What is svchost.exe

[DennisD]

My son has been having problems with his Laptop recently. Packard Bell running XP SP2.

 

Computer boots up OK, but intermitently, when he trys to activate an application, nothing happens.

 

This includes trying to open anything with windows explorer, including Task Manager.

 

When Task Manager eventually opens, svchost.exe is shown to be using 99% of CPU resources.

 

This lasts for up to a minute or more before applications begin to open normally.

 

Any advice would be appreciated.

[TwistedMetal]

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314056

[DennisD]

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314056

 

Thanks for the quick reply, which explains a lot, including why more than one svchost.exe can be running at the same time.

 

But what could be causing this huge, intermittent use of processing power after boot up, and subsequently this long delay in being able to open any applications.

 

Would be happy to provide any further info if required.

[JDPower]

Have you tried the obvious - virus/malware scan, checkdisk, defrag?

[XanaTos112]

send rridgely a HJT log?bound to be some virus/malware

[DennisD]

He only just arrived back in the UK yesterday, and here about 4.00pm today, UK time.

 

He has Norton 2007 installed, and we`ve scanned with that. Tomorrow will copy over Superantispyware, Adaware, and do another full scan with Norton.

 

I have a feeling though, after reading your replies, that the problem could possibly be due to the state of his hard drive. It`s quite a new laptop, but he recently copied over everything off his girlfriends pc.

 

He ended up with his hard drive being so full (60gb) that he got the message "can`t defrag, not enough free space", or something like that.

 

And using windows defrag tool (analyze) gives a very sorry looking picture. Badly fragmented.

 

Will take a lot off there tomorrow, onto DVD, and then do a defrag, but what would be best for a severely fragmented drive? Windows own tool or maybe JKDefrag.

[JDPower]

And using windows defrag tool (analyze) gives a very sorry looking picture. Badly fragmented.

 

Will take a lot off there tomorrow, onto DVD, and then do a defrag, but what would be best for a severely fragmented drive? Windows own tool or maybe JKDefrag.

That could explain it. I'd go for JKDefrag, not just because I think its better than windows defrag, but mainly cos its so much quicker and you won't have to wait so long for it to complete.

[pwillener]

If you are sure that there is no malware, I would recommend to install this hotfix http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927891; it cures various problems with svchost, i.e. 100% CPU usage during Windows Automatic Updates (or other Windows Installer activities).