svchost.exe

[Allen]

Every now and again my PC slows right down and it's starting to pee me right off. If I'm in a game the FPS will drop from 40-50 down to about 1-2 and if I'm in Windows it can take 1-2 mins for programs like IE/FF or even Windows Explorer to respond and show the contents. However, music is not affected and plays continuously even when these other programs are suffering.

So, I've checked the Task Manager a few times when I get this slow down and it seems that every time svchost.exe is running with a high CPU and memory usage. Here's an example:



I have AVG 7.5 installed and it picks up nothing. Ad-Aware and Spybot S&D also pick up nothing. Also, this is a fresh(ish) install, only about 2 weeks old. Does anyone have any ideas what it could be? It's getting to a point where I'm pulling my hair out!! (and I don't have that much to spare)

[jackvdbuk]

http://www.liutilities.com/products/...brary/svchost/

i just checked mine and have 6 running ... bit confused tbh

[kidzer]

That process is (as far as my limited understanding goes) just a 'container' if you will, for Windows Services to run. Run 'services.msc' and try disabling any services you are sure you dont need if you want a quick and not very precise way to try and solve the problem - odd that svchost is using so much RAM, I have 6 running justnow, the one using the most RAM is using around 18MiB, not 122ish MiB!

[mikerr]

run this from a command (dos) window to show the services attached to each "svchost":

tasklist /SVC

[timread]

Most cases of an svchost process running at 100%, are either due to a Windows Update wuauclt.exe child process having problems (let's be honest, Windows Update hobbles most PCs when it's checking for updates); OR a malware infection cloaking itself with a known Microsoft process name.

In your case, seeing as you've got AV and anti-spyware, I reckon it's the former.

Have you downloaded and installed all available Windows Updates (and I assume you're running a genuine copy of XP)?

Process Explorer by Mark Russinovich (download from MS) will show you the process tree.

The best way to fix this, assuming you're running a genuine copy, is to go to http://www.microsoft.com/genuine/diag and run the WGA Diag tool. There's also an MGA diag tool.

OR turn off Windows Update from automatically running, which I don't recommend.

I really, really, REALLY wish MS would fix WGA and Windows Update. This issue has been wasting people's CPU time for over a year - I don't know why they don't sort it out.

[Allen]

Thanks for the replies all.

mikerr - I should've mentioned I have XP Home, that command doesn't work on Home.

timread - awesome info, thanks! I do have a geniune copy of XP, the MS website has verified my cope is genuine. I didn't see anything else in that link about a WGA Diag tool, unless all it does is check if your copy is genuine. However, I have downloaded that Process Explorer (looks pretty handy in finding a culprit) and next time my computer slows down that'll be the first thing I check! Here's hoping it brings me a result!

[Steve]

If your music keeps playing it could be the svchost process attached to a component of your sound driver... I believe there is one.

Try killing it and see if your sound still works

[nichomach]

We've had fairly hideous problems with svchost crapping out on a few machines here; turned off Automatic Update via services applet, hit Microsoft Update, installed updates manually, turned AU back on again.

[timread]

Allen, the site link I posted should install both the Windows Genuine Advantage and Office Genuine Advantage ActiveX controls, and then run both these tools against your system and give you the results. I assume you passed all the diagnostics?

An older tool was the Microsoft Genuine Advantage diagnostics tool, which you can get from here: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=52012

Also, nichomach's solution has a nice elegance to it - the PC will usually sort itself out this way - sometimes you have to leave Microsoft Update running for about 10 minutes before it decides it needs the 892130 (WGA) update. The MS article on this patch just refers you back to the Genuine Advantage pages http://support.microsoft.com/kb/892130

[bledd]

its windows updates, some people have this problem

you can use Process Explorer from microsoft/sysinternals to see that it is automatic updates that is doing it

i've put 3 hotfixes into this exe file (it'll extract them when you double click it), try installing them, they're supposed to fix the problem (install them in KB chronilogical order -ie smallest number first)

http://bleddyn.co.uk/svchost.exe

-edit, think i read somewhere it's to do with the massive ammount of cat files that it has to trawl through whilst scanning your pc
-double edit, timread has the right idea

[Steve]

bledd, I'd rather you linked to zip files rather than executables, as all XP users can read them... and 7-zip can create them

[bledd]

i see what you're saying (because it's an exe), i use this pack to fix the problems, and don't have to mess around with zips, it just extracts it quickly