What is MS_WebcheckMonitor?

I recently installed and ran a free program called "Karen's Window
Watcher". What the program does is to display the titlebar text of all
open windows, including windows that are not visible. In looking at
the resulting list, I noticed a hidden window named
"MS_WebcheckMonitor" and since I don't like being "monitored", I
decided to find out more aboutit. Apparently, it's a window run by:

Module File Name: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\WEBCHECK.DLL

More research indicated that at boot time the following executable:

C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\LOADWC.EXE

loads webcheck.dll into memory, where it stays throughout the Windows
session, apparently wasting system resources.

The Microsoft website tersely says the following about the module:

"This object manages subscriptions."

They also describe the loadwc.exe program as follows:

"Loadwc.exe, also known as Load WebCheck, customizes some of the
settings in Internet Explorer. Loadwc.exe adds, removes, and updates
subscriptions. Loadwc.exe also propagates settings for user profiles."

Whatever is meant by "propagate" in this context, I haven't a clue.

I don't use subscriptions and I'm the only user on this computer.
Thus, I can see no possible reason I'd need the webcheck.dll file
loaded in system memory all the time.

Can anybody please explain why I need this module running in the
background? More importantly, what exactly does it do?

TIA

--
Regards from John Corliss

John
Wed Feb 18 17:30:11 CST 2004

John Corliss wrote:
> I recently installed and ran a free program called "Karen's Window
> Watcher". What the program does is to display the titlebar text of all
> open windows, including windows that are not visible. In looking at the
> resulting list, I noticed a hidden window named "MS_WebcheckMonitor" and
> since I don't like being "monitored", I decided to find out more
> aboutit. Apparently, it's a window run by:
>
> Module File Name: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\WEBCHECK.DLL
>
> More research indicated that at boot time the following executable:
>
> C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\LOADWC.EXE
>
> loads webcheck.dll into memory, where it stays throughout the Windows
> session, apparently wasting system resources.
>
> The Microsoft website tersely says the following about the module:
>
> "This object manages subscriptions."
>
> They also describe the loadwc.exe program as follows:
>
> "Loadwc.exe, also known as Load WebCheck, customizes some of the
> settings in Internet Explorer. Loadwc.exe adds, removes, and updates
> subscriptions. Loadwc.exe also propagates settings for user profiles."
>
> Whatever is meant by "propagate" in this context, I haven't a clue.
>
> I don't use subscriptions and I'm the only user on this computer. Thus,
> I can see no possible reason I'd need the webcheck.dll file loaded in
> system memory all the time.
>
> Can anybody please explain why I need this module running in the
> background? More importantly, what exactly does it do?
>
> TIA

So nobody wants to answer my post. Oh well, I've killed that process
and have experienced no ill effects. What I did was to remove both the
loadwc.exe and webcheck.dll files from the system folder and put them
in a zip file.

End of problem I guess.

--
Regards from John Corliss

ng_reader
Wed Feb 18 21:09:31 CST 2004

Bit of a rush, eh - Johnnie?

I really don't know the answer, but you might want to check out the mostly
free utilities that keep popping up around here like adaware and spybot sd.
Clever utilities (esp spybot) that tell you what it does, who made it, and
why it's bad. That is if it's spyware - which it sounds like it is.

