When you open the Windows Task Manager, there are several processes that you will immediately recognize. Then there will be a number of which you will have no clue. The Svchost.exe process is probably the most common process on the list and probably the hardest one to track down. Consider the cause and effect of this process that seems to overwhelm so many others.
Svchost.exe is NOT malware
That’s usually the first worry when you can’t decipher what it’s all about. But it’s definitely not a virus, although sometimes malware tries to disguise itself as a virus and attack the machine. Svchost.exe is a Microsoft Service Server Process. Microsoft says this is a generic stored procedure name for services that run from dynamically linked libraries.
In simpler terms, svchost.exe is a system file that allows Windows to launch other programs. Many Windows processes are run through DLLs (Dynamic Linked Libraries). But the DLLs can’t get up and running on their own. The Windows operating system needs an executable program that can act as a bridge to launch these DLLs. The svchost.exe file is that ‘bridge’
To handle all the processes running the different DLL, svchost.exe creates multiple instances of itself. Therefore, Windows resources are better utilized when several DLL services run as a group in a single svchost file.
But why do we see so many of them?
It’s actually quite reasonable considering that svchost.exe is a vital component of Windows. If every process runs under one svchost.exe, the failure can lead to system-wide problems. So every service is detached with a logical instance of svchost.exe running that service.
Each instance of svchost.exe is a ‘server’ for DLLs running various services on Windows. For example, one svchost.exe process might be running network services, another might be handling your desktop threads.
Identify processes
Which services are running under which particular svchost.exe process will be helpful if you are looking for peace of mind and also to optimize your system resources by disabling those that are not needed. There are two easy ways to identify svchost processes.
1. Using the command line: Open the Run box from Start and type CMD to bring up the command terminal. Type tasklist /SVC at the prompt. You can see all the dynamic libraries that svchost.exe is running.
The problem with this approach is that the processes are still not in plain, easy-to-understand English. For that, let’s move on to the second method.
2. Use Process Explorer: Process Explorer is a nice little utility that you can run directly from a ZIP file. Run the standalone program and then you can bookmark individual processes and see exactly what each process is doing. You can hover over each process to see details.
We hope this article has shed some light on the svchost.exe process and helped you understand it better.
If you’d like more information and share what you know about the svchost.exe process in Windows, you can join us in the comments.
Categories: How to
Source: thpttranhungdao.edu.vn/en/
