Solved How to remove FileHorse, or at least stop it?


wpcoe

Well-known member
Member
Local time
10:53 PM
Posts
86
Location
Mérida, México
OS
Windows 11 version 24H2 (OS Build 26100.2605)
The other day I reinstalled Windows 11 and apparently while reinstalling programs/apps installed something related to "FileHorse." Every so often, a pop-up notification appears near the System Tray related to filehorse.com. Example:

1734195812929.webp

I don't like unnecessary things running in the background but can't seem to find what exactly is running:

- it's not a Service
- it's not in Scheduled Tasks
- it's not a start-up program
- it's not a browser extension (in Edge, Brave or Vivaldi,) and
- there is no Registry entry containing "filehorse."

The only filename containing "filehorse" is (was...) F:\Vivaldi\User Data\Default\IndexedDB\https_www.filehorse.com_0.indexeddb.leveldb and I deleted it. The file was recreated the next time a pop-up appeared. (Vivaldi is my default browser.)

www.filehorse.com is a program/app installer site, but I don't know how/why anything related to it is running on my computer. I want to (at least) stop it, and (better yet) remove it. Any ideas?
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 version 24H2 (OS Build 26100.2605)
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Spectre X360 14
    CPU
    i7-1195G7
    Memory
    16GB
    Monitor(s) Displays
    external 24" Dell P2415Q
    Screen Resolution
    3840 x 2160 on external Dell, 3000 x 2000 on laptop screen
    Hard Drives
    1TB SSD with 32GB Optane cache
    Browser
    Vivaldi, Comodo Dragon, Edge
    Antivirus
    Avast (free version)
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro, 21H2 (Build 22000.376)
    Computer type
    Tablet
    Manufacturer/Model
    Surface Pro 6
    CPU
    i7-8650U
    Memory
    16 GB
    Graphics card(s)
    iGPU (Intel® UHD Graphics 620)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell P2415Q
    Screen Resolution
    3840 x 2160 on external Dell, 2736 x 1824 on SP6 screen
    Hard Drives
    512GB PCIe Gen 3 x2 SSD
    Browser
    Vivaldi, Comodo Dragon, Edge
    Antivirus
    Avast (free edition)
That's a toast notification or simply a system notification. Unfortunately anything could programmatically generate them, so could be hard to track down. If they're frequent enough you could start by uninstalling Vivaldi
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Win 11 Home ♦♦♦26100.3037 ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦24H2 ♦♦♦non-Insider
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Built by Ghot® [May 2020]
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
    Motherboard
    Asus Pro WS X570-ACE (BIOS 4702)
    Memory
    G.Skill (F4-3200C14D-16GTZKW)
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA RTX 2070 (08G-P4-2171-KR)
    Sound Card
    Realtek ALC1220P / ALC S1220A
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell U3011 30"
    Screen Resolution
    2560 x 1600
    Hard Drives
    2x Samsung 860 EVO 500GB,
    WD 4TB Black FZBX - SATA III,
    WD 8TB Black FZBX - SATA III,
    DRW-24B1ST CD/DVD Burner
    PSU
    PC Power & Cooling 750W Quad EPS12V
    Case
    Cooler Master ATCS 840 Tower
    Cooling
    CM Hyper 212 EVO (push/pull)
    Keyboard
    Ducky DK9008 Shine II Blue LED
    Mouse
    Logitech Optical M-100
    Internet Speed
    300/300
    Browser
    Firefox (latest)
    Antivirus
    Bitdefender Internet Security
    Other Info
    Speakers: Klipsch Pro Media 2.1
  • Operating System
    Windows XP Pro 32bit w/SP3
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Built by Ghot® (not in use)
    CPU
    AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ (OC'd @ 3.2Ghz)
    Motherboard
    ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe Wireless Edition
    Memory
    TWIN2X2048-6400C4DHX (2 x 1GB, DDR2 800)
    Graphics card(s)
    EVGA 256-P2-N758-TR GeForce 8600GT SSC
    Sound Card
    Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    ViewSonic G90FB Black 19" Professional (CRT)
    Screen Resolution
    up to 2048 x 1536
    Hard Drives
    WD 36GB 10,000rpm Raptor SATA
    Seagate 80GB 7200rpm SATA
    Lite-On LTR-52246S CD/RW
    Lite-On LH-18A1P CD/DVD Burner
    PSU
    PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Quad EPS12V
    Case
    Generic Beige case, 80mm fans
    Cooling
    ZALMAN 9500A 92mm CPU Cooler
    Mouse
    Logitech Optical M-BT96a
    Keyboard
    Logitech Classic Keybooard 200
    Internet Speed
    300/300
    Browser
    Firefox 3.x ??
    Antivirus
    Symantec (Norton)
    Other Info
    Still assembled, still runs. Haven't turned it on for 13 years?
That's a toast notification or simply a system notification. Unfortunately anything could programmatically generate them, so could be hard to track down. If they're frequent enough you could start by uninstalling Vivaldi
Thanks. That's kind of what I was afraid of, that anything could be the cause...

