What is vsmon.exe and why it uses much of my CPU?
I am sure a lot of people have similar question.
What is vsmon.exe?
My computer start to get very slow after I started to download 1.7GB file using DownThemAll (Firefox addon), I was wondering what was happening in the background. So I open up Task Manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc) to see what's going on.
Wow! vsmon.exe is taking approximately 40% of my CPU and Firefox 40% and svchost.exe 20%. I knew 2 processes firefox and svchost but what on earth is vsmon.exe?
I did a few google searches and found that vsmon.exe belong to ZoneAlarm personal firewall, it is used to monitor your internet traffic.
So this process sis quite safe, as soon as my download is finished everything came back to normal. But keep in mind that spyware or virus could be named anything, you need to know exactly where is this process located on your computer and who created it.
You can use Process Explorer tool to identify it. The rest of this article is showing you how to do it.
Download Process Explorer or visit Microsoft TechNet for more information before you download.
How to locate and identify the process
- Start up Process Explorer
Process Explorer Window
- Sort process by name and find vsmon.exe
- On the same line as process name, look at Company Name column you will find who created this process
If Company Name is not verified, you can
- Double click on vsmon.exe
Process Properties Window
- Click on Verify button
- If this process is genuine, it will be verified
If company name is not verified, you'd better do a virus scan on this file or put it into your AntiVirus Chest so it will be isolated and not access or activated in any way.
Amazon
Google CSE
Firefox
