V0500Mon.exe

I recently found a program running on my computer that I thought looked suspicious. It is C:\Windows\V0500Mon.exe. I found it with WinPatrol Flash Edition, and immediately I got scared. First of all, there was no company reported by WinPatrol attached to this program. Secondly the "mon" in the name and the goofy number made me think this was some sort of monitoring program, something I probably didn't want. I Googled this file name and found only other people wanting to know what this was. I found a partial reference to V0500 on HP's website, but only as part of a file name. I then did what I should have from the begining and looked in the task manager of Windows and found that it was described as the Live! Cam Console Auto Launcher. When I looked at TCPView I found that there was no connection to the internet from this program, and both Jotti and VirusTotal came up with no results when I scanned the file. I believe this file to be safe and attached to the Dynex webcam software that I use. I didn't find this out on the web so I thought I would post it here so that it was at least somewhere. If you find anything else about this file let me know and I will edit this post.

Update: September 28, 2009
Thanks to everyone who posted! Especially to those of you who informed me that this file may also be a virus. If you have a Dynex brand webcam and find V0500Mon.exe on your computer you are probably ok. If you have a program called Personal Antivirus then you should suspect this file. Either way, you are safe to delete.
Personal Antivirus is one of many programs on the Internet that pretend to be an antivirus program when in fact it IS a virus. Sneaky sneaky. As a general rule of thumb, if anything pops up saying you are infected and you should download their program to fix it, don't.

Comments

JR said…
thanks, I had the same question about this file and I also have that webcam. Thanks!
Jonathan Nelson said…
Hey, glad I could help!
Ron said…
Agreed! This is associated with the Dynex Webcam. I got here looking for that information as well.
Unknown said…
thanks also, i deleted the live cam program, keeping the dynex webcam under the auspices of xp, and everytime i booted up i was getting the live cam console error mesage. when i looked in the details of the error report i saw the v0500mon.exe entry.

with the research you have already done i know i can delete all the files i found from the search function without damaging something i really need.

you've saved me time and aggravation!! thanks again!!
Anonymous said…
Thanks, I was wondering about that file myself, and I have the Dynex webcam. Question solved, and I can go about my business at peace. Thank you so much!
Middle Man said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
Middle Man said…
I just got a Dynex web cam yesterday and also had questions as to what the V0500mon.exe startup process was. I actually discovered mine using CCleaner. My Google search led me here.

The process itself is sure located in a weird spot for a non-Windows application: C:\WINDOWS\V0500mon.exe. I don't know why they put it there instead of under the Dynex program folder.

Anyway, thanks for the post! It seems to be one of the only available answers as to what this process does. It would be interesting to see what Dynex has to say about it. I've e-mailed them and will post again they confirm what (I think) we already know.
Subhav said…
Found this other information on it. I guess I will remove it from my startup the least.

http://www.geekpolice.net/file-database-f30/v0500monexe-information-t11614.htm
Middle Man said…
Sorry I forgot to update my post! I sent that e-mail to Dynex and here's what they said:

*** BEGIN QUOTE ***

Thank you for contacting Dynex about your DX-WEB1C Webcam. My name is Joel
Odiard Tanoni and I will do my best to assist you so you can keep on enjoying
your product.

First of all, let me apologize for the time that it took me to provide you
with a response. This email had been escalated to get all the research that it
needs. I understand that this is no excuse; however, I hope that you don't
take this delay as a lack of consideration towards you.

As you have explained in your E-mail, you are worried about the new process
called V0500mon.exe. This file is the Dynex Webcam monitor process but around
march appeared a new virus/fake antivirus called "Personal Antivirus" that
uses the same file name. Check if you have that "personal antivirus" program.
If you have it, you may have been infected with that "virus/fake antivirus".

If you see the "Personal Antivirus" in your program list or you are not
completely sure, i can recommend you to get in touch with the Geeksquad. They
are expert computer technicians and will be sure to check your computer under
a fee basis. The phone number for the Geeksquad is 1800-433-5778.

For further assistance don t hesitate to contact Dynex Products Technical
Support at 800-305-2204 or visit http://www.dynexproducts.com/. You can
contact us 24 hours a days, 7 days a week.

Best Regards,

Joel Odiard Tanoni and the Dynex Products Customer Care Team

*** END QUOTE ***

So, pretty much confirmed it's probably a legit process if you have a Dynex product's software installed. Otherwise, you might have some malware installed.
Jonathan Nelson said…
Hey, thanks for all of your comments! I just updated the blog post to reflect that virus form of the file. I appreciate your help!
Anonymous said…
This is the only definitive answer to the question of, "What is that, anyway?" on the Web. Thanks to all who pursued this and posted.
Unknown said…
It actually IS possible - and remarkably useful - to run a malware scan through browser. trend Micro's Housecall and kaspersky's online scanner are both excellent examples of this.
Jonathan Nelson said…
You are very right about the online scan. I worded that badly. I have used several online scans in the past. I am just going to remove that last sentence from the post. Thanks!

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