googleupdate.exe task purpose and description:

GoogleUpdate.exe is a file which would have been installed by you and would not have ever arrived as preinstalled software on the computer. The actual hard drive folder is also listed below, always verify where its located on your hard drive, as this makes sure it is not spyware, adware, or virus related and simply placed elsewhere on your computer, and using the same name in an attempt to fool you. This GoogleUpdate.exe software file is from Google, and is part of their automatic update software to see if you have the latest software update or if you are on an older version. You can kill this task from your startup as it does not need to run. This GoogleUpdate.exe software is considered safe, and is not considered trojan, spyware, or virus related software. (See the details below for the actual location of this file.)

Actual process or task name: (You can view alphabetical task list here)
googleupdate.exe

File type:
This is an executable program file.

Where is this file and folder located on my computer?
You can find this file located at "C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Update\GoogleUpdate.exe" /c

General information:
Be aware that many tasks will be similiar names to existing tasks or processes. You can always view the running tasks on your computer by pressing ctrl-alt-del to view the windows "task manager", and then view the "processes" tab. This will show you all tasks running or currently active on your PC. Although this shows you all running tasks, it does not show dll file thats are loaded, as they get loaded as part of other processes. Many spyware writers attempt to hide their files on your computer, for example, googleupdate.exe may be intentionally misspelled to look like a similiar task, or spyware may be named very similiar to a Windows system task. The reason they do this is so you cannot easily recognize the name in your tasklist as I have mentioned above. Make sure always check the location of the file if you are concerned. You can always find the location of googleupdate.exe on your computer by using your Windows search options, but I will also try to list the file location of every file described on this website, so you can verify the correct location. You can view the entire tasklist directory with the link below.

View entire task list here!