# scvhost.exe help!



## Dahguns (Apr 18, 2009)

*svchost.exe help!*

If anybody knows what svchost.exe is and can help me get rid of it plz reply!  Darn thing uses up all my CPU and freezes my laptop.  I've ran my anti-virus software, anti-malware software, and anti-spybot software and nuttin'.  Any help is much appreciated.
-Dahguns

PS-Hope I posted this in the right place =)


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## SnowFox (Apr 18, 2009)

Is it really s*cv*host.exe and not s*vc*host.exe? If it's the second one it's more likely to be the real windows process, and might be looking for windows updates when it uses all your CPU (it does it to me anyway). If it's the first one then it's probably a virus of some sort. A google search says it's Wiretap spyware.


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## Dahguns (Apr 18, 2009)

second one....its svchost.exe (curse my dyslexia)
when i open up task manager it says like 8 of those things are running....i can't end the processes or else it gives me a "warning computer shutting down" window.


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## Runefox (Apr 18, 2009)

svchost.exe is a program that runs Windows services inside of it - It is a program that runs and manages other programs. These programs are used by Windows to provide things like networking, sound, your themes, and so on - Killing them will kill those services. It's possible to reduce the number of svchost.exe's running by disabling Windows services, but unless you know what you're doing, this isn't recommended. Typically, svchost.exe and the services running inside them are necessary for normal operation of your computer, and disabling some of these services can cause unwanted results if you aren't sure what's what.

It's also possible that the svchost.exe in question is a virus or a piece of spyware - In many cases, these try to make themselves look like a part of Windows. Depending on your antivirus/antimalware applications, you may or may not find them - These typically would fall under the rootkit category, with extra layers of protection against being removed.

If you're absolutely sure that your computer is _not_ infected, then it may be something like the Windows Search Indexer or something similar to it that's causing the issue. When did this start happening?


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## Pi (Apr 18, 2009)

Use Process Explorer instead of Task Mangler. It knows how to look inside svchost and see what, specifically, is pegging your CPU.


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## Dahguns (Apr 18, 2009)

about a week ago....not sure why but I gotta reboot my laptop 9000!!!! times a day, just doesn't stop freezing up.
well I thought this could be a quick fix, next stop is my universities computer help store.
I might have a virus even though nothing is detected at all.  who knows


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## Carenath (Apr 18, 2009)

I've found through experience, that if you browse Task-Manager, and click the CPU tab so that the processes consuming the most CPU get listed on the top... you'll notice just one instance of svchost.exe will be greedy. Kill that one and it will temporarily solve the problem. If the shutdown warning does come up... you can abort it before the timer runs out by typing:
shutdown -a at the command prompt.

As Pi said, use Process Explorer (from the SysInternals guys) to see which application is eating your CPU next time it happens. It might be a virus, or some other nasty application that's gotten itself running as a process.. or trying to look like a legit windows programme... then again it might just be a runaway service.


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## Irreverent (Apr 18, 2009)

Dahguns, try this: open a CMD box and type "tasklist /svc"  this will enumerate all of the instances of scvhost.exe are running, and break out all of the processes that are running inside them.

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


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## Dahguns (Apr 19, 2009)

Car- tried it, worked for awhile before complete failure 
Rev- tried it too, same result.
maybe its just time for a new hard drive....again (about every 7-8 months it comes down with some illness)
I am never buying from Dell every again.
Thanks for your help but i think i'm beating a dead horse now.


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## SnowFox (Apr 19, 2009)

Dahguns said:


> Car- tried it, worked for awhile before complete failure
> Rev- tried it too, same result.
> maybe its just time for a new hard drive....again (about every 7-8 months it comes down with some illness)
> I am never buying from Dell Microsoft every again.
> Thanks for your help but i think i'm beating a dead horse now.



I wouldn't resort to buying a new hard drive. At worst all you would need to do is reinstall windows, you don't need new hardware. Get Process Explorer like Pi suggested. If it's a real windows process it should be running from C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe. If you mouseover the one that's hogging your cpu it should list the windows services that it's running. I would guess it's most likely to be the one that's running automatic updates. Go to start->run and type in *services.msc* and look for automatic updates (or any other service shown in process explorer) right click and stop. If that doesn't help restart it and try the next one on the list until you find which one it is. Here's what I have enabled/disabled on mine. It wont let you disable any really critical services, but be aware that you might end up switching something off that you might need.


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## Dahguns (Apr 19, 2009)

well i stopped automatic updates via services.msc (thx for that tip Snow)
so far...actually so good, but im not partying just yet
and here is what Process Explorer looked like, can't say i know what any of it means (im terrible with computers)
http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/6923/process.png
I usually start to freeze up when some sort of media is being played and it gets stuck in a loop, or when i log out and close the lid the screen wont turn back on....so well see if nothing happens for the rest of the day


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## SnowFox (Apr 19, 2009)

Yeah you'll probably just have to wait and see. If it is automatic updates that's doing it, I have a registry hack somewhere that changes the interval between it checking, so at least you could set it so it doesn't happen that often. But if it's going on almost constantly then maybe it isn't automatic updates after all :?

Not sure why playing media would affect it unless you're playing videos and have some bad codecs and/or a rubbish onboard graphics chip.

Also, it may not be related, but you seem to have quite a few things running in that screenshot that probably don't need to be there.


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## Dahguns (Apr 19, 2009)

Nope, didnt work lol.


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## SnowFox (Apr 19, 2009)

If you go to go to view->select columns and check the command line box, can you see which of them it is that's running at 100%? If you click on the "Process" title you can get it to sort alphabetically so you can see them all next to each other.

Like this


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## X (Apr 19, 2009)

are you getting the blue screen (BSOD) as well?


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## Dahguns (Apr 20, 2009)

no blue screen, just freezes...after all this talk im starting to think it's something more then this CPU eating svchost.exe.....im off to the computer lab soon for full diagnostics
thx for everybodies input!


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## Irreverent (Apr 20, 2009)

Let us know how that diagnostic turns out, it will help close the loop.


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## SnowFox (Apr 20, 2009)

Take all your furry porn off it before you let anyone rummage around on your computer.


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## Dahguns (Apr 20, 2009)

SnowFox said:


> Take all your furry porn off it before you let anyone rummage around on your computer.


goddamnit.....i knew it.....i knew some1 was gonna say that.
Not everybody saves porn on there computer lol



on another note, the diagnostics wont happen for a few days.  College semester is coming to an end and (being a history major) ive got a butt load of papers to write.  Dont have time to have my laptop in the shop.


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## X (Apr 21, 2009)

try scheduling a disk check if you have a windows machine.

go to:

>my computer
>>right click on your main hard drive icon
>>>click properties
>>>>click the tools tab
>>>>>click the error checking option. 

it will check for hard drive errors the next time you start your pc.


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## Lethe5683 (Apr 21, 2009)

Dahguns said:


> no blue screen, just freezes...after all this talk im starting to think it's something more then this CPU eating svchost.exe.....im off to the computer lab soon for full diagnostics
> thx for everybodies input!


Ironically I work at a university computer lab help desk and someone came in today with a similar problem... it wasen't you was it?


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## Dahguns (Apr 21, 2009)

nope...I go to Akron


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