VAIO Service Utility?

Anyone know what this does?

After the SP1 upgrade, my mute button ceased to function. I installed Sony's BIOS update, but that didn't help. I traced the problem to VAIO-SUTOOL.exe, which is part of the VAIO Service Utility folder.

The folder has an uninstaller, but without the ability to reinstall, I'm wondering if I need the software. No documentation exists explaining its purpose, and Sony technical support is as clueless as usual.

VAIO-SUTOOL.exe wasn't in msconfig or services.msc, leading me to believe that it was called upon by another process. I also checked the Task Scheduler, but no luck there. For now I've simply renamed it to VAIO-SUTOOL_.exe, effectively eliminating its activation on startup and the problem it creates.

But I'd rather treat the cause than the symptoms.

Thoughts?

Thanks,
Peter

 

Some information about what it does, but not what it's for: http://www.prevx.com/filenames/2023912196479161055-0/VAIO-SUTOOL.EXE.html

 

Nobody knows?

 

Dosn't exist on my FZ, so I am at a loss.
Gary

 

Gary, no C:\Program Files\Sony\VAIO Service Utility folder?

 

Nope. Only the onesd show in the attachment.

Gary

 

You think it was there before your clean install? It's not in the recovery center, but it came on my computer.

 

I don't think so. I did a complete inventory before the clean install.

There is no mute button on the FZ, what model do you have again, I forgot.

Gary

 

I have a CR190.

The fact that the mute button is affected by this leads me to believe that the VAIO Event Service is calling the VAIO Service Utility to work, and the two are doing something hand in hand.

Just a guess, though.

I guess, for now, I'll just leave it renamed instead of uninstalled.

-Peter

 

My mute button also stopped working i think after SP1. You just renamed this .exe and your mute button now works?

 

Correct. End the process in the Task Manager first (as it won't let you rename it otherwise).

-Peter

 

Thanks. I've been wondering why it stopped working.

 

hoping this thread is still being read by the author, rather good timing too i might add...i've not had any problems until now!

I have a FZ160 and have this morning come across a concern. When i started up (Vista), KIS7 came up with it's distinct screech saying it found "Worm.Win32.Bymer.d" in VAIO-SUTOOL.exe (located in the same place as yours, NinjaNoodles). It can't be disinfected because "write is not supported", so i skipped rather than delete...primarily because I've seen this program before and have also wondered what it's about. My concern is that normally when I boot up I have had to allow KIS' firewall to grant access to VAIO-SUTOOL.exe to some sort of network connection [afraid I can't recall if external or not], this has happened possibly hundreds of times in the 9months I've had the laptop. Today however it seems to have found a virus...any thoughts?!

I was using the laptop about 45 minutes before all this happened with no problems...the only reason for turning it off, then on again, was because I returned home after being in a library doing some work!

For the record, i have NOT done a clean install (yet ), the most I have done is uninstall a few bloatware apps but that's it.

I up'd the file to virustotal, here's a report: http://www.virustotal.com/analisis/695f9ce4851f9756dadfe0f9c000d96f

nothing much on there, I'd normally suspect a false-positive, but seeing as this has suddenly appeared I'd say there's something fishy going on...

 

Hey I JUST ran into the same problem this morning. KIS7 Detected thayt worm in the same file. And YES, this is the same dan file that KIS7 kept asking if it was OK to connect to some website (it was some external website, nothing that has sony.com in the url) but I just kept blocking it.

Don't know wtf is going on. any update?

 

Just uninstall it. It is part of the VAIO Update and Web Support (VAIO's own automatic update), and managed by the VAIO Event Service (VAIO's own task scheduler). It is completely useless since Sony rarely provide updates and even if they do, the updates are usually for their own proprietary stuff like Click to DVD that no one really uses.

 

that's all well and good uninstalling it, but it is quite a concern. Duke2007, your post just sparked my memory - it has previously tried to connect to a site called xtremedesktops.com. It's some sort of custom desktop tool...no idea why a Sony service would wanna connect to it.

I've allowed it to connect on some occasions and i can't say i've noticed any differences whatsoever. Odd that KIS7 flagged it when it did - my first thought was that it could be a new virus signature and this program happens to have similar coding, but after some digging on various sites I found the virus is quite an old one...hmmm

One more thing i didn't mention in my last post is that the virus itself is found in VAIO-SUTOOL.exe//xscratch.exe

I appreciate what you're saying though Skyshade, if indeed it's useless than better to remove it...confirm something for me please someone, just to be certain, if I run the "uninstall.exe" in the same dir as the tool or do so through Add/remove, it won't actually run any part of the file will it? Last time I updated, the so-called 'Auto' mode wasn't very good anyways - I was made aware of updates on the sony site then had to download and install manually

I renamed the file last night to avoid it being run by the system, so that at least is a temporary measure

 

Which brings up another question for me - I did a clean install and have very little Sony sw on my FZ now - can Vaio Event Service be removed? I did not install the Vaio Updater - I had a FS550 previously and found that to be as useless as you guys have. I have the Setting Utility Series installed which I would bet allow for all of the function key capability (screen dim, volume, etc). I loaded the Vaio Control Center, but it does not give me back 'S1' capability, so I am nuking it too.

But what all does Vaio Event Service control?

 

Do NOT remove the Vaio Event Service. It controls the function keys and I believe the power mangagement. It is integral to your system and needs to be there. It works with other bits of software, like the Setting Utility Series to make things happen.

