[terrorist96]

Thank you. But the svchost wasn't always there for me. It only recently showed up. And it eats a crazy amount of RAM. Look at the screenshot I posted in my last post. Doesn't that look a bit excessive? I've seen people who have a lot of svchosts on their computer but mine never had it. Maybe one, but probably not even! And now, all of a sudden, there's more than I can count. My RAM is at like 40% on average and can sometimes reach even 70%+ when I'm actually utilizing my computer's features (i.e. firefox, aim, playing videos, webcamming, etc.)

I thought 64 bit systems were supposed to handle multiple tasks much better than 32. And I thought 4 GB would surely be enough for everyday things without having my computer slowing down.

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Windows NT based machines have a legitmate svchost which if removed will render your machine inoperable.

The legitimate svchost.exe file is always found in \%WINDIR%\System32 or 64bit machines \%WINDIR%\SysWOW64 (WoW64 stands for "Windows on 64-bit Windows", and it contains all the 32-bit binary files required for compatibility, which run on top of the 64 bit) as well. In your mahine's case that would be C:\Windows\System32\svchost.exe and C:\Windows\SysWOW64\svchost.exe . See post #3 in this thread.

If you find it elsewhere then we need to investigate further.

Go to the link below for information on svchost.

http://www.howtogeek...-is-it-running/

This link may also be helpful to you:

http://svchost-exe.net/

Tell me if this answers your query.

[emeraldnzl]

Windows NT based machines have a legitmate svchost which if removed will render your machine inoperable.

The legitimate svchost.exe file is always found in \%WINDIR%\System32 or 64bit machines \%WINDIR%\SysWOW64 (WoW64 stands for "Windows on 64-bit Windows", and it contains all the 32-bit binary files required for compatibility, which run on top of the 64 bit) as well. In your mahine's case that would be C:\Windows\System32\svchost.exe and C:\Windows\SysWOW64\svchost.exe . See post #3 in this thread.

If you find it elsewhere then we need to investigate further.

Go to the link below for information on svchost.

http://www.howtogeek...-is-it-running/

This link may also be helpful to you:

http://svchost-exe.net/

Tell me if this answers your query.

[terrorist96]

Thanks for that. Yeah, I understand. But do you have any idea why they only recently showed up? Like a few weeks ago, they weren't there and my RAM usage was a lot lower. And I've seen some computers (like mine) that don't have any svchosts running or very very few. I'm just curious.

[emeraldnzl]

And I've seen some computers (like mine) that don't have any svchosts running or very very few. I'm just curious.

I am not sure what you are driving at here.

Are you saying you don't believe the svchost is needed on machines like yours?

If so, I think you need to seek advice elswhere.

Maybe you are saying that you believe that svchost should not be so active.

Possible causes of this are malware (which we have run some extensive scans for) or some sort of bug in a recently introduced program reacting with svchost.

As far as malware is concerned you could try this I suppose:

It is a pretty big download at 28mb's but is very useful at detecting\cleaning rootkits or whatever it finds.

Please click here to download AVP Tool by Kaspersky.

• Save it to your desktop.
• Reboot your computer into SafeMode.
  

  You can do this by restarting your computer and continually tapping the F8 key until a menu appears.
  Use your up arrow key to highlight SafeMode then hit enter.

• Double click the setup file to run it.
• Click Next to continue.
• It will by default install it to your desktop folder.Click Next.
• Hit ok at the prompt for scanning in Safe Mode.
• It will then open a box There will be a tab that says Automatic scan.
• Under Automatic scan make sure these are checked.

• System Memory
• Startup Objects
• Disk Boot Sectors.
• My Computer.
• Also any other drives (Removable that you may have)

After that click on Security level then choose Customize then click on the tab that says Heuristic Analyzer then choose Enable Deep rootkit search then choose ok.
Then choose OK again then you are back to the main screen.

• Then click on Scan at the to right hand Corner.
• It will automatically Neutralize any objects found.
• If some objects are left un-neutralized then click the button that says Neutralize all
• If it says it cannot be Neutralized then chooose The delete option when prompted.
• After that is done click on the reports button at the bottom and save it to file, name it Kas.
• Save it somewhere convenient like your desktop and just post only the detected Virus\malware in the report it will be at the very top under Detected post those results in your next reply.
  
  

  Note: This tool will self uninstall when you close it so please save the log before closing it.

[terrorist96]

I'll try this in a few days. I don't have time at the moment. My system seems fine, I suppose. I might need to upgrade my RAM sometime in the future though. I'd hope 8 would be enough..

[emeraldnzl]

Look forward to hearing how you get on.

[terrorist96]

Well, the scan went a little differently than you explained. For one, the file size was like 57MB or something. Anyway, I couldn't tell where the option for the deep scan was so I just went ahead and it found some things in my I: drive which is another flash drive I have that I had plugged in that I probably didn't have plugged in before. It removed it and restarted. Then I realized where the deep root thing was and did a full deep scan with everything to the max. It found nothing, I clicked "report" but I couldn't see any way to save it. But there was nothing there, so I think it's all good.
Thanks again for all the help again. There's still a bunch of svchosts running and right now my RAM is at 32%. I'll just live with it for now. Maybe I'll upgrade sometime in the future. Take care.

[emeraldnzl]

For one, the file size was like 57MB or something.

Hmm... thanks for telling me it's a while since I tested that one. Seems it has changed and I will need to check it out.

But there was nothing there, so I think it's all good.

Sounds good.

There's still a bunch of svchosts running

As I mentioned there is always the possibility of some bug somewhere in a program that is causing svchost to do more work than usual. Something you could check out if it persists maybe.

In any event I think we can be pretty sure it's not being caused by malware and remember it really is normal to have svchosts running.

I will leave this open for a few more days in case any issues arise.

[emeraldnzl]

Since this issue appears to be resolved ... this Topic has been closed. Glad we could help.

If you're the topic starter, and need this topic reopened, please contact a staff member with the address of the thread.

Everyone else please begin a New Topic.