Back to Silas S. Brown's home page

Is gradint-wrapper.exe a virus?

The genuine gradint-wrapper.exe is not a virus.

The Windows version of Gradint defaults to starting itself automatically once per day.  This is because I've sometimes installed it for people who say they don't know how to start programs (!) and/or want to be reminded about their daily vocabulary practice.

Modern Windows laptops tend to hibernate rather than shut down.  Therefore it's no longer enough to put Gradint in the "Startup" folder---I also have to run a background process to make sure the "once per day" thing works.

Does gradint-wrapper.exe slow the computer down?

It shouldn't! The background process wakes up once per hour and checks to see if the computer has hibernated overnight in the meantime.  If the computer is being slow then it must have other problems.  (I usually offer to install Linux at this point.)

Is it safe to Terminate gradint-wrapper.exe?

Yes, this is safe.  But it will start again next time you reboot or run Gradint.

Is it safe to delete gradint-wrapper.exe?

That will break your Gradint installation.  gradint-wrapper.exe is not just the background process: it is also the "wrapper" for loading the main part of Gradint on Windows (I use a 2-part loader to make the Windows version easier to update from Linux).

How do you stop Gradint from running every day?

If you upgrade to Gradint v0.9979+ you can set it at installation time or in the advanced settings.

Alternatively go to Start menu > All programs > Startup, right-click on "Run gradint once per day" and delete it. Gradint will still start the background process when you run it manually (I set that in case it fails to find the startup folder); if you want to stop this, go to Start menu > All programs > Gradint and/or desktop > Gradint, right-click on Gradint, open in Notepad, delete once_per_day=2 and save.

How do you uninstall Gradint?

Go to Start menu > All programs > Gradint > uninstall, or desktop > Gradint > uninstall.  If it isn't there, try re-downloading the Gradint installer and run it---it should replace the uninstall scripts which you can then use.

Why is Gradint not in "Add/Remove Programs"?

To get into the "Add/Remove Programs" list, a program must be installed system-wide. Gradint does not install itself system-wide; it installs itself in your user name's home folder (unless you have an ancient version of Windows that doesn't have them). This means you can install Gradint even when you don't have permission to install system-wide programs (such as in a computer lab), but it also means Gradint cannot use the "Add/Remove Programs" list.
All material © Silas S. Brown unless otherwise stated.