I'm not sure reinstalling Vivaldi would do the trick, as I import all my settings from my current installation and the trigger for the toast notification would probably transfer with it. I'll post on the Vivaldi user forum to see what they think.
@wpcoe

You might try this...

Thanks. That was worth a shot, but all it found was some touchpad-related item for reporting analytics back to HP. Oh, well.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 version 24H2 (OS Build 26100.2605)
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Spectre X360 14
    CPU
    i7-1195G7
    Memory
    16GB
    Monitor(s) Displays
    external 24" Dell P2415Q
    Screen Resolution
    3840 x 2160 on external Dell, 3000 x 2000 on laptop screen
    Hard Drives
    1TB SSD with 32GB Optane cache
    Browser
    Vivaldi, Comodo Dragon, Edge
    Antivirus
    Avast (free version)
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro, 21H2 (Build 22000.376)
    Computer type
    Tablet
    Manufacturer/Model
    Surface Pro 6
    CPU
    i7-8650U
    Memory
    16 GB
    Graphics card(s)
    iGPU (Intel® UHD Graphics 620)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell P2415Q
    Screen Resolution
    3840 x 2160 on external Dell, 2736 x 1824 on SP6 screen
    Hard Drives
    512GB PCIe Gen 3 x2 SSD
    Browser
    Vivaldi, Comodo Dragon, Edge
    Antivirus
    Avast (free edition)
You might want to use what's mentioned here to first identify where it is coming from first and then find out what was the parent process using System Informer formerly Process Hacker.

 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows XP/7/8/8.1/10/11, Linux, Android, FreeBSD Unix
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 15 9570
    CPU
    Intel® Core™ i7-8750H 8th Gen Processor 2.2Ghz up to 4.1Ghz
    Motherboard
    Dell XPS 15 9570
    Memory
    32GB using 2x16GB modules
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel UHD 630 & NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti with 4GB DDR5
    Sound Card
    Realtek ALC3266-CG
    Monitor(s) Displays
    15.6" 4K Touch UltraHD 3840x2160 made by Sharp
    Screen Resolution
    3840x2160
    Hard Drives
    Toshiba KXG60ZNV1T02 NVMe 1024GB/1TB SSD
    PSU
    Dell XPS 15 9570
    Case
    Dell XPS 15 9570
    Cooling
    Stock
    Keyboard
    Stock
    Mouse
    SwitftPoint ProPoint
    Internet Speed
    Comcast/XFinity 1.44Gbps/42.5Mbps
    Browser
    Microsoft EDGE (Chromium based) & Google Chrome
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender that came with Windows
Every so often, a pop-up notification appears near the System Tray related to filehorse.com
That's a push notification. You may have accidentally allowed it. Here's how to remove it from Edge, other browser have similar options.


Here's where to find it in Firefox.

