Windows 10: Is "microsoft.photos.exe" a virus?

So today my Norton Antivirus popped up with this message I have no idea if this is the one that comes with every windows 10 for photos and stuff or if its a disguised virus something. The first time I got this message I decided to be safe and click "Stop this program from running" but then a few minutes later it popped up with the same notification. Please help.

:)

 

WINDOWS 10 MICROSOFT PHOTO APP

Hello,

Welcome to Microsoft Community.

The Photos app brings together pictures from all your devices using OneDrive, so that you can browse them by date, album or folder. It also automatically enhances photos, and creates albums for you, to showcase your best shots.

I suggest you to follow the methods below and check if it helps:

Method 1:

I suggest you to change the Default apps in the setting app and verify the result. You may follow the steps in the below:

• Go to settings and system.
  
• Click on Default Apps and select the appropriately.
  

Method 2:

I suggest you to reinstall Photo app using the PowerShell command
and reinstall using the Windows store. Follow the below steps.

• Open the　Start　menu, type　Windows PowerShell　in the search bar.
  
• Right click on the　Windows　PowerShell　and select　Run as　administrator.
  
• Enter the below command to uninstall the Photo app.
  

• 　　get-appxpackage　　*Microsoft.Windows.Photos* | remove-appxpackage
  

More reference:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-10/photos

Hope this helps. If the issue remains unresolved, please get back to us and we would be happy to help.

• 
  

 

NESHTA.A VIRUS REMOVED BUT .EXE NOT WORKING

Hi Khaled,

It is possible that you .exe is not working due to corrupted system files or account. To assist you better, kindly answer the following questions:

• Does this happen with a specific application or with all of your application?
• Have you tried creating a new admin account to check if the issue also with new account or only with the current account?

In the meantime, we suggest that you follow the steps in this article on how
to create a new admin account.

Let us know if you need further assistance.

 

Microsoft Exclusion List for Anti-virus

Apparantly, Microsoft posted a list of files that can be "Excluded" from any Anti-Virus that you use to help with scanning performance.

You can read about here:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/822158