Note: This post has been guest authored by Kaley, who is a young IT specialist from Moltensoft. She has extensive experience with computer diagnostic tools and has participated in developing diagnostic software.
Disclaimer: You need to be careful if you have this problem and better contact professional to solve it.
Many users got scared when seeing a taskeng.exe file, considering it a virus or some kind of malware. In truth, taskeng.exe files are quite harmless. On the contrary, the taskeng.exe (Task Scheduler Engine) is a legit component of Microsoft Windows that keeps track of scheduled tasks on your computer. Unfortunately, as with any other important system file, the name of taskeng.exe is often used by hackers for disguising malicious software. So, if you happen to confront a taskeng.exe popup problem on your computer, the first thing you need to do is to make sure you’re not dealing with a virus. Below are the most popular solutions to the problem. For more detailed information, refer to a complete taskeng guide.
Checking Files with Antivirus Programs
Virus scanners have been designed to help you detect potentially harmful software on your computer. So, it would be a wise choice to run a virus checker over the file that looks dubious.
- N.B. By default, the taskeng.exe file should be located in the C:\Windows\System32 folder. To learn the exact location of your file, open your Task Manager and head to the Processes tab. From there, locate the taskeng.exe file in question. Right-click on it and select Open File Location.
Once you find whereabouts of your file, and it’s other than the folder mentioned above, you’ll need to take action.
Given the fact that viruses tend to spread to multiple system files, simple deleting taskeng.exe from your computer isn’t an option. What you really need is to run a system-wide scan with a powerful antivirus tool. It’s also crucial that you avail yourself of the updated version of an antivirus program you’re planning on using.
Such freeware s Kaspersky, Avast, or Bitdefender can come in handy when you need to run a virus scan on your Windows computer. You may also want to opt for Malwarebytes or AdwCleaner as auxiliary tools.
Disabling Office Background Task Handler Registration
If you were lucky enough and the recurring taskeng.exe popup wasn’t a result of a virus, try disabling Office Background Task Handler Registration.
To do it, you’ll need to access your Task Scheduler.
Press the combination of Windows key and R. By doing so, you’ll open the Run windows. Type in “taskschd.msc” and press OK to open Task Scheduler.
Then, select Task Scheduler Library. Choose “View” and the “Show Hidden Paths” option.
Double-click on the program giving your the random taskeng.exe popup to view the entries associated with it.
After that, select Office Background Task Handler Registration and click the “Disable” button.
- You can do the same if you need to disable the Office Background Task Handler Logon.
Disabling Unexecuted Tasks in Task Scheduler
If the problem persists, you may find the following method helpful:
Head to your Task Scheduler and extend its submenu. On the Actions pane, enable the “View” option to be able to view the hidden tasks.
Then, from the “Task Status,” locate the schedules tasks that due to some reasons weren’t executed during the last 24 hours. Such tasks may be responsible for random taskeng.exe popup. Make sure to disable those tasks and check if the problem persists.
- You may want to troubleshoot the unexecuted scheduled tasks to find out why they failed to run.
We hope that our solutions proved to be useful and you succeeded in troubleshooting your issue.
