[drater66]

Hey guys, so I have two PCs that at various times I’ve had to have complete reinstalls. I had a guy (friend of a friend) do it as a side job. Now they both have something running that is eating up all my CPU, the task manager shows it running in “svchost.exe”, I’ve searched and tried several ways to see what exactly is running within this, but haven’t been able to figure it out? If I end the process it doesn’t seem to affect anything else, but I’d like to fix it.

The computers are both Dell Dimensions with Pentium 4 and have been upgraded to WindowsXP.

Thanks
-Justin

[Advertisements]

Go here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310353
Follow the manual instructions to set your computer to run in a clean boot state. Then reboot, and see if svchost.exe is eating up your CPU. Also, what security suite are you running (Avast, Norton, etc.) ?

[edge2022]

Go here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310353
Follow the manual instructions to set your computer to run in a clean boot state. Then reboot, and see if svchost.exe is eating up your CPU. Also, what security suite are you running (Avast, Norton, etc.) ?

[drater66]

It didn't seem to be doing it in clean mode. Now i'm back to normal and it's doing in again.

I'm running "Microsoft Security Essentials", I had actually removed it for awhile thinking it was the issue but still had the same problem.

[Macboatmaster]

Have a look at this please.
Then post back if you need further help.
In any event pls post a result or a reply.

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

Edited by Macboatmaster, 12 November 2010 - 06:16 PM.

[edge2022]

The next step would be to isolate the service or services that cause svchost to hog up CPU time.
Using the instructions from the link that Macboatmaster gave, find out the the service(s) that are running on the svchost process that is overwhelming the CPU.
Once you know the service(s) disable them on msconfig, and let us know which ones you discovered were causing the problem.

[Macboatmaster]

edge2022
I hope you do not mind me coming back in here, but my advice would be to stop them or change them to manual using "services.msc" at the run on Start., rather than in msconfig.

drater66
The above does not apply to startup list
You may wish to use Startup Lite the link is here
http://www.malwareby...startuplite.php
that is for the startup items on msconfig

and you may wish to use this for the services.
http://www.blackvipe.../servicecfg.htm

ADVICE - establish a restore point before altering services etc.
START
Programs
Accessories
System Tools
System Restore
Create Restore point.

Edited by Macboatmaster, 12 November 2010 - 06:53 PM.

[drater66]

Ok using Process Explorer i think i've determind that it's "DNS Client [Dnscache]" that's using up my CPU. I don't have any time to go any further now, but once i get home, i'll look on that computer and see if it's the same.

From what i Googled DNS Client handles my cache, any issues in turning it off? And any idea why it wasn't an issue till the reinstal?

Thanks
-Justin

[edge2022]

Nice Macboatmaster I never know about StartupLite. I'll look into it.

Drater88, I suggest you change the service status using services.msc
For some reason, I always seem to lean towards msconfig for everything, even though it may not be the best tool for the job.

The DNS Client service is not necessary for DNS lookups ,so you should be able to use the Internet with it disabled. But if you have to repair your connection with Windows, it requires this service.
The service caches DNS lookups, and is thus not necessary. Try opening cmd.exe and giving the command: ipconfig /flushdns See if that alleviates the problem with svchost.

I suggest you run namebench: http://code.google.c.../downloads/list
Use the DNS servers it recommends so that you can navigate to web pages faster.

[Macboatmaster]

If you do as I suggested and go to the link for the services you can see the answer to your question regarding DNS on the page, it is listed on the services.


You may also use this site to check all your services settings
http://www.theelderg.../dns_client.htm

Edited by Macboatmaster, 13 November 2010 - 08:25 AM.