to the Microsoft Edge browser that could sometimes get mimicked by harmful programs, such as Trojan Horses. If a virus has disguised itself as msedge.exe, the fake process would likely consume lots of RAM and CPU.

If you are a Windows 10 user, you are likely to notice the msedge.exe process at a certain point because Windows 10 comes together with the Microsoft Edge browser. Therefore, seeing this process in your Task Manager shouldn’t be a reason for concern, that is, unless the process itself is acting in an unusual way. What we normally mean by that is the process consuming excessive amounts of virtual memory and CPU. Even then, however, that doesn’t necessarily mean that msedge.exe is linked to malware in your system. Browsers, in general, are known for being resource-intensive, especially if one tends to open lots of tabs in them. Obviously, this could lead to some serious system slow-downs due to a lack of spare memory and CPU power and it may seem like a virus infection

If you tend to commonly use Microsoft Edge and have it open on your computer most of the time, and if there are a lot of tabs open in the browser, try closing Edge for some time and see if anything changes. If even then there’s a msedge.exe process in the Task Manager that is using up large amounts of hardware resources, then this could be a sign of malware in your system.

Msedge

Msedge is an executable file that launches the Microsoft Edge browser. The msdge file is typically located in the C:\Windows\System32 folder, but if you have this file in another location on your computer, it might be malware in disguise.

One of the best ways to check if there’s a malware program on your computer that is disguised as msedge.exe is to check for instances of this file that aren’t located in the typical file location –  C:\Windows\System32. Open your C: drive, type “msedge” in the search bar in the top-right, and hit Enter – if in addition to the legitimate msedge.exe file located in C:\Windows\System32 there are other files with this name in different locations in the C: drive, this would be a strong indication that a certain program (most likely a malicious one) is trying to mimic msedge.exe in order to stay undetected.

The msedge.exe malware

The msedge.exe malware is any malicious program that disguises itself as the legitimate msedge.exe file and process. If you don’t have the Microsoft Edge browser, but you see such a process or file, then your PC may be infected with msedge.exe malware.

If you are a Windows 7 or 8 user and have this process and file on your computer, this probably means that there’s malware in the system. Windows 7 doesn’t come with Microsoft Edge and so there would be no reason for the msedge.exe process/file to be in the system. Of course, if you have manually downloaded Edge for Windows 7 or 8 (Microsoft Edge can be downloaded for those two older Windows versions), then encountering the msedge.exe process/file shouldn’t come as a surprise and shouldn’t be seen as a sign of malware unless the process has unusual behavior and/or the file isn’t located in its typical folder.

As for the malware that may be trying to disguise itself as msedge.exe, there are a lot of possibilities, but the most likely of them is for the virus to be a Trojan Horse. Trojans are highly versatile, so it’s difficult to say what the malware may be trying to do on your PC. If it is using up most of the system’s resources, it’s possible that the Trojan is a cryptocurrency-miner that drains the computer’s RAM, CPU, and GPU in order to generate cryptocurrency (Bitcoin, Monero, Etherereum, etc.), sending it directly to the virtual wallet of the hacker. This activity could make the system next to unusable due to the severe slow-downs it is likely to cause.

What is msedge.exe

Msedge.exe is the name of the Microsoft Edge executable file and Task Manager process. In some cases, malware programs could try to mimic the msedge.exe file and process in order to mislead the user about their true nature and remain unnoticed for longer.

Another potential indication that the msedge.exe file on your system may be a disguised piece of malware is if its size is different from the typical size for that file. The legitimate msedge.exe file usually has a size of either 85,504 bytes (85.504 kilobytes) or 77,824 (77.824 kilobytes). If there’s a file with the same name on your computer but its size differs from either of those two values (especially if the difference is significant), then it’s most likely not a legitimate Microsoft Edge file.

Msedge.exe application error

The msedge.exe application error is a common Windows 10 error that could be caused by corrupted Registry, Windows 10 installation problems, or malware. To solve the msedge.exe error, repair and reset Edge and if that doesn’t work, check the PC for malware.

You can repair and reset Edge by going to Settings > Apps and Features > Microsoft Edge > Advanced Options and clicking on Repair and Reset. You should restart the PC after that and see if the error stops occurring. If it still keeps appearing, then you should probably try the malware removal guide shown below because, as we said, another possible cause of the error may be a malicious program – one that is disguised as msedge.exe.

Summary

Name	Msedge.exe
Type	Trojan
Detection Tool	Some threats reinstall themselves if you don't delete their core files. We recommend downloading SpyHunter to remove harmful programs for you. This may save you hours and ensure you don't harm your system by deleting the wrong files. Download SpyHunter (Free Remover)* OFFER *Free Remover allows you, subject to a 48-hour waiting period, one remediation and removal for results found. SpyHunter's EULA,  Privacy Policy, and more details about Free Remover.