"John Corliss" <jc@notreal.to> wrote in message
news:uart4dn9DHA.2432@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...
> John Corliss wrote:
> > I recently installed and ran a free program called "Karen's Window
> > Watcher". What the program does is to display the titlebar text of all
> > open windows, including windows that are not visible. In looking at the
> > resulting list, I noticed a hidden window named "MS_WebcheckMonitor" and
> > since I don't like being "monitored", I decided to find out more
> > aboutit. Apparently, it's a window run by:
> >
> > Module File Name: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\WEBCHECK.DLL
> >
> > More research indicated that at boot time the following executable:
> >
> > C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\LOADWC.EXE
> >
> > loads webcheck.dll into memory, where it stays throughout the Windows
> > session, apparently wasting system resources.
> >
> > The Microsoft website tersely says the following about the module:
> >
> > "This object manages subscriptions."
> >
> > They also describe the loadwc.exe program as follows:
> >
> > "Loadwc.exe, also known as Load WebCheck, customizes some of the
> > settings in Internet Explorer. Loadwc.exe adds, removes, and updates
> > subscriptions. Loadwc.exe also propagates settings for user profiles."
> >
> > Whatever is meant by "propagate" in this context, I haven't a clue.
> >
> > I don't use subscriptions and I'm the only user on this computer. Thus,
> > I can see no possible reason I'd need the webcheck.dll file loaded in
> > system memory all the time.
> >
> > Can anybody please explain why I need this module running in the
> > background? More importantly, what exactly does it do?
> >
> > TIA
>
> So nobody wants to answer my post. Oh well, I've killed that process
> and have experienced no ill effects. What I did was to remove both the
> loadwc.exe and webcheck.dll files from the system folder and put them
> in a zip file.
>
> End of problem I guess.
>
> --
> Regards from John Corliss

John
Thu Feb 19 04:38:02 CST 2004

NO, it's not spyware. It's an actual MS process:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=http://support.microsoft.com:80/support/kb/articles/q176/9/60.asp&NoWebContent=1

(link may wrap)

ng_reader wrote:
> Bit of a rush, eh - Johnnie?

Hmmm. >80(>

> I really don't know the answer, but you might want to check out the mostly
> free utilities that keep popping up around here like adaware and spybot sd.
> Clever utilities (esp spybot) that tell you what it does, who made it, and
> why it's bad. That is if it's spyware - which it sounds like it is.

I've been running both of those utilities for a long time now. And if
you want to see webcheck.dll running on your machine (assuming 98SE or
newer), download this freeware and run it:

http://www.karenware.com/powertools/ptwinwatch.asp

Look for a window titled "MS_WebcheckMonitor", click on it and view
the information at the bottom of the program window.

Thanks for replying though.

> "John Corliss" <jc@notreal.to> wrote in message
> news:uart4dn9DHA.2432@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...
>
>>John Corliss wrote:
>>
>>>I recently installed and ran a free program called "Karen's Window
>>>Watcher". What the program does is to display the titlebar text of all
>>>open windows, including windows that are not visible. In looking at the
>>>resulting list, I noticed a hidden window named "MS_WebcheckMonitor" and
>>>since I don't like being "monitored", I decided to find out more
>>>aboutit. Apparently, it's a window run by:
>>>
>>> Module File Name: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\WEBCHECK.DLL
>>>
>>>More research indicated that at boot time the following executable:
>>>
>>> C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\LOADWC.EXE
>>>
>>>loads webcheck.dll into memory, where it stays throughout the Windows
>>>session, apparently wasting system resources.
>>>
>>>The Microsoft website tersely says the following about the module:
>>>
>>> "This object manages subscriptions."
>>>
>>>They also describe the loadwc.exe program as follows:
>>>
>>>"Loadwc.exe, also known as Load WebCheck, customizes some of the
>>>settings in Internet Explorer. Loadwc.exe adds, removes, and updates
>>>subscriptions. Loadwc.exe also propagates settings for user profiles."
>>>
>>>Whatever is meant by "propagate" in this context, I haven't a clue.
>>>
>>>I don't use subscriptions and I'm the only user on this computer. Thus,
>>>I can see no possible reason I'd need the webcheck.dll file loaded in
>>>system memory all the time.
>>>
>>>Can anybody please explain why I need this module running in the
>>>background? More importantly, what exactly does it do?
>>>
>>>TIA
>>
>>So nobody wants to answer my post. Oh well, I've killed that process
>>and have experienced no ill effects. What I did was to remove both the
>>loadwc.exe and webcheck.dll files from the system folder and put them
>>in a zip file.
>>
>>End of problem I guess.


--
Regards from John Corliss