What is SP.EXE?

SP.EXE is part of Search Protection and developed by S p i g o t, I n c. according to the SP.EXE version information.

SP.EXE's description is "Search Protection"

SP.EXE is digitally signed by Spigot, Inc..

SP.EXE is usually located in the 'c:\documents and settings\%USERNAME%\application data\search protection\' folder.

None of the anti-virus scanners at VirusTotal reports anything malicious about SP.EXE.

If you have additional information about the file, please share it with the FreeFixer users by posting a comment at the bottom of this page.

Vendor and version information [?]

The following is the available information on SP.EXE:

PropertyValue
Product nameSearch Protection
Company nameS p i g o t, I n c.
File descriptionSearch Protection
Internal nameSearch Protection
Legal copyrightCopyright © 2005-2014 Spigot, Inc.
Product version9, 9, 0, 1
File version9, 9, 0, 1

Here's a screenshot of the file properties when displayed by Windows Explorer:

Product nameSearch Protection
Company nameS p i g o t, I n c.
File descriptionSearch Protection
Internal nameSearch Protection
Legal copyrightCopyright © 2005-2014 Spigot, Inc.
Product version9, 9, 0, 1
File version9, 9, 0, 1

Digital signatures [?]

SP.EXE has a valid digital signature.

PropertyValue
Signer nameSpigot, Inc.
Certificate issuer nameVeriSign Class 3 Code Signing 2010 CA
Certificate serial number494ff8e91607158cd480b23c615cff8b

VirusTotal report

None of the 54 anti-virus programs at VirusTotal detected the SP.EXE file.

None of the 54 anti-virus programs detected the SP.EXE file.

Folder name variants

SP.EXE may also be located in other folders than c:\documents and settings\%USERNAME%\application data\search protection\. The most common variants are listed below:

Hashes [?]

PropertyValue
MD54d0467667c5557fdb7b1822e8c6e5fb2
SHA256a0dfbaa9b954732814515633aeeb0e4ec93d0a65a2a14b41a1b963c5b52b0168

Error Messages

These are some of the error messages that can appear related to sp.exe:

sp.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience.

sp.exe - Application Error. The instruction at "0xXXXXXXXX" referenced memory at "0xXXXXXXXX". The memory could not be "read/written". Click on OK to terminate the program.

Search Protection has stopped working.

End Program - sp.exe. This program is not responding.

sp.exe is not a valid Win32 application.

sp.exe - Application Error. The application failed to initialize properly (0xXXXXXXXX). Click OK to terminate the application.

What will you do with SP.EXE?

To help other users, please let us know what you will do with SP.EXE:



What did other users do?

The poll result listed below shows what users chose to do with SP.EXE. 98% have voted for removal. Based on votes from 353 users.

User vote results: There were 345 votes to remove and 8 votes to keep

NOTE: Please do not use this poll as the only source of input to determine what you will do with SP.EXE.

Malware or legitimate?

If you feel that you need more information to determine if your should keep this file or remove it, please read this guide.

Please select the option that best describe your thoughts on the information provided on this web page


Free online surveys

And now some shameless self promotion ;)

A screenshot of FreeFixer's scan result.Hi, my name is Roger Karlsson. I've been running this website since 2006. I want to let you know about the FreeFixer program. FreeFixer is a freeware tool that analyzes your system and let you manually identify unwanted programs. Once you've identified some malware files, FreeFixer is pretty good at removing them. You can download FreeFixer here. It runs on Windows 2000/XP/2003/2008/2016/2019/Vista/7/8/8.1/10. Supports both 32- and 64-bit Windows.

If you have questions, feedback on FreeFixer or the freefixer.com website, need help analyzing FreeFixer's scan result or just want to say hello, please contact me. You can find my email address at the contact page.

Comments

Please share with the other users what you think about this file. What does this file do? Is it legitimate or something that your computer is better without? Do you know how it was installed on your system? Did you install it yourself or did it come bundled with some other software? Is it running smoothly or do you get some error message? Any information that will help to document this file is welcome. Thank you for your contributions.

I'm reading all new comments so don't hesitate to post a question about the file. If I don't have the answer perhaps another user can help you.

Skyl;i writes

1 thumb

Installed surreptitiously with a downloaded Recovery Package from TECHRADAR.COM, managed by CHIP despite a very-definite "skip all" click for optional software. Also changed my home page and search engine.
TECHRADAR and CHIP are no longer trustworthy.

# 8 Jan 2015, 1:38

Roger Karlsson writes

0 thumbs

Thank you Skyl!

# 9 Jan 2015, 5:03

Matt writes

0 thumbs

I Noticed my key strokes were running slow as if the machine was low on memory. Suspected a key logger, found SP.exe and an uninstaller in the sane directory.

Seems to have gotten rid of it although I will be checking my task manager more often from now on.

# 10 Feb 2015, 18:35

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