svchost.exe
Thread Starter
Chieftan o'the Pudden Race
Joined: Nov 1997
Posts: 826
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From: Scotland usually, and often other parts of Europe
svchost.exe
Here is an interesting one.
A naughty little process is jamming up my system. If I connect to the internet this svchost.exe ramps up my CPU usage to 100% and effectively gums up the pc. If I remain isolated from the net all runs normally. I have checked for outgoing traffic, but things seem fairly normal, so I don't think there is any hacking going on.
Ending the process disables a bunch of other things like volume control, media players and screws up the desktop display etc etc.
I have tried the usual things, running virus scanners (AVG & Norton) and scanned the registry with Registry Mechanic, Tune Up Utilities and RegCure. Each one has found different problems but none has solved this one.
Would anyone have any ideas what might be going on and how to fix this rather annoying little problem?
A naughty little process is jamming up my system. If I connect to the internet this svchost.exe ramps up my CPU usage to 100% and effectively gums up the pc. If I remain isolated from the net all runs normally. I have checked for outgoing traffic, but things seem fairly normal, so I don't think there is any hacking going on.
Ending the process disables a bunch of other things like volume control, media players and screws up the desktop display etc etc.
I have tried the usual things, running virus scanners (AVG & Norton) and scanned the registry with Registry Mechanic, Tune Up Utilities and RegCure. Each one has found different problems but none has solved this one.
Would anyone have any ideas what might be going on and how to fix this rather annoying little problem?
Official PPRuNe Chaplain
Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 3,498
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From: Witnesham, Suffolk
svchost.exe is a facility that supports other software. You could have anything up to half a dozen examples of it running. It isn't the problem - you need to know what package is using it.
If it's using 100% of CPU, I would suspect a nasty. Do you have AVG, SpyBot, etc running?
If it's using 100% of CPU, I would suspect a nasty. Do you have AVG, SpyBot, etc running?
Thread Starter
Chieftan o'the Pudden Race
Joined: Nov 1997
Posts: 826
Likes: 0
From: Scotland usually, and often other parts of Europe
At the last count I had 6 svchost.exe instances active.(2 Local Services, 2 Network Services and 2 System) I know that svchost can cover a multitude of sins, but I am running XP Home, which doesn't have the command line tasklist /svc available so I cannot see exactly what services are running underneath.
I have run both AVG and Norton to check for virus infection with no result. I have used three different registry scanners, again with no result.
I have used Adaware (pro) to check for anything and again the system sees to be clean.
I have checked ports for any outgoing traffic and there does not seem to be anything untoward on that front.
I have an HP Pavillion laptop with a Celeron 1.3MHz processor (yeah I know
) 60Gb disk and 2Gb of RAM
I have run both AVG and Norton to check for virus infection with no result. I have used three different registry scanners, again with no result.
I have used Adaware (pro) to check for anything and again the system sees to be clean.
I have checked ports for any outgoing traffic and there does not seem to be anything untoward on that front.
I have an HP Pavillion laptop with a Celeron 1.3MHz processor (yeah I know
) 60Gb disk and 2Gb of RAM
Joined: Feb 2006
Aviation Qualifications: LAME
Posts: 1,129
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From: Station 42
Are you using Firefox as a browser, Fly? I had a similar problem a few months ago after updating to a new version. When I went back to Version 2.0.0.1 the lock-ups stopped.
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 62
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From: UK
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 405
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From: 18A
I've had this a few times,so has my other half.We both just end the process and all is fine,but it usually seems to crop up after starting the laptop up & when it automatically connects to the internet. Will try turning off automatic updates,thanks for that 
Administrator
Joined: Mar 2001
Aviation Qualifications: PPL
Posts: 8,121
Likes: 686
From: Twickenham, home of rugby
Process Explorer from MS here really is much better than TaskMan, so just download and install it, then you can see exactly what is going on.
I had a problem with a NetGear PCI wifi card - PE helped identify the problem.
SD
I had a problem with a NetGear PCI wifi card - PE helped identify the problem.
SD
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 62
Likes: 0
From: UK
Thread Starter
Chieftan o'the Pudden Race
Joined: Nov 1997
Posts: 826
Likes: 0
From: Scotland usually, and often other parts of Europe
Ahhh, that Automatic Update rubbish...
Microsoft. Dontchajustluvem?
Thanks for the Process Explorer tip
I disabled the auto update and all is sweet and pleasant on the laptop again. After my adventures over the last weekend with Vista, the future looks increasingly Apple.
Many thanks for all the replies, I appreciate that you took the trouble to answer my question when I could have used the Search function
Microsoft. Dontchajustluvem?
Thanks for the Process Explorer tip
I disabled the auto update and all is sweet and pleasant on the laptop again. After my adventures over the last weekend with Vista, the future looks increasingly Apple.
Many thanks for all the replies, I appreciate that you took the trouble to answer my question when I could have used the Search function
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 224
Likes: 0
From: Deepest Europe...
I had a similar experience recently on my laptop; turned out it was the laptop's own driver/bios update-checking software that was causing the ridiculously high CPU load (and associated temperatures.) For anyone else having the same problem, that sort of software might be something to check if turning off Windows Auto-Update doesn't work.