1734285500698.webp
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Home
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Acer Aspire 3 A315-23
    CPU
    AMD Athlon Silver 3050U
    Memory
    8GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Radeon Graphics
    Monitor(s) Displays
    laptop screen
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768 native resolution, up to 2560x1440 with Radeon Virtual Super Resolution
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung EVO 870 SSD
    Internet Speed
    50 Mbps
    Browser
    Edge, Firefox
    Antivirus
    Defender
    Other Info
    fully 'Windows 11 ready' laptop. Windows 10 C: partition migrated from my old unsupported 'main machine' then upgraded to 11. A test migration ran Insider builds for 2 months. When 11 was released on 5th October 2021 it was re-imaged back to 10 and was offered the upgrade in Windows Update on 20th October. Windows Update offered the 22H2 Feature Update on 20th September 2022. It got the 23H2 Feature Update on 4th November 2023 through Windows Update, and 24H2 on 3rd October 2024 through Windows Update by setting the Target Release Version for 24H2.

    My SYSTEM THREE is a Dell Latitude 5410, i7-10610U, 32GB RAM, 512GB NVMe ssd, supported device running Windows 11 Pro (and all my Hyper-V VMs).

    My SYSTEM FOUR is a 2-in-1 convertible Lenovo Yoga 11e 20DA, Celeron N2930, 8GB RAM, 256GB ssd. Unsupported device: currently running Win10 Pro, plus Win11 Pro RTM and Insider Dev, Beta, and RP 24H2 as native boot vhdx.

    My SYSTEM FIVE is a Dell Latitude 3190 2-in-1, Pentium Silver N5030, 8GB RAM, 512GB NVMe ssd, supported device running Windows 11 Pro, plus the Insider Beta, Dev, Canary, and Release Preview builds as a native boot .vhdx.
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Latitude E4310
    CPU
    Intel® Core™ i5-520M
    Motherboard
    0T6M8G
    Memory
    8GB
    Graphics card(s)
    (integrated graphics) Intel HD Graphics
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768
    Hard Drives
    500GB Crucial MX500 SSD
    Browser
    Firefox, Edge
    Antivirus
    Defender
    Other Info
    unsupported machine: Legacy bios, MBR, TPM 1.2, upgraded from W10 to W11 using W10/W11 hybrid install media workaround. In-place upgrade to 22H2 using ISO and a workaround. Feature Update to 23H2 by manually installing the Enablement Package. In-place upgrade to 24H2 using hybrid 23H2/24H2 install media. Also running Insider Beta, Dev, and Canary builds as a native boot .vhdx.

    My SYSTEM THREE is a Dell Latitude 5410, i7-10610U, 32GB RAM, 512GB NVMe ssd, supported device running Windows 11 Pro (and all my Hyper-V VMs).

    My SYSTEM FOUR is a 2-in-1 convertible Lenovo Yoga 11e 20DA, Celeron N2930, 8GB RAM, 256GB ssd. Unsupported device: currently running Win10 Pro, plus Win11 Pro RTM and Insider Dev, Beta, and RP 24H2 as native boot vhdx.

    My SYSTEM FIVE is a Dell Latitude 3190 2-in-1, Pentium Silver N5030, 8GB RAM, 512GB NVMe ssd, supported device running Windows 11 Pro, plus the Insider Beta, Dev, Canary, and Release Preview builds as a native boot .vhdx.
Is it listed in Windows Setup (Winkey + i) under System > Notifications?

