What Is alg.exe Process [How To]

The alg.exe process is another well know process that you can find running in the Task Manager. Today we are going to explain you what is alg.exe process and how you can disable or remove it.

The alg.exe process is actually the Application Layer Gateway service from Windows, allowing you to use the Internet Connection Sharing feature or to use a third party firewall. Please note that alg.exe process is not dangerous but it is known to use a lot of system resources.

With the help of the alg.exe process, the applications that use TCP/UDP ports are allowed to communicate with other resources from a known server. Removing or disabling the alg.exe process could cause serious security issues to both the computer and the network as it will be vulnerable to the threats of other computers or to viruses.

The concept behind the Application Layer Gateway service, or alg.exe process from Windows, is to be able to provide enhanced security levels when working with the integrated firewall. It can also do this with a third party firewall as well.

At the same time we have to mention the fact that there are a lot of viruses out there who use the name of alg.exe process to really hide the code that its running on your computer. If you have not been infected, the alg.exe process should be located in the C:\Windows\System32 directory, where other processes that we’ve covered are located.

I am talking here about the lsass.exe, the wuauclt.exe or about the svchost.exe process.

If a virus is hiding behind the alg.exe process name, the usual directory where it would reside is just C:\Windows and not one more level down, in the System32 directory. You can find out where the file is located using the Task Manager. Open it and then select the alg.exe process entry; now right click on it and use the ‘Open file location’ to find out where the file is on the system.

The alg.exe process is considered to be one of those CPU intensive Windows processes but you should pay attention to other aspects in order to identify if it’s not doing this because your computer was infected by a virus.

How to remove the alg.exe process if infected?

First of all we should bring to your attention the fact that the alg.exe process is one of the critical services that Windows needs to run so you should not proceed further unless you are not completely sure that it is necessary. We recommend you to remove the file only if it is not the one located in the system32 folder.

This is the right moment to install some antivirus software to scan thoroughly your computer so that it can find all the entries related to the virus hiding behind the alg.exe process virus.

But before going ahead to do that you will have to first disable the running alg.exe process from the background of Windows. Here is how you can do this:

-      Click on the start menu and open the Control Panel;
-      Now go to the Administrative Tools and Open the Services editor and
-      locate the Application Layer Gateway service entry for the alg.exe process and click on the stop process from running.

The alg.exe process can also be stopped using the Task Manager, by selecting the entry and selecting the end process tree from the right click menu.

Now you must make sure that the alg.exe process will not run again the next time that you start your Windows. To do this you have to click on the start menu and type services.msc in the Run box or search for files and programs box. When the services editor opens, you should deselect the alg.exe process entry so that it will not load automatically with Windows.

Please note that this step should not be done unless strictly necessary as it will disable the actual alg.exe process that Windows is using to manage the Internet Connection Sharing.

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