svchost.exe (Generic Host Process for Win32 Services) is a generic "slave" program that is commonly used by other programs to do some things in XP. Some of the instances of svchost.exe are used by services essential to Windows, and if you shut them down, Windows must shut down. That is NORMAL. If you search your C drive for all instances of svchost.exe you should have svchost.exe in C:\Windows\System32 and C:\Windows\System32\DLLCache of exactly the same time, date, size and if you RIGHT click on the file you will see it is called "Generic Host Process for Win32 Services" and is the same version in both cases. Certain Microsoft updates may add a newer version in C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download\xxxxxxxx which will have a newer date, time, and be a different size, and if you RIGHT click on the file you will see it is called still called "Generic Host Process for Win32 Services" and is a slightly newer version. If you have installed a Service Pack update (e.g. SP1 or SP2) you may also have svchost.exe in C:\.....ServicePackFiles......., and it will ALSO be "Generic Host Process for Win32 Services" of the same or a slighly newer version as the others. If you do not find svchost.exe on your C drive in places other than those, whatever problem you are having is NOT caused by svchost.exe itself. To see what programs are using the legitimate instances of svchost.exe Start - Run - type: cmd (press Enter) then type: c:\windows\system32\tasklist.exe /svc (press Enter) Maximize the window if you need to, to see all of the results. Examples of programs you may see listed response 40 in this; my evaluation of that response 45 of this: http://www.computing.net/windowsxp/... ....... "I am wondering if the virus is or not resident in the boot sector, becouse I find it very strange that it resisted to a reformatting operation" If you have an up to date antivirus program running all the time, it is extremely unlikely you have a boot sector virus. Boot sector viruses are relatively rare these days in any case. If you have malware at all, it is more likely to be a worm or a trojan. "....I find it very strange that it resisted to a reformatting operation" What problem(s) did you have when you tried to do that? "I am also wondering if it would be necessary to apply the "fdisk /mbr" command before reinstalling the system again..." It wouldn't hurt, as long as you're not using what is generically called "dynmic overlay" software to access the full size of your hard drive because your bios can't see the whole drive, but you have provided no proof you have a boot sector virus.

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Well, what should I say... Thank you... What problem I had? - The problem is that little windw that activates the shut down process!! And everywhere on the net they say that this is a clear sign of "Sasser" or "Blaster" viruses... But, I've scaned my disk several times with different programs, as I already said, and nothing... This is the problem. And now I am suspecting all the sticks I've inserted in my computer and all the DVDs I've burned, of being infected... But... still... Now, I would try applying that "fdisk /mbr" command, but I am afraid of losing all the partitions of both HDDs... So, firstly, I will save all my files from the other partitions and after that, eventually, I will apply that command, formatting everything and repartitioning... I am pretty sure that I've become obsessed... But, being aware of that ... still, it is a good sign... :) mici

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THERE IS NOTHING WRONG!! If it ain't broke don't fix it!!

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"What problem I had? - The problem is that little windw that activates the shut down process!! " That's not enough information - you must describe the exact problem you are having. If you're having problems shutting down the computer that can be caused by all sorts of things and that is unlikely to be caused by malware. None of what you have told us so far justifies running fdisk /mbr. XP does not have the fdisk program in any case. It has the fixmbr command that accomplishes the same thing, which you must use in the Recovery Console mode. Either method re-writes only the tiny amount of data in the master boot record - it does not do anything to the data elsewhere on the hard drive.

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