What is the "micmute.exe" process on windows 7? Is the "micmute.exe" process a virus? Can I terminate the "micmute.exe" process?

"micmute.exe" process represents "Microphone Mute Control Service for ThinkPad" program. "micmute.exe" is for "Lenovo Microphone Mute" service which provides on screen display of the microphone mute status on Lenovo Windows 7 laptops.

"micmute.exe" process is normally running under the parent process "services" as shown in the process tree below:

Boot
   wininit
      services
         micmute

On the Processes tab of "Task Manager", "micmute.exe" process may be listed as:

Image Name                 Memory   Description
--------------------   ----------   -----------
micmute.exe               6,460 K   Microphone Mute Control Service for ThinkPad

Additional information about "micmute.exe" process:

Command line:
   "C:\Program Files\LENOVO\HOTKEY\MICMUTE.exe"

Programe file information:
   Name: micmute.exe
   Location: C:\Program Files\LENOVO\HOTKEY\MICMUTE.exe
   Description: Microphone Mute Control Service for ThinkPad
   Version: 1.47
   Size: 110248 bytes
   Last modified: 11/26/2015 1:06:10 PM
   Company Name: Lenovo Group Limited
   
Some data files used:
C:\Windows
C:\Windows\SysWOW64
C:\Windows\SysWOW64\en-US\setupapi.dll.mui
C:\Windows\winsxs\x86_microsoft.windows.common-controls_6595b64144ccf1df_5.82.7601.18837_none_ec86b8d6858ec0bc
C:\Windows\winsxs\x86_microsoft.windows.gdiplus_6595b64144ccf1df_1.1.7601.23545_none_5c06d189a00e2c29
C:\Windows\SysWOW64\en-US\crypt32.dll.mui
C:\Windows\System32\config\systemprofile\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\SystemCertificates\My

Some registry keys used:
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options
HKLM\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Nls\Sorting\Versions
HKLM\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\SESSION MANAGER
HKLM\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Nls\CustomLocale
HKU\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\International
HKLM\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\crypt32
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Cryptography\OID\EncodingType 0\CertDllCreateCertificateChainEngine\Config
HKU\.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\SystemCertificates\My
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SystemCertificates\ROOT

Some DLL libraries used:
C:\windows\SYSTEM32\ntdll.dll
C:\windows\SYSTEM32\wow64.dll
C:\windows\SYSTEM32\wow64win.dll
C:\windows\SYSTEM32\wow64cpu.dll
C:\Program Files\LENOVO\HOTKEY\MICMUTE.exe
C:\windows\SysWOW64\ntdll.dll
C:\windows\syswow64\kernel32.dll
C:\windows\syswow64\KERNELBASE.dll
C:\windows\syswow64\ADVAPI32.dll
C:\windows\syswow64\msvcrt.dll

"micmute.exe" process is not a virus. You can terminate "micmute.exe" process or stop the "Lenovo Microphone Mute" service. You can restart it when you need to the built-in microphone later.

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