userinit.exe

I have been using the program "starter" by codestuff. It shows a file starting up called userinit.exe. I checked at www.sysinfo.org and didn't find a listing for it. I am wondering if some one can point me to a good place that tells what it does and if it's needed to start up in windows. I've had a problem with all the *wares* as well as viruses and am in the process of cleaning up my machine and getting rid of them all. So i am wondering what role userinit plays and whether it can be infected and whether it can be disable of if it is needed.

thanks in advance.

 

From Here

So yes you probably need it running and I'd say you for sure want it running.

 

Thanks for the info.
It makes me wonder though, how do you access the application and tell it what to run before running the shell. The standard windows shell is explorer.exe and userinit.exe is not supposed to be a security risk, but based on it's said function, could a virus be set to load before the shell (explorer) which would seem to make it more difficult to remove. And if I don't have anything that i need to run before the shell, then can userinit be disabled in that senario??

 

Best to leave userinit alone. It is responsible for logon scripts and any programs that launch before the shell, like AV and some firewalls. It is also responsible for starting the shell itself.

Some uses of userinit:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;142905