The hardlock.vxd file is a driver. A driver is a computer application that controls or operates a certain device that is connected to the computer. It communicates with the device usually by means of a communications subsystem or computer bus that is connected to the hardware. It is operating-system-specific and dependent on hardware. It issues commands to the connected device when a program calls for a routine. When the device sends data back, the driver will call for routines from the program. The driver acts as translator between the operating system or application and the hardware device to simplify programming. The VXD file type is associated mainly with Virtual Device Driver. It is also known as value-added driver. A VXD file serves as helper file for one or more EXE [program] files. You do not run VXD files. It is the program created to work with this file that uses the information in it. VxD is a device driver model utilized by Windows 386 including Windows 3.x, Windows 9x and in some instances by OpenDOS 7.01, Novell DOS 7 and DR-DOS 7.02 or higher. This driver can access the kernel memory and all running applications including raw access to hardware. VxD is a name derived from the abbreviation of virtual xxx driver with xxx pertaining to a class of hardware device.

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

A process usually a part of an installed application such as hardlock.vxd, 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 hardlock.vxd. 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 hardlock.vxd, belongs to, in this case hardlock.vxd