How to Remove “sparkle.exe”

What is sparkle.exe?

Originally developed by Spencer Kimball, Peter Mattis and the GIMP Development Team, sparkle.exe is a legitimate file process. This process is known as GNU Image Manipulation Program Plug-In and it belongs to GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is located in C:\Program Files by default.
sparkle.exe virus is created when malware authors write virus files and name them after sparkle.exe with an aim to spread virus on the internet.

Affected Platform: Windows OS

How to check if your computer is infected with sparkle.exe malware?

If your system is affected by sparkle.exe malware, you will notice one or several of the symptoms below:

  • sparkle.exe occupies an unusually large CPU memory
  • Erratic internet connection
  • Your browser is bombarded with annoying popup ads
  • Computer screen freezes
  • PC's processing speed suffers
  • You are redirected to unknown websites

To pinpoint the virus file location, take the following steps:

Step 1: Press CTRL+ALT+DEL keys at once to open Task Manager.

Step 2: If you notice the file located outside C:\Program Files, you should run an antivirus scan to get rid of the malware.

How to remove sparkle.exe malware from system using Comodo Cleaning Essentials?

You can either choose to remove sparkle.exe and other malwares using Comodo Antivirus, or Comodo Cleaning Essentials (CCE) – both of which are absolutely free to download! CCE is a set of computer security tools designed to help you identify and remove malwares and unsafe processes from an infected computer.

To remove malwares using CCE, take the following steps:

1. Check the system requirements and download the feature-rich CCE suite for free.

2. After installation, choose the type of scan you want to perform. CCE offers 3 scan options to get rid of malwares from a PC:

  • Smart Scan: Does a scan on critical areas of your system.
  • Full Scan: Does a complete scan of your system.
  • Custom Scan: Does a scan only on selected items.

The process to initiate the above mentioned scans are self-explanatory and thus, easy-to-use. 
Additionally, it's recommended that you approve of any updates that the CCE will prompt you about to ensure it does a better job of identifying all the latest threats.

3. Click 'Next' to view the results.
Regardless of the type of scan you choose, the results will sometimes show false positive (flagging files that are actually safe), which has to be ignored. Only select the files you want to get rid of.

4. Click 'Apply' to apply the selected operations to the threats. The selected operations will be applied.

19

Malware Entries

Safe Entries
First Seen: 04 February 2012 at 8:37 am
No. Company File Type SHA1 MD5 Malware
Name
Digitally
Signed
File
Version
Product
Version
Submitted
From
Malware Behavior
1 N/A Executable f25a85e10fff2135
221d73c848dfb4cd
6f45a46f
7dca533d0251e536
9ac23f93e4d43b69
Virus.Win32.
Virut.CE
No N/A N/A 105.112.37.15/32 N/A
2 N/A Executable 7a6df79dbc26f2c0
272f04b2bf4cab35
dee4bc20
c83fdc15a0e0a8ae
d3244e495f408b1d
Virus.Win32.
Ramnit.A
No N/A N/A 197.210.71.249/32 N/A
3 N/A Executable f79e16a07df3b744
7129136a50dabab4
6bace952
578a58f62103eb9b
7fa119aa3039e775
Virus.Win32.
Floxif.A
No N/A N/A 197.211.58.107/32 N/A
4 N/A Executable 066d09ff679736b5
5be1ef58fb038e5a
0d935594
fb721c39fcd7b317
3960388cf646fb14
Worm.Win32.D
elf.nj
No N/A N/A Ukraine N/A
Display 4 items per page
  • 4 items per page
  • 8 items per page
  • 16 items per page
  • 32 items per page
40

Safe Entries

Safe Entries
First Seen: 17 July 2008 at 10:41 am
No. Company File Type SHA1 MD5 Digitally
Signed
File
Version
Product
Version
Submitted
From
1 N/A Executable 552280bea29103f4
c354bec604e1bf49
d2f4aa37
182267fbe707a4d2
6b548ba35cee0b2f
No N/A N/A Australia
2 Spencer Kimball, Peter Mattis and the GIMP Development Team Executable c42b3baf3216e694
53bbde03dee4ba69
eb0ae83c
5eeba0effd2a0e78
b5dc773e48babd55
Yes 2.8.16.0 2.8.16 10.224.1.57/32
3 Capz Executable e6c011ee585c0467
03275f24f4b84c0e
80e2f2d7
ce481fb57d14b980
caf9938905bdb159
No 1.2.2.0 1.2.2.0 10.224.1.115/32
4 N/A Executable 22cb36305c424559
46c01df05451c08b
f74202a2
89b4c1b576d8bd1f
9857cd28cf1d3bbf
No N/A N/A 10.224.25.38/32
Display 4 items per page
  • 4 items per page
  • 8 items per page
  • 16 items per page
  • 32 items per page
 
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