prl_cc.exe what is tis function

I have read about the problems with prl_cc.exe and virus scanners.

Today I tried scanning my virtual machine for viruses using McAfee and for trojans using Trojan Hunter. They ran at slower than snail's pace even when running sequentially rather than in parallel.

I noticed in the Window's Task Manger that prl_cc.exe was stealing the lion's share of the cpu.
First I tried lowering the process's priority which seemed to have no effect.
Then I just bit the bullet and killed the process. To my surprise the system did not crash!
McAfee and Trojan Hunter running in parallel then finished very quickly (They only had to scan about 30 Gb at most).
Everything seems to be running normally though I notice that parallels icons on the Mac OS X dock, remain even though the associated application in Windows had been killed.

So my questions are:
1. What is the function of prl_cc.exe?
2. Is it possible to do as I described above without negative consequences, i.e. kill the process while scanning for viruses? (I'd be very surprised if one could.)
3. Having killed the process, is it possible to restart it manually, that is, without having to shutdown and restart?

My configuration: iMac with Mac OS X 10.6 (Snowleopard). Windows XP Professional SP2

Thanks for your help.
Andynic
(a total newbie at this).

 

Answering you questions:
1. What is the function of prl_cc.exe?
prl_cc is responsible for different OS integration features (Shared Applications, Copy/Paste,Drag'n'Drop and many others) to work. It is not essential for guest OS to function properly.
2. Is it possible to do as I described above without negative consequences, i.e. kill the process while scanning for viruses? (I'd be very surprised if one could.)
Yes, it is possible. But many of Parallels OS integration features will not work till next reboot or manual restart of prl_cc. You also can shutdown it properly, for that just type in command line:
prl_cc.exe /stop
This will close it gently (Windows apps icons from Dock will be removed, for example).
3. Having killed the process, is it possible to restart it manually, that is, without having to shutdown and restart?
Yes, it is possible. Just launch it.

Also, it is not normal for prl_cc to consume much CPU (except short period of time when some special action is performed, for example, Drag'n'Drop or Copy/Paste operation). If you have some way to reproducing the issue, please post steps to do it here. Thanks!