Svchost.exe?

[ade]

I know this is part of windows directory but according to my task manager I have 8 of these and for some reason one of them is using up 99% of my cpu usage causing my computer to basically stop!

This means that every hour or so it just freezes! chunters away then carries on!

SO ANNOYING!

Anyone know WHY Ive got 8 svchosts and is there any way to condense them?

[chimp007_uk]

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314056

[Alex.]

I usually have 2 or 3 and when I load task manager, one of them is usually top! What is it?!

[Nick]

Erm just try killing the one that's doing the 99%.

I THINK it'l probably be some little virus/trojan thingy that's disguising itself as an innocent windows process and hogging your CPU :)

[Jack]

You can have multiple instances of it running, it handles processes executed from DLL files:

http://www.liutilities.com/products/wintaskspro/processlibrary/svchost/

I'd do a virus scan with a few tools before killing it. Is there a particular program running when you have the problem?

[mikey14sr]

I've got about 8 instances of it running too, luckilly for me they're all cpu usage dormant, and only take up some memory. I think there was a bug a couple of years ago that added another instance of t that used 99% of the cu most of the time. Type it into google with it's .exe extension and you'll get a number of sites come up that explain what the process is, 1 or 2 of them also describe the viral version and what to do about it.

[ade]

ok - for those that give a poo and who also experience the same issue I've sorted the issue -

Basically it turns out it's all to do with Windows Automatic Update.

Apparantly theres a "bug" in the system that basically takes over your computer to prioritise downloading the updates - slowing everything else down.

Try turning off auto updates and see the MASSIVE improvement in your PC's speed!

I found this out after downloading this funky program from Microsoft - it basically breaks down your applications and lets you see what each of the SVCHOST.exe programs is running...

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx

To disable auto updates right click on windows explorer from your desk top - choose manage and you get a window. Click on services and applications toi expand it then click on services. locate and highlight Automatic Updates, right click and choose properties. In the startup type box choose disable.

The turns it off permanently.

Obviously you'll need to visit microsoft every now and again to update your software however your PC will run much faster for the time being!

Apparantly Microsoft have fixed the issue but you need to reset and reload Auto updates to apply the changes. This basically resets the Auto updates so that its active again but should solve the problem. to do this look at and follow the following site.

http://www.amset.info/windows/auto-updates.asp#Reset-Automatic-Updates

NOTE - I havent done the last bit yet so dont hold me responsible if it fails! Also - dont discable any other SVCHOST.exe's unless you know they are viruses or your system will crash!

Ade

[blackjack]

usually occures when using wither nortons / mcafees antivirus along with windows firewall