Taskeng.exe on Windows 10

Benobeno 41 Reputation points
2021-10-08T12:25:39.817+00:00

Hi all,

I have read a nice blog post about scheduled tasks on Windows machines lately and there was explained that on older Windows versions (older than Windows 10, version 1703) taskeng.exe was used to spawn executables in scheduled tasks. In that blog post there was also mentioned that taskeng.exe no longer exists on newer versions of Windows.

I would like to ask about possible explanation, why I can still see taskeng.exe in logs of some Windows 10 machines? Is it even possible?

Thank You for Your answers in advance!

Ben

Windows for business | Windows Client for IT Pros | User experience | Other
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  1. Michael Taylor 60,326 Reputation points
    2021-10-08T14:45:25.49+00:00

    It would be nice if you could link to whatever blog article you're talking about so we have context. Why do you care about taskeng specifically or is this just a curiosity question?

    You can schedule tasks using the same APIs that you always have and you will interact with them in the same way. The only thing that might change (and it is an implementation detail so it should be fine) is what the parent process is. Scheduled tasks are each their own process so who the parent process is shouldn't really matter.

    AFAIK taskeng was a pre-win10 scheduler. Win10 doesn't have it but it could still be there if you upgraded a machine from a previous OS instead of installing from scratch. Also note that I've seen some people report a virus with the same name potentially so there is always that concern as well. There is no such program on my cleanly installed Win10 machines that I can see.


  2. Limitless Technology 39,926 Reputation points
    2021-10-11T08:12:59.28+00:00

    Hello @Benobeno

    This is likely a virus/malware in the the system disguised as a deprecated system file to not drag attention. TaskEng should NOT be in Windows 10 system.

    Please check this extensive thread where different actions were described to detect and get rid of it: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/taskengexe-on-windows-10/467571a8-d6f0-4c60-9403-3b4cf4fcf07c

    Hope this helps with your query,

    -----------

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