The other thing that may help is install Revo Uninstaller (there is a free version). And do some cleanup etc.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro 24H2 26100.3025
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Homebuilt
    CPU
    Intel Core i9 13900K
    Motherboard
    Asus ProArt Z790 Creator WiFi - Bios 2703
    Memory
    Corsair Dominator Platinum 64gb 5600MT/s DDR5 Dual Channel
    Graphics Card(s)
    Sapphire NITRO+ AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX Vapor-X 24GB
    Sound Card
    External DAC - Headphone Amplifier: Cambridge Audio DACMagic200M
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Panasonic MX950 Mini LED 55" TV 120hz
    Screen Resolution
    3840 x 2160 120hz
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 980 Pro 2TB (OS)
    Samsung 980 Pro 1TB (Files)
    Lexar NZ790 4TB
    LaCie d2 Professional 6TB external - USB 3.1
    Seagate One Touch 18TB external HD - USB 3.0
    PSU
    Corsair RM1200x Shift
    Case
    Corsair RGB Smart Case 5000x (white)
    Cooling
    Corsair iCue H150i Elite Capellix XT
    Keyboard
    Logitech K860
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Ergo Trackball
    Internet Speed
    Fibre 900/500 Mbps
    Browser
    Microsoft Edge Chromium
    Antivirus
    Bitdefender Total Security
    Other Info
    AMD Radeon Software & Drivers 24.12.1
    AOMEI Backupper Pro
    Dashlane password manager
    Logitech Brio 4K Webcam
    Orico 10-port powered USB 3.0 hub
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro 24H2 26100.2894
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Asus Vivobook X1605VA
    CPU
    Intel® Core™ i9-13900H
    Motherboard
    Asus X1605VA bios 309
    Memory
    32GB DDR4-3200 Dual channel
    Graphics card(s)
    *Intel Iris Xᵉ Graphics G7 (96EU) 32.0.101.6078
    Sound Card
    Realtek | Intel SST Bluetooth & USB
    Monitor(s) Displays
    16.0-inch, WUXGA 16:10 aspect ratio, IPS-level Panel
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1200 60hz
    Hard Drives
    512GB M.2 NVMe™ PCIe® 3.0 SSD
    Other Info
    720p Webcam
You might want to use what's mentioned here to first identify where it is coming from first and then find out what was the parent process using System Informer formerly Process Hacker.

That's the approach I would take as well. I assume System Informer is similar to SysInternals Process Explorer?
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro 24H2 26100.3025
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Homebuilt
    CPU
    Intel Core i9 13900K
    Motherboard
    Asus ProArt Z790 Creator WiFi - Bios 2703
    Memory
    Corsair Dominator Platinum 64gb 5600MT/s DDR5 Dual Channel
    Graphics Card(s)
    Sapphire NITRO+ AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX Vapor-X 24GB
    Sound Card
    External DAC - Headphone Amplifier: Cambridge Audio DACMagic200M
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Panasonic MX950 Mini LED 55" TV 120hz
    Screen Resolution
    3840 x 2160 120hz
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 980 Pro 2TB (OS)
    Samsung 980 Pro 1TB (Files)
    Lexar NZ790 4TB
    LaCie d2 Professional 6TB external - USB 3.1
    Seagate One Touch 18TB external HD - USB 3.0
    PSU
    Corsair RM1200x Shift
    Case
    Corsair RGB Smart Case 5000x (white)
    Cooling
    Corsair iCue H150i Elite Capellix XT
    Keyboard
    Logitech K860
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Ergo Trackball
    Internet Speed
    Fibre 900/500 Mbps
    Browser
    Microsoft Edge Chromium
    Antivirus
    Bitdefender Total Security
    Other Info
    AMD Radeon Software & Drivers 24.12.1
    AOMEI Backupper Pro
    Dashlane password manager
    Logitech Brio 4K Webcam
    Orico 10-port powered USB 3.0 hub
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro 24H2 26100.2894
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Asus Vivobook X1605VA
    CPU
    Intel® Core™ i9-13900H
    Motherboard
    Asus X1605VA bios 309
    Memory
    32GB DDR4-3200 Dual channel
    Graphics card(s)
    *Intel Iris Xᵉ Graphics G7 (96EU) 32.0.101.6078
    Sound Card
    Realtek | Intel SST Bluetooth & USB
    Monitor(s) Displays
    16.0-inch, WUXGA 16:10 aspect ratio, IPS-level Panel
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1200 60hz
    Hard Drives
    512GB M.2 NVMe™ PCIe® 3.0 SSD
    Other Info
    720p Webcam
That's the approach I would take as well. I assume System Informer is similar to SysInternals Process Explorer?
Yes, they are similar. Process Hacker allows stopping and restarting multiple processes at the same time unlike PE.
Think this explains it better.... System Informer is the new name for Process Hacker.

