Why there are three attrib.exe in window 10

You have not indicated the full path of the files, but there should be only two, and they should not be running unless manually invoked:

C:\Windows\System32\attrib.exe
C:\Windows\SysWOW64\attrib.exe

Your computer is most likely infected by a virus. See the article
How can I remove malicious spyware, malware, adware, viruses, trojans or rootkits from my PC?.

harrymc

Posted 2017-09-07T08:04:41.350

Reputation: 306 093

Just because multiple instances of the process are active doesn’t mean it’s a virus. The description field also translates to “Attribute utility”, which matches the English description of attrib.exe. – Daniel B – 2017-09-07T08:39:44.133

@DanielB: If this is the real attrib, then with this usage of the CPU they must each be running over a large portion of the disk. The poster would certainly have known if he had launched 3 such instances of attrib. So if he doesn't know, then this is either a virus, or his kid brother decided to annoy him. – harrymc – 2017-09-07T08:47:30.340

I second what DanielB says - it most likely is a virus, but doesn't have to be. It may as well be some race condition. I saw something similar happening on my win10 laptop post-windows-update, where I killed one of the processess and the other finished and quit on its own. – Kitet – 2017-09-07T13:45:05.473

@Kitet: I changed "surely" to "most likely" and hope that we have all now reached a consensus. – harrymc – 2017-09-07T17:52:39.790

Why there are three attrib.exe in window 10

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