Maybe you are looking at your Task Manager and wondering what is this one process called officec2rclient.exe that’s constantly running and taking up a considerable amount of system resources. Then, you’ve come to the right place. In some cases, you may see that this process ends up taking up more than 50% of your CPU, which ends up slowing down your system big time.
As a result of this suspicious behavior, some Windows users want to know if this service is actually real or some kind of a security risk. Let’s dig in.
What is officec2rclient.exe?
There are 2 versions of officec2rclient.exe, the latest version is 15.0.4623.1000. The original OfficeC2RClient.exe file is a software component of Microsoft Office 365 ProPlus, which is signed and published by Microsoft Corporation. The process uses the Windows Task Scheduler to automatically run the file as a process when the user connects to Windows.
The average file size is about 813.2KiB. Microsoft Office 365 – en-us, Microsoft Office 365 – es-es, and Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2013 – en-us installs officec2rclient.exe in specific variations.
Is Office2rclient.exe Safe?
Officec2rclient.exe is a secure Microsoft process installed as part of Microsoft Office 365. ClickToRun that provides Office 365 subscribers with new versions or updates (security-related or non-security-related). It is installed in “C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\ClickToRun”. It starts when you select File|Accounts|UpdateNow in any Office application or can be run manually as an administrator. The command line options include the ability to upgrade to an older version.
It is certified by a trusted company. The OfficeC2RClient.exe file is not a Windows kernel file. The Windows Task Scheduler starts this process at a specific time. OfficeC2RClient.exe is able to record keyboard and mouse inputs, control applications, and manipulate other programs. Therefore, the level of technical security is dangerous at 3%.
Is Office2rclient.exe a Virus or Malware?
The genuine Office2rclient.exe is a safe and secure process. But, since Officec2rclient.exe is an ideal target for this type of executable malware, we recommend that you run a number of tests to help you determine if the process you are viewing is real or not.
First of all, you should start by considering the parent’s application. Note that there is no reason why you should see the officec2rclient.exe file in the Task Manager, unless you are actively using a Microsoft 365 subscription. If you see it, even if you do not have a Microsoft365 subscription, there is a high probability that you are looking at a malware.
If the first troubleshooting procedure wasn’t so obvious, you should get the location of officec2rclient.exe through your Task Manager. Click Ctrl + Shift + Enter to open the Task Manager window.
After accessing the Task Manager, select the Process tab from the horizontal menu, scroll down to the list of background processes and find officec2rclient.exe. Once you have found the file successfully, right-click it and select Open File Location from the pop-up menu that appears.
If the detected location differs from “C:\Program Files\Common Files\Shared Microsoft\ClickToRun” and you have not installed the package at a particular location somewhere, then you are likely to be dealing with a suspicious process.
Should I Remove or Delete Officec2rclient.exe?
If the investigation has not yet revealed any security threats or if you have already used a virus scanner, you can finally say that the officec2rclient.exe is authentic and safe. Once you get here, open the Task Manager window (Ctrl + Shift + Esc) and check if Officec2rclient.exe resource consumption is still high.
If it still consumes a lot of system resources, even though you are not updating the Office app, then you have two options to move forward:
- You can try to repair the parent Office 365 app of officec2rclient.exe.
- Completely remove the parent application.
Of course, uninstalling the entire suite is not possible unless you are not using a Microsoft Office product and you do not need Word, Office or Excel.
Conclusion
Sometimes its really hard to tell if you are dealing with a genuine Microsoft-signed process or a phoney one disguising to be genuine but in fact a real threat to your system.
Let us know how you have dealt with Officec2rclient.exe in the comments section below.