 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows XP/7/8/8.1/10/11, Linux, Android, FreeBSD Unix
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 15 9570
    CPU
    Intel® Core™ i7-8750H 8th Gen Processor 2.2Ghz up to 4.1Ghz
    Motherboard
    Dell XPS 15 9570
    Memory
    32GB using 2x16GB modules
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel UHD 630 & NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti with 4GB DDR5
    Sound Card
    Realtek ALC3266-CG
    Monitor(s) Displays
    15.6" 4K Touch UltraHD 3840x2160 made by Sharp
    Screen Resolution
    3840x2160
    Hard Drives
    Toshiba KXG60ZNV1T02 NVMe 1024GB/1TB SSD
    PSU
    Dell XPS 15 9570
    Case
    Dell XPS 15 9570
    Cooling
    Stock
    Keyboard
    Stock
    Mouse
    SwitftPoint ProPoint
    Internet Speed
    Comcast/XFinity 1.44Gbps/42.5Mbps
    Browser
    Microsoft EDGE (Chromium based) & Google Chrome
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender that came with Windows
Sorry for not responding earlier. I didn't get any notification (email) so assumed there were no replies.

I posted on the Vivaldi forum and got a fix for the problem. For any other Vivaldi users here with a similar problem:

Check vivaldi:serviceworker-internals , search for entry about filehorse and hit Unregister.

If you want to get rid of such Notifications open Settings → Privacy → Website Permissions → Global Permissions and set Notifications to Block.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 version 24H2 (OS Build 26100.2605)
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Spectre X360 14
    CPU
    i7-1195G7
    Memory
    16GB
    Monitor(s) Displays
    external 24" Dell P2415Q
    Screen Resolution
    3840 x 2160 on external Dell, 3000 x 2000 on laptop screen
    Hard Drives
    1TB SSD with 32GB Optane cache
    Browser
    Vivaldi, Comodo Dragon, Edge
    Antivirus
    Avast (free version)
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro, 21H2 (Build 22000.376)
    Computer type
    Tablet
    Manufacturer/Model
    Surface Pro 6
    CPU
    i7-8650U
    Memory
    16 GB
    Graphics card(s)
    iGPU (Intel® UHD Graphics 620)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell P2415Q
    Screen Resolution
    3840 x 2160 on external Dell, 2736 x 1824 on SP6 screen
    Hard Drives
    512GB PCIe Gen 3 x2 SSD
    Browser
    Vivaldi, Comodo Dragon, Edge
    Antivirus
    Avast (free edition)
It is the browse notification. You should check the default browser and turn off the push notification. FileHorse is a popular software download sites.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Asus ZenBook
    CPU
    Core i5-7200U
    Memory
    8GB
    Hard Drives
    256GB SSD
If i installed a browser and it loaded up something like Filehorse I would delete the browser and use something else. No telling what else the original browser has installed.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 11 Pro 23H2
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Self build
    CPU
    Intel i7 13700KF
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte Z790 UD AC
    Memory
    32 GB Team Group DDR5 - 6000 CL 30
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS TUF GAMING RTX 3070 Ti
    Sound Card
    On board Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung 32 inch curved - one 4K, one 1080p
    Screen Resolution
    4K, 1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    1 TB Samsung 980 Pro Nvme, 1 TB Samsung 970 EVO Nvme, 2 x Samsung 970 2TB SSD SATA
    PSU
    EVGA 1000Q
    Case
    Rosewill something or other
    Cooling
    Noctua NH-D15. A whole schwak of Noctua case fans. $$$
    Keyboard
    Logitech G815
    Mouse
    Logitech G502 Hero
    Internet Speed
    700 up, 600 down
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    MalwareBytes
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