How to remove the msedge.exe malware

To remove the msedge.exe, you should go through several removal steps that are shown below:

1. First, you will have to search your PC for recently installed programs that may be linked to the infection and delete them from the system.
2. Secondly, you must quit the rogue msedge.exe process and delete its data.
3. Next, go to the rogue msedge.exe file, and delete it.
4. Lastly, to remove the msedge.exe malware, you will have to clean any system settings that have been modified by the malware (likely including the Hosts file, the Startup items, and the Task Scheduler).

Note that this removal guide is aimed at deleting any rogue programs that have disguised themselves as the legitimate msedge.exe process. The steps we will explain to you below aren’t designed to help you uninstall Microsoft Edge.

Detailed guidelines for those four steps will be provided below – make sure to read them before performing the steps!

Detailed guide for removing the msedge.exe malware

Step 1

Whenever you are dealing with any sort of malware, it is typically a good idea to start the removal process by checking what programs are listed in the Programs and Features window. Type Programs and Features in the Start Menu, hit Enter, and then look at the programs shown in the list. Anything that’s been recently installed and that looks questionable could be potentially related to the infection, so, if you come across a program you think shouldn’t be there, right-click it, select Uninstall, and perform the uninstallation process, while making sure that you uncheck any options in the installer that would allow data from the undesirable program to remain in the system.

Step 2

WARNING! READ CAREFULLY BEFORE PROCEEDING!

Now, start the Task Manager by pressing together these three keys:

Ctrl + Shift + Esc

Now click Processes and see if you can find the msedge.exe process in the list. If it isn’t there, then either your system isn’t infected or the malware that’s in it goes under a different name and isn’t trying to disguise itself as msedge.exe, in which case you’d need to go to a guide that’s relevant for that malware.

Whether there’s only one msedge.exe process in your Task Manager or there are several of them, do the following for each such process: 

Right-click the process, go to Properties > Digital Signature > Details > View Certificate. If you can’t get to the certificate of the process you are checking, then that process is probably malware in disguise or at the very least isn’t a genuine Microsoft Edge process. In either case, that process needs to be stopped and its data needs to be deleted.

First, right-click the rogue msedge.exe process, select Open File Location. When the file location folder opens, return to the process, right-click it again, click End Process, and then go to the file location folder and delete it from your PC. After this, check the Task Manager once more to see if the rogue process is truly gone.

Also, note that if you suspect any other process in your Task Manager, you can go to their file locations and use the free scanner from below to scan the files there for malicious code. Even if only a single file is flagged as malware, this means you must end the process it is related to and then erase the entire location folder.

Step 3

Enter Safe Mode on your computer – this will ensure that the Trojan on your computer that’s disguised as msedge.exe can no longer launch its harmful process.

Step 4

Now, search for the rogue msedge.exe file on your computer. The location of the real and legitimate msedge.exe file should be C:\Windows\System32 folder. If you there’s a file with the same name but in another location, it’s likely the main malware file, and you must delete it. To search for other files with this name, open your C: drive and use the search box in the top-right to search for msedge.exe. If one or more such files are found outside the aforementioned location, you must delete them.

Next, go to C:\Windows\System32 and see if there are any files with names similar to msedge.exe. If there’s another file with a very similar name, you should delete that one too, because it’s likely malware that’s trying to disguise itself as the legitimate file.

Step 5

In the Start Menu, one by one, type the following items and go to them by hitting Enter after each. Then follow the instructions we’ve provided for them.

• Msconfig – Opening this will take you to the System Configuration window, in which you must select the Startup tab and look at the items there. If you see a msedge instance shown in the list that has an unknown manufacturer, uncheck it. Also uncheck other unfamiliar and suspicious items that may be present in that list, and then select the OK button.

• Task Scheduler – In the Task Scheduler app, click the Task Scheduler Library icon in the top-left, and look at the tasks that appear in the central panel. If among them there’s one named msedge.exe, then right-click it and click Delete.

• notepad %windir%/system32/Drivers/etc/hosts – When a notepad file labelled Hosts shows up, scroll down until you get to the part where there are two lines with Localhost written in them. If below those lines you see IP addresses, you must copy those and send them to us, down in the comments. After we review them, we will let you know if they are from the malware and if you need to do anything about them.

Step 6

If the malicious program disguised as msedge.exe still seems to be in the PC, we can recommend using the anti-malware tool included in this guide. Sometimes, manually removing a Trojan Horse such as this one can be tricky and difficult to complete by a user who’s not an expert. For this reason, we believe it would be both safer and more effective to use a specialized removal tool if the steps we’ve provided thus far have been insufficient to solve your msedge.exe malware problem.