svchost.exe and its lifestory

[Thinkto urself]

I checked my processes today to end the steam client (you'll know what I mean if you use Steam alot) because it stopped working. Then I noticed something wierd.

Do I usually have that many svchost.exe's?
Vista 32bit SP1
8500 GT 1GIGRam

Someone post an explanation.

[The Philanthropist]

Svchost.exe is a system process belonging to the Microsoft Windows Operating System which handles processes executed from DLLs. This program is important for the stable and secure running of your computer and should not be terminated.

copypasted ^^

It depends on the amount of DLL files being called at that time to how many svchosts you have running. It's a programming thing.

[Thinkto urself]

I've never had so many of these things running at once, I've only been running Opera, Winamp, and Steam since I started the comp.

[a-4-year-old]

steam works fine for me, you just have vista.

Also yes I have several svchost running.

[The Philanthropist]

I've never had so many of these things running at once, I've only been running Opera, Winamp, and Steam since I started the comp.

Yeah, but Windows itself uses dlls, so the svchost is there to handle everything.

[jrgp]

Yes, it's normal to see a bunch of the same processes running on a Windows computer, depending on what the process is. This is one of those processes, along with rundll32.exe, explorer.exe, and many more.

Example, just going into my mom's computer shows me this:

[shantec]

Yep... i think so.
I have 7 SVCHOSTs running...

Just wondering why windows need so many >.<

[jrgp]

Just wondering why windows need so many >.<

Windows' internals are concurrently using each instance for a different purpose.

[Blue-ninja]

I don't find that annoying, but what I do find annoying is that if the printer is unable to print anything, the spools.exe processes take up about 99% of the CPU.

[Hair|Trigger]

my svchost.exe often uses 100% of my CPU on my XP computer.  I usually just axe it when it does.

[shantec]

I don't find that annoying, but what I do find annoying is that if the printer is unable to print anything, the spools.exe processes take up about 99% of the CPU.

I've killed that program ages ago i think..
And, my computer still works fine

(also, what is that spools.exe thing? <.<)

[jrgp]

(also, what is that spools.exe thing? <.<)

It's a print manager.

[Antipathy]

This topic is now about process lists. Geeky, huh? 

[~Niko~]

6 svchost's running at same time... and I used to have 4 as max. But having so many at once is quite strange. Try looking for more svchost's on your computer and take a look if they are on the right folder. I smell trojans, viruses... lots.

[Dairy]

Oh crap, quite a long time ago (1/2 year and more) I always hated those. When I saw my PC is lagging and saw them in the TASK MANAGER I automaticly turned them off. Well, I bet I did mistake. ...whatever.

[PQ]

You should check what port they're using.

It doesn't have to be bad at all.

[a-4-year-old]

You should check what port they're using.

they aren't using any ports, internet connection is not their function.

You're all overreacting.

[jrgp]

You're all overreacting.

Indeed they all are.

If any of these programs really posed a problem, you'd notice something blatantly annoying and/or your virus scanner would detect it soon enough.