svchost

Big Chris · 8 May 2007 at 20:29

Right, I can't search for previous threads as the search option seems to have buggered off for the moment.

Done a quick Google but I didn't really follow the results I got.

For the last week or so, my machine is completely tied up for about 5mins having logged onto XP by up to four instances of svchost.exe, if I kill the one taking all the CPU then everything goes back to normal, just wondered if it's something I should be worried about or could cure easily?

Any advice appreciated, thanks guys

flying grouse · 8 May 2007 at 20:56

are you looking for the right or wrong problem, this website has a log of processes that is legitimate... www.neuber.com/taskmanager/process/index.html maybe this is connected to a bit of software you have running or spyware.......svchost is a part of windows, and is not a problem unless it is associated with a virus or spyware.
perhaps you can give us a more detailed post of your spec and PC problem

Big Chris · 8 May 2007 at 21:04

It's not much of a problem as such, like I said it just takes near enough 100% of the available CPU until I end the process, then everything goes back to normal.

PC is getting on a bit:

AMD Barton 2500XP
1GB RAM
Windows XP SP2

Just wondered if there was a quick fix or something I could tweak to stop it from happening.

Will check the link though, thanks.

flying grouse · 8 May 2007 at 21:18

the age of your pc doesn't matter, but if there is a process that is hogging your pc that is!

Have you any spyware/antivirus program that you have ran to cure or locate problem, and if so try and use this in "safemode" on your pc.

.walls · 8 May 2007 at 21:22

svchost.exe is a generic service launcher for NT based Windows and as such really shouldn't be killed... It is used to run lots of things from networking components to windows update.

I've heard of it (and seen it) using stupid amounts of processor on both of these before - there is a hotfix for the latter... however, you have to contact MS for it and therefore, it's a very good idea to make sure this is the issue first - try disabling automatic updates and restarting your computer - see if that makes a difference.

The other time I saw it was on a web server running IIS 6 - but I wasn't looking after that (at the time!), so I never found out what the fix was... but I doubt you're running IIS on your XP box...

EDIT:

or try some of these

flying grouse · 8 May 2007 at 21:53

have a look at this page http://www.neuber.com/taskmanager/process/svchost.exe.html

but don't kill a process in task manager before you know why

Vai · 8 May 2007 at 22:17

I had an issue with this at work, it is a problem with Automatic Updates (if you disable the AU service the problem will go away), so first install the hotfix from that link. There is a new hotfix which is freely available from Microsoft which is better than the old one.

However that only fixes half the problem, you also need to install the new Windows update client that was released a few days ago.

[edit]
http://download.windowsupdate.com/v7/windowsupdate/redist/standalone/WindowsUpdateAgent30-x86.exe
http://download.windowsupdate.com/v7/windowsupdate/redist/standalone/WindowsUpdateAgent30-x64.exe

jaric · 8 May 2007 at 23:29

You could give Process Explorer a try. It works similar to Task Manager but gives you loads more info. You can check each instance of svchost and see which service or dll file is hogging the CPU.

mike1210 · 9 May 2007 at 08:13

Vai said:
I had an issue with this at work, it is a problem with Automatic Updates (if you disable the AU service the problem will go away), so first install the hotfix from that link. There is a new hotfix which is freely available from Microsoft which is better than the old one.

However that only fixes half the problem, you also need to install the new Windows update client that was released a few days ago.

[edit]
http://download.windowsupdate.com/v7/windowsupdate/redist/standalone/WindowsUpdateAgent30-x86.exe
http://download.windowsupdate.com/v7/windowsupdate/redist/standalone/WindowsUpdateAgent30-x64.exe

seconded, we also had this problem in my work and that fixed it

Stonedofmoo · 10 May 2007 at 18:56

Vai said:
I had an issue with this at work, it is a problem with Automatic Updates (if you disable the AU service the problem will go away), so first install the hotfix from that link. There is a new hotfix which is freely available from Microsoft which is better than the old one.

However that only fixes half the problem, you also need to install the new Windows update client that was released a few days ago.

[edit]
http://download.windowsupdate.com/v7/windowsupdate/redist/standalone/WindowsUpdateAgent30-x86.exe
http://download.windowsupdate.com/v7/windowsupdate/redist/standalone/WindowsUpdateAgent30-x64.exe

I love you :cool:

Both my laptop and PC at home have been virtually unusable for the past 2 or 3 days thanks to Automatic Updates using all the CPU. The updates WindowsUpdate Agent you linked to above fixed the problem for me.

Many, many thanks