Hello4.exe

If you have errors popping up about a program that is supposed to be called Hello4.exe, you're probably pretty confused about what's going on. You're not alone – more and more Windows users, especially Windows XP users, are experiencing this problem. It is very important to remember a few things when you try to resolve the Hello4.exe issue. First of all, you can resolve the issue and get rid of the Hello4.exe error messages. The Hello4.exe issue does arise as the result of a malware infection, although Hello4.exe may not be an infection in itself. However, given the particular nature of the problem posed by Hello4.exe, it is critical that you act with caution and do not attempt to edit the Registry or system files on your own, or without technical support (unless you really know what you're doing in the Registry). If you go about fixing this in the wrong way, you can cause problems that are much worse than the Hello4.exe errors.

How to Tell if Your PC is Affected by the Hello4.exe Issue?

The symptoms related to Hello4.exe are straightforward and consistent, and you will notice them mostly on startup and shutdown. When Windows starts, you will typically see several windows labeled Blank Window2, which will appear and then disappear on their own. If you happen to try to close one of them by clicking on the X in the window's edge, you will receive an error message that says that Hello4.exe isn't responding. Depending on how your individual PC has been affected by the malware that causes the Hello4.exe issue, you may also see these blank windows appearing and disappearing while your web browser is open. Then, when you go to shut down your computer, you will get an error message that says that Hello4.exe failed to close, which can slow down the shutdown process considerably. Also, overall, you may find that while your computer has this Hello4.exe problem, everything runs more slowly than usual.

What Causes the Hello4.exe Errors?

Although the symptoms are easy enough to describe, what's really going on under the surface is not so simple. For example, if you search for a file called Hello4.exe, you will not find one. If you try to figure out what is going on with Hello4.exe by looking at your running processes, you will not find Hello4.exe, but you'll notice something strange about your startup programs. Many of them will have duplicates, which will be given the same name as the original program, and to include a space at the end of their names, the original programs will have been renamed. When Windows loads its startup programs, Hello4.exe will try to load these duplicates, but they will fail – which may cause the blank windows that appear during the startup process.

Furthermore, you probably will not find a file named Hello4.exe, unless, by some coincidence, you have created one. Hello4.exe may not exist as something you can find, but that doesn't mean that Hello4.exe is NOT dangerous. It's very telling that the Hello4.exe errors only show up after you have removed a malware infection; usually, the malware in question is the multi-rogue security program that names itself according to which version of Windows you're using. This fake security tool can leave damage behind, even after Hello4.exe is safely removed.

What seems to be happening with Hello4.exe is that while the malware is active, Hello4.exe replaces some legitimate files with Hello4.exe's own malicious files, using the same name. The malware may also hide its activity by injecting itself into your machine's existing startup processes. While the malware is intact and active, you will not notice duplicates or errors that can be caused by the duplicates' failure to run. Only afterwards, when the startup entries and duplicates remain, but they have no content, will they become noticeable by failing and causing obvious problems. In other words, the Hello4.exe error is not a sign of a current malware infection, but rather part of the mess left behind after the malware is removed.

The Mysterious Identity of Hello4.exe

So, you might be wondering, why could there be something called Hello4.exe causing trouble, if there was never anything called Hello4 to be duplicated in the first place? This most likely has to do with the way that the Windows boot process works. Rather than being the name of an application or a file, Windows may be referring to the fourth command loaded among the startup processes, and indicating that the file has been labeled Hello. In particular, Hello4.exe may refer to the Windows startup sound, which plays as Windows finishes the second-to-last part of the boot process, when everything is loaded and ready, but you have not logged on to the computer. The file for the sound is not named Hello4.exe; rather, if Hello4.exe does refer to this sound, it is the command to play the sound, not the name of the file that is played. Regardless of what Hello4.exe actually refers to, it is something in the Autoload or Autorun portion of the startup process.

Supposing for the moment that Hello4.exe refers to the startup sound, what is going on? Well, while Windows loads its startup programs, Hello4.exe looks to certain parts of the Registry to figure out what is supposed to run. The startup sound is among these things that need to be run, but you will not find anything about it in the Registry, except the keys to turn it on or off. The command to play Hello4.exe and any references to Hello4.exe's file will not be immediately visible. This is because Windows packages the startup sound in a .dll file, which contains multiple commands and a variety of information in a handy little bundle, and then it references the .dll file instead. This can be a vulnerability, when a malicious program can hide itself in the Registry by getting Windows to run the malware or Hello4.exe's processes automatically. To do that, the malware may name Hello4.exe's files using words that are identical to or very similar to the ones used on names of real Windows components.

What to Watch Out For?

If you see a guide on the "removal" of Hello4.exe, or on how to fix the weird errors you get about Hello4.exe, you may see that Hello4.exe is reportedly linked to the StartUp portions of the Registry. This does not mean that you should delete or edit the Registry keys mentioned. It is essential that you do not do that, because altering or deleting such crucial parts of the Registry can cripple your computer and render it inoperable.

Problems with Hello4.exe errors began to be reported in English-speaking countries around early May 2011, but the underlying issue may go back to Fall 2010. There is some indication that this issue, or a nearly identical one, has existed since then in India, the United Arab Emirates, and Greece. In some instances, all of the symptoms associated with the Hello4.exe errors are present, but the file name mentioned in the messages is Photo.exe, or something similar. It may be the case that more than one malicious program is capable of causing these errors, as there is evidence that they can be caused by both rogue anti-virus programs and by worms spread through Facebook messages.