Synaptics Pointing Device Driver

Question

Recently I was getting a process in the taskmgr, called 'Synaptics Pointing Device Driver'.

I have no idea what is it, plus i don't think I have anything related to Synaptics.

My files are also getting infected with it. If I run an infected file, it will create a file ._cache_FILENAME.EXE (FILENAME = The name of the file)

The file description is also being changed to Synaptics Pointing Device Driver and the company is being renamed to Synaptics. If the app required administrator rights, the shield also disappeared and the icon was also being low quality

I tried checking task manager, I saw this

Is this a virus, or just a program overwriting the description, company and removing the shield?

Answer 1

Hi,

Please open Task Manager->Process Tab->Right click on the Synaptics Pointing Device Driver entry and open the file location.

Is it located outside of C:\Program Files?

If yes, there's a good chance that it's a malware. Download Malwarebytes and scan your PC to get rid of it. Also do run a scan using Windows Defender.

Even if it is there in the C:\Program Files, run the scans to make sure that it isn't a malware.

Answer 2

Well the process isn't running in the background anymore, but i don't know about the files as Malwarebytes quarantined them. Let me check if they are still infected.

EDIT: They are no longer infected. the uac shield is here, the original description is back, the company is also back. Thanks

Answer 3

for some reason it is a 'protected operating system file', but i don't think it is the actual Synaptics because earlier I didn't have problems. i disabled 'Hide protected operating system files', and yeah, this is what i saw. was located in c:\programdata\synaptics. it was in version 1903, i updated to 2009 (20h2), no changes. is still getting these problems with the company being renamed, uac shield being removed, description being renamed. but yeah, here is the file

Answer 4

yeah. File infector. ran a malwarebytes scan, of course my computer got a virus. I also thought it's a virus. plus there were 4 file infectors that Malwarebytes found. The files that got infected also got masked as Lamer.Virus.FileInfector.DOS, not just the file infector. Here's the scan result, gonna delete the files for now.

Answer 5

Hi,

I hope the problem is solved now? If not, please do reply and we'll try to help you out.