rundll32.dll

When I do a ctrl-alt-del I notice that there are two instances of rundll32 running. Why is that? I just installed my new video card and a new CDRW drive, would it have anything to do with that? I'm thinking I only need one running at most--if that's an incorrect assumption please fill me in here. But I don't ever remember seeing two running until recently. Can anyone offer an explaination?

(sorry for all the questions lately..)
 
D'oh... I think I know what it was. I guess when I installed my new card some desktop manager called nView was installed too. It was running and when I disabled it the second rundll32 went away. I normally research these things before I ask, but things have been crazy here lately with my brothers here and all. One just left again for school, maybe things will calm down...

But while I have your attention... WTF is this thing? It came with my card and is some kind of adaptor that allows a monitor to be plugged in. Why would I need this? I'm assuming it has something to do with being able to use two monitors at once? Yes, no?

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maybe somethign for flat LCD monitors?(i thought i'd toss that in till somebody else comes by and tells you what the fuck that really is and does)
 
and thus, for special Digital Monitors, like some flat panel LCD screens.

unknown if you can use both the Digital and Standard Analog outputs simutaneously, though.
 
And now for the actual thread.

RUNDLL32.EXE, according to Microsoft, has the purpose of running a DLL as an app, that is, running a routine inside the DLL standalone. The reason for there being two instances of RUNDLL32 is simply that two DLLs are running, and they probably have nothing to do with each other.
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The problem is just that you don't see which DLLs are running, only RUNDLL32 itself. But there's nothing inherently wrong with there being multiple instances of it.

Try running "msinfo," or Microsoft System Information. You can review much more extensive listings of all currently running processes, tasks, handlers etc. there.

It also helps to look at WIN.INI, all Registry keys starting with "Run" (RunServices, RunOnce, etc.), all items in the "Startup" folder in both your personal Start menu and the one for all users (C:\WINDOWS\All Users\...) to see what all is launched at startup. If you see anything in the form of "rundll32.exe <something>.dll,<something else>" you can probably tell by the DLL's name what it is.
 
You can download some tools at Sysinternals that will show you what dlls are loaded. ListDLLs and Process Explorer are very useful here (and there's lots of other neat toys if you want to hose your system permanently).
 
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