Gary

 

Thanks as usual Gary.

 

Skyshade, how do you know this? Also, Duke, what was the website?

Thanks,
Peter

 

You are wrong. Sony releases updated drivers frequently.

 

Well, mostly because my FZ4000 is the 4th VAIO that I own and I can smell VAIO crap pretty well

Basically, I did semi-clean install twice on my brand-new FZ4000 because I didn't know putting Users folder to D:\ is such an impossible task in Vista the first time . The first time I used the hidden hard drive partition and the second time I used the Recovery DVD (and deleted the hidden harddrive partition). Well, it appears that the break point (where you break the full recovery process) between the two recovery methods are different and some Sony stuff were installed in the DVD recovery but not HDD recovery, and vice versa.

I didn't do a good inventory of what's what and it's been a while so some details may not be really precise, but I believe either VAIO Service folder or VAIO Service Utility folder (or both) belongs to this category that basically just shout to me that they are useless -- since the laptop ran fine for a couple days when I was struggling with that D:\ problem and these are obviously programs of decreasing usefulness that they fell on the twilight zone.

Now, the following part is where my memory gets a little fuzzy so take it with a grain of salt. I think I EITHER found some documentations in one of those folders (and it may not be in English ) that only appeared in one way of semi-clean install that said VAIO-SUTOOL.exe is part of VAIO Web Support OR I turned it off in task manager and then ran VAIO Update & Web Support and saw VAIO-SUTOOL.exe came back to life in task manager. I can't remember which one (or maybe I did both), but that's how I confirmed it's part of the useless VAIO Update (and even more useless Web Support).

Hope that helps...

 

I too have noticed that the Recovery disks and the Recovery partition do not necessarily have the same exact items on both of my Sony's.

I nuked the Service Utility also. I did a full clean install and I have very few Sony services/apps: Shared Library, SFEP, Instant Mode, Vaio Camera, Setting Utilities, Vaio Control Center, ISB Utility and Vaio Event Service - and I added the Video & Photo Suite, Roxio and Intervideo DVD. And, Help and Support. Everything works except for the S1 button (and a few other items in the Control Center) and the AV Mode button does nothing becasue I nuked Vaio Launcher which I thought was really useless as you can get to all of those programs quicker the traditional way (ok, but you don't get the cool sound).

It would be really neat if someone could figure out how to map the S1 and AV buttons in the registry - if that is possible.

 

Such as?

 

Such as this: Updated Intel Video driver

Does that qualify as an updated driver?

What about this: Updated Sigmatel Audio driver

Gary

 

ISB Utility is useless. You didn't list Sony Utilities DLL as installed. May want to check that. My AV buttons can control the volume even though I nuked VAIO launcher and S1 button works too.

 

And how "FREQUENTLY" does this happen?

Gary, come on, you can read better than that.

 

In a time frame ranging from 1-6 months.

 

Yes, as a matter of fact I can. I can read where you said the updates are ususally for things other than drivers. I was not comenting on the frequency, I was commenting on the content.

I do agree that there is no need to install the Sony app that periodically checks for Sony updates. I said so in the FZ Clean install instructions. It is better to just periodically check the esupport.sony.com site for driver and apps updates.

Gary

 

Sony Utilities DLL - When following Gary's clean install guide, I never found that on the esupport site or on my recovery disk. It was not included in my Notebook Utilities. I believe Vista Business has something to do with that - at least I found out that Vaio Control Center is not supported on every laptop with Vista Business.

OK, what is ISB?

 

OK, I bet that's why your S1 doesn't work. You might want to grab it from that Sony Asia website that has all the drivers for FZ3 XP downgrade if you can't find it in your recovery disks or Sony US support.

ISB checks whether your battery is a Sony battery and prevents you from using an OEM one.

 

Thanks - I'll look around - where does the Utilities DLL go? I noticed that it is included in the Notebook Utilities for other systems, but not in my FZ4000.

OK, I will nuke ISB now too. Thanks.

 

Nah - The Service Utility I found on an older FZ and installed, did not change anything. It screwed with some other services in Vista (which was not surprising since it was not specifically made for my FZ), so I completely wiped my OS image and reinstalled back to 4 days ago. I am done with trying to figure out that darn S1 button - it has been more of a challenge than something I actually want to use!

 

Sorry to hear that, bubbatex. Still, I will take clean-install over semi-clean with S1 & AV buttons anyday.

Anyway, here is the Sony Asia site that I mentioned and if you are really bored, try No.11 SonyNC Device Upgrade and see if it helps...

http://www.sony-asia.com/support/do...t/sectionfirst?site=hp_en_AP_i&subpage=detail

Or see if you get any luck using Utilities DLL for XP

http://www.sony-asia.com/support/download/240670/sectionfirst?site=hp_en_AP_i&subpage=detail

 

Thanks Skyshade - I might give it a try this weekend right after I do my image BU. The ones I tried today kinda mucked things up. As I said and you agreed, lean and mean is better than having the use of two buttons!

 

I went ahead and took the plunge. That is to say, I uninstalled the VAIO Service Utility. Went smoothly with no apparent issues.

-Peter

 

My program Avast! detected it as a Trojan out of nowhere..had this laptop for about a month. I uninstalled it. I'm assuming that's a mistake in detection since other people got the same message. It seems to be doing some kind of automatic execution.

I didn't really need it...I will just check the website.