Dear group:

Why are there so many svchost.exe running on my PC? Sometimes I see as many as 5 or 6 of these. When I am looking at the Windows Task Manager and looking at th svchost.exe entries and I look under the user name column I see that some of the svchost.exe users are LOCAL SERVICE, NETWORK SERVICE, AND SYSTEM.

Under the CPU column in Task Manager I see that they all use very little percent of the CPU time.

Is this normal?

Thanks for any help!

kerry

Up at the top of the Process names click the words "Image Name". That will place all Processes in Alfabeticle order.

I have 5 in my XP Home Edition.
I guess all of them are just XP crap.

Also some may be Malware, as stated here ----
To find out what each Startup(or Process) item
does or means, and any recommendation as to if you should close the process:
http://www.answersthatwork.com/Task...
Task List Programs
OR
http://www.processlibrary.com/
The Process Library

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314...
A description of Svchost.exe in Windows XP Professional Edition

Dear Chuck 2:

The malware issue is what I am worried about. How can I determine which ones are malware?

Thanks for any help!

kerry

You would need anti-Virus and anti-Spyware Software.

Most Virus and Spyware scans are likely to work better in Windows Safe-Mode.

When I first looked at the task manager to see how many things where listed under running proccesses I freaked out when I like you seen several instances of svchost.exe open ? After doing a google search I was able to relax. After reading that this was normal in a WindowsXP enviroment !
Take Care ,Nick

CTRL-ALT-DEL....
6 of them lill devils running here

Image Name User Name CPU/MemUsage
svchost.exe SYSTEM 0/5,104k
svchost.exe NETWORK SERVICE 0/4,628k
svchost.exe SYSTEM 0/28,564k
svchost.exe NETWORK SERVICE 0/5,836k
svchost.exe LOCAL SERVICE 0/4,732k
svchost.exe SYSTEM 0/4,420k

yeeeeesh !

.
Central Coast NSW Aussie

There are 10 types of people in this world: those who understand binary and those who don't.

Okay, so only operating Windows 2000 and XP Pro can readily check on what dll's and/or exe's that each svchost.exe is running, but for XP Home users, what?

I have ProcessExplorer and it lists a great deal about what's running and affords a properties pane which amongst other details, lists the process's registered Service, Display Name and Path.

I have 7 svchost.exe(s) running on XP Home.

Of them, I found them all to be seemingly valid instances of svchost.exe's, but are they and/or are they all necessary given how my system is used?

I connect using DSL and also use a VoIP service, but moreover I've disabled start ups for...Application Layer Gateway Services, Background Intelligent Transfer, Computer Browser, IDriverT, Enable Install on Demand (Internet Explorer), Install on Demand (Other), QoS RSVP, Remote Packet Capture Protocol v.0, and Routing and Remote Access.

My svchost.exe's (likely standard to most users):

1.) stisvc (Windows Image Acquisition).
2.) FTTPFilter (HTTP SSL).
3.) LmHosts (TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper), SSDPSRV (SSDP Discovery Service), upnphost (Universal Plug and Play Device Host), and WebClient (WebClient).
4.) Dnscache (DNS Client).
5.) AudioSrv (Windows Sudio), CryptSvc (Cryptograhpic Services), Dhcp (DHCP Client), dmserver (Logical Disk Manager), EventSystem (COM+ Event System), helpsvc (Help and Support), HidServ (HIS Input Service), Irmon (Infrared Monitor), Ianmanserver (Server), Netman (Network COnnections), Nla (Network Location Awareness), NtmsSvc (Removablke Storage), RasAuto (Remote Access Auto COnnection Manager), RasMan (Remote Access COnnection Manager), seclogon (Secondary Logon), SENS (System Event Notification), Shared Access (Windows Firewall/Internet Connection Sharing), ShellHWDetection (Shell Hardware Detection), srservice (System Restore Service), TapiSrv (Telephony), Themes (Themes), winmgmt (Windows Management Instrumentation), wscsvs (Security Center), WZCSVC (Wireless Zero COnfiguration).
6.) RpcSs (Remote Procedure Call).
7.) DcomLaunch (DCOM Server Process Launcher) and TermService (Terminal Services).

Do those all look reasonably jake?

Regards and hap-e-trails, Steve Hopper

ATTENTION* You guys the solution to stop so many svchost.exe from running, You have to stop services you don't need in the windows services folder in control panel. But before you stop services, Type your O.S in the search bar, for example if you have windows xp home edition, Type in services i don't need for windows xp home edition. Its best to stop the service and then choose the manual setting instead of disable. I had 5 svchost.exe running i stoped services i dont need and now i have 2 running.

My Regards

Thanks for reply.

Myself and likely many others do trim down the wastefulness of XP. We do remove 30 to 40% of its needless startup executables.

Posts here are seeking expertise regarding the issue of svchost.exe basically getting a free pass within all AV software.

Users are prudent to look into what is running in task mgr and our posts are seeking advice from the advanced forum members so as to share what users can do about reigning in unaccountable exe's that run on the OS.

Regards and hap-e-trails, Steve Hopper