The genuine winword.exe file is a software component of Microsoft Word by Microsoft. Word is text processing software developed by Microsoft. Winword.exe is a legitimate file that runs the Microsoft Word application. It may be safely removed if not required.
Microsoft Word was first released in 1983. It is available for several leading platforms including Mac OS-X and as a standalone product, but is popularly purchased through the Microsoft Office Suite. Word is the most widely used word processor in the current market owing to its extensive list of desktop publishing capabilities. This word processor software can also import and display images in common bitmap formats such as GIF and JPG and is integrated with a thesaurus, spell checker, dictionary and several utilities to manipulate and edit text.
The Microsoft Corporation is an American technology company that is noted for creating three billionaires and approximately 12,000 millionaires from its Initial Public Offering. The company has a worldwide footprint, and acquired LinkedIn for $26.2 billion in 2016 and Skype Technologies for $8.5 billion in 2011, and is renowned for several products including the Windows range of operating systems and Microsoft Surface range of tablets.
WinWord stands for Windows Word
The .exe extension on a filename indicates an executable file. Executable files may in some cases harm your computer. Therefore, please read below to decide for yourself whether the winword.exe on your computer is a Trojan that you should remove, or whether it is a file belonging to the Windows operating system or to a trusted application.
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Description: Winword.exe is not essential for Windows and will often cause problems. Winword.exe is located in a subfolder of "C:\Program Files (x86)"—generally C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office14\.
Known file sizes on Windows 10/11/7 are 347,432 bytes (6% of all occurrences), 1,422,168 bytes and 75 more variants.
It is not a Windows system file. Winword.exe is certified by a trustworthy company.
Winword.exe is able to record keyboard and mouse inputs.
Therefore the technical security rating is 15% dangerous; however you should also read the user reviews.
Uninstalling this variant:
If problems with Microsoft Office occur, you can safely remove the program using the uninstall program of it (Control Panel ⇒ Uninstall a Program), visit the vendor’s support site or update to a possibly corrected version.
If winword.exe is located in the C:\Windows\System32 folder, the security rating is 42% dangerous. The file size is 1,988,608 bytes.
The program has a visible window. There is no information about the author of the file. It is located in the Windows folder, but it is not a Windows core file. The file is not a Windows system file.
Winword.exe is able to connect to the Internet and record keyboard and mouse inputs.
If winword.exe is located in a subfolder of C:\Windows, the security rating is 72% dangerous. The file size is 1,960,448 bytes.
The winword.exe file is not a Windows system file. The winword.exe file is located in the Windows folder, but it is not a Windows core file. The program has no visible window. There is no information about the author of the file.
Winword.exe is able to connect to the Internet and record keyboard and mouse inputs.
If winword.exe is located in a subfolder of the user's "Documents" folder, the security rating is 68% dangerous. The file size is 191,665 bytes.
Important: Some malware camouflages itself as winword.exe, particularly when located in the C:\Windows or C:\Windows\System32 folder, for example WORM_IRCBOT.CAV or TROJ_DELF.OXA (detected by TrendMicro), and Trojan Horse (detected by Symantec). Therefore, you should check the winword.exe process on your PC to see if it is a threat. We recommend Security Task Manager for verifying your computer's security. This was one of the Top Download Picks of The Washington Post and PC World.
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User Comments
If you have purchased a license for your own copy of Office Suite, the Ms site will still presume to / misguide you to use the data-scavaging Office 365 components. This is actually an artifact of Win 10 OS, & Microsoft.com data mining policies. Jay Bee
"Winword.exe" is the primary executable of Microsoft Office's Word word-processing application, first released in October 1983. If installed using MSI, it should be in "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Officenn\winword.exe", where "Officenn" depends on the Word version. If Office Click-to-Run downloaded and installed Word under an Office 365 subscription, a different sandboxed location was set up. If located in "C:\Windows" or "C:\Windows\System32", disguised malware should be suspected. Winword.exe may sometimes stay active as a process after closing the Word GUI, consuming CPU time. Using File Explorer's Preview option for Word files is one possible cause. Some users attempt to automate use of Word through Visual Basic macros and other means, which Microsoft strongly discourages for it and other Office apps. Alex
the code excation cannot proceed because msvcp win dll was no found
My antivirus (Bitdefender) warned me about winword.exe trying to make changes to the Word document I was writing. It would seem to me that it is a virus. Josue T
My antivirus program (Norton Antivirus; latest version and fully updated) recognized the file as "suspicious," and indicated that it may be a Trojan, because it was recording my keystrokes. The suggestion in the Norton alert box was to remove it, and I did. Good thing I had a recent full fixed-disk backup, from which I was able to restore my OS (an old version of XP Pro; no longer supported by Microsoft, but defended by Norton anyway)! The un-installation by Norton had screwed-up many aspects of my OS, including the MBR (master boot record) and some file indexes -- without the external backup, I'd have had to format my fixed disk and install everything from scratch! Was there ever actually a Trojan embedded in my copy of Winword? Doubtful, and I am now instructing Norton to ignore the file. Max
When I am working with EXCEL and use a macro, then WINWORD:EXE makes it use almost 100% uf CPU Usage and it loads for hours sking
This is ludicrous. WinWord.exe is the process for Microsoft word. People - Microsoft Employee (further information)
Summary: Average user rating of winword.exe:
based on 92 votes with 9 user comments.
39 users think winword.exe is essential for Windows or an installed application.
15 users think it's probably harmless.
11 users think it's neither essential nor dangerous.
8 users suspect danger.
19 users think winword.exe is dangerous and recommend removing it.
29 users don't grade winword.exe ("not sure about it").
Best practices for resolving winword issues
A clean and tidy computer is the key requirement for avoiding problems with winword. This means running a scan for malware, cleaning your hard drive using 1cleanmgr and 2sfc /scannow, 3uninstalling programs that you no longer need, checking for Autostart programs (using 4msconfig) and enabling Windows' 5Automatic Update. Always remember to perform periodic backups, or at least to set restore points.
Should you experience an actual problem, try to recall the last thing you did, or the last thing you installed before the problem appeared for the first time. Use the 6resmon command to identify the processes that are causing your problem. Even for serious problems, rather than reinstalling Windows, you are better off repairing of your installation or executing the 7DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth command. This allows you to repair the operating system without losing data.
To get your computer running as fast as it did on day one, you can 8reset your PC. Your personal files will remain intact, but any programs you installed will need to be reinstalled.
To help you analyze the winword.exe process on your computer, the following programs have proven to be helpful: ASecurity Task Manager displays all running Windows tasks, including embedded hidden processes, such as keyboard and browser monitoring or Autostart entries. A unique security risk rating indicates the likelihood of the process being potential spyware, malware or a Trojan. A good Bantivirus software detects and removes sleeping spyware, adware, Trojans, keyloggers, malware and trackers from your hard drive.
Score
User Comments
Jay Bee
Alex
Josue T
Max
sking
Microsoft Employee (further information)
(further information)
Summary: Average user rating of winword.exe: based on 92 votes with 9 user comments. 39 users think winword.exe is essential for Windows or an installed application. 15 users think it's probably harmless. 11 users think it's neither essential nor dangerous. 8 users suspect danger. 19 users think winword.exe is dangerous and recommend removing it. 29 users don't grade winword.exe ("not sure about it").