Advanced Driver Booster: what it is and how to remove it

The name advdrvboostersetup.exe is not enough to say. Malware often uses technical-sounding names, and harmless updaters often use odd ones. Check three things:

• the folder the file runs from
• the Digital Signatures tab in its properties
• the program that starts it (Startup apps, Task Scheduler or services)

A signed file from a company whose product you use is almost certainly fine. An unsigned file in a user folder that no installed program explains should be removed, and the PC scanned with Microsoft Defender in offline mode.

Often yes, but check two things. First, whether the detection was caught on arrival: a file in Downloads or in an archive that Defender quarantined before it ran is the best case.

Second, whether Trojan:Win32/Agentb.92322630 comes back. If it returns, or if Protection history shows several different detections around the same date, something on the PC keeps producing the file and needs to be found.

Run a full scan and, if anything remains, an offline scan. If the category names a password stealer or a backdoor, change your passwords from another device even if the file is gone.

A process that returns after you end it has a restart mechanism, and that is a reason to treat advdrvboostersetup.exe as unwanted. Check Settings > Apps > Startup, Task Scheduler and the Services list for entries pointing to its folder, and disable them.

Look in Installed apps for anything added the same day and uninstall it. Then delete the folder and run a Microsoft Defender Offline scan, which works before Windows starts and can remove files that are locked or hidden while the system is running.

Because removing the file does not remove what creates it. The usual causes are a scheduled task, a startup entry, a service or a browser extension that downloads or rebuilds the file, or a second program that installed it in the first place.

Look in Task Scheduler and Startup apps for unknown entries, check Installed apps sorted by date, and run a Microsoft Defender Offline scan, which can remove items that are locked while Windows runs. Also check that no exclusions were added in Windows Security. If Trojan:Win32/Agentb.92322630 still returns, back up documents and reset Windows.

Yes, current Microsoft Defender definitions name it Trojan:Win32/Agentb.92322630. Make sure the definitions are up to date first: open Windows Security > Virus & threat protection > Protection updates and click Check for updates. Then run a full scan and the Microsoft Defender offline scan.

If the detection comes back after you remove it, look for the program, task or extension that brings it back, using the plan above. Detection removes files and startup entries, but it does not reverse changes Advanced Driver Booster already made, so follow the other steps in this guide as well.

A little, not dramatically. Unwanted programs tend to report what you install, which sites you visit or how you use the program back to their publisher. That data is sold or used for ads.

The sign people noticed, an unfamiliar process called advdrvboostersetup.exe in Task Manager, is consistent with such a program, and nothing reported suggests access to your files, camera or passwords.

Remove it, delete its leftovers and clear the browser data if it touched the browser. From then on, keep Potentially unwanted app blocking switched on in Windows Security, which stops many of these programs before they install.

Ask three questions. Did you install it on purpose? Have you ever opened it?

Does anything you use depend on it? If the answers are no, you do not need it. The sign that brought you here, an unfamiliar process called advdrvboostersetup.exe in Task Manager, suggests it arrived without a clear choice.

Programs bundled with free software rarely do anything their host program needs. Uninstall it, restart, and see whether anything you rely on stops working. If nothing does, which is the usual outcome, you can forget about it.

It can be one reason. Programs of this kind often start with Windows, run updaters in the background and keep a process open all the time.

The sign reported, an unfamiliar process called advdrvboostersetup.exe in Task Manager, means at least one such program is active. Open Task Manager, sort by CPU, memory and network, and see whether Advanced Driver Booster or a related process is near the top.

If it is, removing it will help. If not, the slowdown has another cause, but removing a program you never chose is still worth doing. A restart after removal shows the difference best.

Usually because it is still running or because a helper reinstalls it. Close it from the notification area first, then end its process in Task Manager and try Settings > Apps > Installed apps again. If there is no uninstall entry, look for a folder under Program Files or AppData with the same name and an uninstaller inside.

If the program comes back after removal, the cause of an unfamiliar process called advdrvboostersetup.exe in Task Manager is a scheduled task, a startup entry or the program it was bundled with. Remove those, restart and check again. Starting Windows in Safe Mode stops most helpers and makes stubborn programs easier to remove.

Fortect scans Windows for malware and unwanted programs and repairs the system files and settings they change, and its free scan shows what it finds on your PC before you decide anything.

For Advanced Driver Booster, follow the plan above as well: the browser steps take back permissions and settings that no scanner treats as a threat, and uninstalling the program that brought it removes the source.

Run Microsoft Defender's full scan and, if anything was found, its offline scan as a second opinion. If the symptoms are gone after the plan and both scans are clean, there is nothing more to do.