The winhlp32.exe process is also known as the Microsoft Help and is owned by Microsoft Corporation belonging to Windows operating system. It is needed to display the 32-bit Help files that contain the “.hlp” file name extension. The Windows Help is a Help program that is inclusive in Microsoft Windows versions which started with the Microsoft Windows version 3.1 operating system. Unfortunately, the Windows Help program has not done any major updates for a lot of their releases and it does not meet Microsoft standards anymore. If the user would like to view 32-bit HLP files, he or she must download the winhlp32.exe process from the Microsoft Download Center. The process is a Windows system file and it has the technical security rating of 1% dangerous, making it very safe for the user to operate within his or her computer system. The file may be useful for the user to use as it provides Help files to be viewed.

Most non-system processes that are running can be stopped because they are not involved in running your operating system. winhlp32.exe. is used by Microsoft Help, If you shut down winhlp32.exe, it will likely start again at a later time either after you restart your computer or after an application start. To stop winhlp32.exe, permanently you need to uninstall the application that runs this process which in this case is Microsoft Help, from your system.

After uninstalling applications it is a good idea to scan you Windows registry for any left over traces of applications. Registry Reviver by ReviverSoft is a great tool for doing this.

The ReviverSoft experts have not yet reviewed winhlp32.exe

A process usually a part of an installed application such as Microsoft Help, or your operating system that is responsible for running in functions of that application. Some application require that they have processes running all the time so they can do things such as check for updates or notify you when you get an instant message. Some poorly written applications have many processes that run that may not be required and take up valuable processing power within your computer.

We have not received any complaint about this process having higher than normal impact on PC performance. If you have had bad experiences with it please let us know in a comment below and we will investigate it further.

The first thing you should do if winhlp32.exe. is causing errors on your computer is to run a Windows registry scan with Registry Reviver If you are still seeing errors after this you should uninstall the program that winhlp32.exe, belongs to, in this case Microsoft Help