Purpose of nwiz.exe
The nwiz.exe (Nvidia nView Wizard) process is associated with the newer versions of the Nvidia graphics card drivers (2002 onward). Nvidia nView Wizard allows users to improve and customize desktop layouts by providing a range of options, including the option to have up to 32 virtual desktops, split the display across more than one monitor, have a desktop that is larger than the viewable area of the monitor, add transparency to applications windows, zoom portions of the display, and much more.
The nwiz.exe file is installed on your PC along with Nvidia graphics video cards. The purpose of nwiz.exe is to reinstall the special features of your Nvidia graphics card automatically when you boot your system. If you do not use any special features, such as the ones mentioned above, the nwiz.exe process terminates, otherwise it stays in the background.
I’m using Nvidia graphics card – is it necessary to let nwiz.exe start automatically?
By default, nwiz.exe starts automatically when you boot your computer. However, nwiz.exe is not an essential startup process.
Whether to let nwiz.exe start automatically or not is up to you. If you use any of the special nView features, let nwiz.exe start automatically. Otherwise, you can safely remove this process from your startup sequence.
To remove nwiz.exe from your startup programs list, perform the following steps:
- Click the Start menu and select Run.
- In the Open box, type msconfig and press Enter to open the System Configuration Utility dialog box.
- Here, click the Startup tab.
- Clear the checkbox before nwiz.exe, click Apply, and then click OK.
- Restart your computer.
Nwiz.exe is consuming 90%-95% of my CPU resources – what’s the cure?
Typically, this process is not recorded to consume huge amount of system resources. If you find that nwiz.exe is constantly consuming large amount of CPU resources and is causing your system to function properly then update you Nvidia graphic device drivers. An easy way to update device drivers is by using a reliable driver management tool, such as Driver Finder.
What is the default location of nwiz.exe on a Windows XP computer?
By default, the nwiz.exe process is located in the C:\Windows\System32 folder and its most common file size on Windows XP computer is 1,519,616 bytes.
Nwiz.exe – is it a safe file?
Yes, it is. The Nwiz.exe process belongs to Nvidia graphics card drivers and is not a security threat.
However, it is important to note that various malware programs use processes that have similar names as genuine processes. For instance, there is a malware process called nwize.exe (please note the extra “e”) that is associated with the bat.mumu.a worm. Ensure that you have the safe nwiz.exe process and not the malicious nwize.exe process running.
To view the list of currently running processes press Ctrl+Alt+Del, and then click the Processes tab. If you find any malicious process running, immediately run a malware scan on your entire computer, using advanced security programs, such as STOPzilla Antivirus and Spyware Cease to get rid of the virus. Also, after you have successfully removed the malware, run a registry scan using a reliable registry cleaner such as RegServe to sanitize your registry.