My CSRSS.exe has become corrupted, and is fragmenting files my harddrive, preforming dozens of chaotic R/W 's every second. I suspect that this is a result of a trojan.
(After three hours of defragmenting in safemode...)

How should I go about fixing this?

Well uh, my idea would be to just buy a new HDD and install a clean and fresh copy of Windows 7.

Way to much mucking around.


Boot normally (if you can) and do an online Mcafee scan or something. It will tell you the directory of the virus(s) and then you can go an delete them (unless their overwritten Windows files, then your screwed).

If you dont have a virus, then something wrong. Maybe a Windows update did it... I never update. Slows the PC down and all M$ does is patch their bad patches with more patches. lol.

Last time I updated on Windows Vista, I got the Blue Screen. So never again will I be updating.


This is what I read online...

What is csrss.exe?

A Microsoft Windows file stored in the c:\windows\system32 or c:\winnt\system32 directory that has the file description: "Client Server Runtime process." This file

Is this file a spyware, trojan, or virus?

The csrss.exe file included with Microsoft Windows is not spyware, a trojan, or a virus. However, like any file on your computer it can become corrupted by a virus, worm, or trojan. antivirus programs can detect and clean this file if it has become infected. Because this file is part of Microsoft Windows users should never delete or remove this file if they think it is infected, let the antivirus program handle it.

Is it safe to remove csrss.exe from the Task Manager processes?

No. The csrss.exe is a critical system process that cannot be removed from the Task Manager without causing issues with Windows. When attempting to End Process the csrss.exe you will receive the Unable to Terminate Process window with the error "This is a critical system process. Task Manager cannot end this process." It is normal to receive this error.

The csrss.exe file is using 99%, 100%, or other high abnormal percentage of CPU.

This issue is caused when your Microsoft Windows profile is corrupt. To resolve this issue requires that you delete and recreate the profile. To do this follow the below steps.

Backup all the files in My Documents as they will be lost. It's also recommended you backup any other important files you may be concerned about loosing.
Log out of the account that is causing the problem and into a different account. If you do not have another account you can create a new account through the User Accounts icon in the Control Panel.
Once in the other account right-click My Computer icon and click Properties.
In the Properties window click the Advanced tab.
In Advanced click the Settings button under User Profiles.
Finally, in the User Profiles window highlight the name of the profile that is encountering this issue and click the Delete button.
Once the profile has been deleted you can recreate it if you wish to use the same profile name.



Thanks and hope you fix it...

Definitely don't buy a new HDD. You only have one corrupt file which is easily fixed depending on your operating system/knowledge of computers. So what operating system are you using?

XP (volume distribution) SP2 only because my XP XP3 and 7 discs are missing.

Okay first you need to boot to DOS (if you don't have a DOS boot disk you can Google it and find out how to make one really easily).

Now once you've booted to DOS you need to get to this location --> C:\windows\servic~1\i386 (this is where uncompressed copies of all service pack files are places)

Once you are there this is all you need to type "copy c:\windows\servic~1\i386\csrss.exe c:\windows\system32"

Thats all there is to it, that will replace your corrupted csrss.exe with a good copy.

The file is not present.

I might try pulling a copy of fof another machine later.

I don't think that will work. If the file has been edited by Windows with specific data for that OS, then it wont work.

Try though. I am most likely wrong.

I used this volume (two machine) license on my laptop and desktop.

Assuming that my desktop has not been damaged by the same trojan (dubious) then it should be okay.

I was hoping that there was a quick fix since this file is a favorite target of trojans as task-manager won't touch it.