Ungodly amount of svchost.exe running?

I'm looking at my Task Manager and it says that I have 15 svchost.exe running right now. What's up with that? Is there a way to decrease the number of them running?


Is there some sort of PC tune-up that I can run that will make things run smoother and get rid of some useless crap?



Also, on a side note, I've noticed lately that my computer has been acting up some (running slower, graphics card crashing), but I've scanned up, spyware sweeped, crap cleaned it, and its not finding anything. I can't figure out what's up.

 

It's normal to have a lot of copies of svchost running at the same time. However, from what it sounds like, it's time for a clean install for you.

 

If you have THAT many running... Perhaps some are viruses? I'm running 6 copies of it, myself.

 

SVCHost is the generic process responsible for running a lot of the underlying windows services that it needs to run.
I currently have 7 instances of it. And i've tweaked my services list to not run several default things.
You can see what they are running by opening a command prompt and typing "tasklist /svc"

15 instances sounds a little excessive. and if your computer is running slow with no apparent reasons, Lithus could be right about the clean install.

 

svchost I believe runs system services. You can run "services.msc" to configure which services you want. See blackviper.com for guides on what to enable/disable.

 

I have 13. Clean Install Time for me too?

[Vista's clunky at times, but once it starts sailing I don't have much trouble]

 

I clean install once every 4 months or so. When you want to clean install is completely up to you.

 

Well, here's the big question... how do I clean install?

And do I lose ALL my programs?

Also, I don't have any Vista CDs to clean install, or at least I can't find them.

 

Happen to have a recovery partition? Symantec Restore? Anything akin to it?

What notebook do you have? [lol, should've asked that first]

 

Grab an Anytime Upgrade disc and follow Orev's Guide.

You lose everything - that's why it's called "clean". Installing from a recovery partition or recovery discs usually means that you get a bloated install with all the factory bloatware intact.

 

Just image your OS when you're happy with it, and revert when necessary, it's really that simple.

 

I have an Inspiron 1520 with Vista Business.

From what it appears, a clean install is very complex and difficult to do. I may have to wait till Christmas break to do it.

And what do you mean scooberdoober?

 

all you need is about 4-5 hours...and its really easy compared to any other operating system to reinstall.

 

I've always had a problem with relying on images. Failure rate is too high for me to rely on it.

 

I'm just afraid of REALLY screwing it up.

Is this a good guide to go by? http://www.davescomputertips.com/Newsletters/20070715.php#2 It makes it seem easier and includes pics.

But nowhere in the instructions do I see him uninstall Vista. What's up with that?

 

You format the disc when you clean install...

It might be best if you just stick with using the recovery discs.

 

You just reformat the drive, no need to uninstall anything.

 

You can use a freeware imaging software, or a payed one to make an exact replica of your system, and back it up. Then when you feel the need, simply reinstall the image and your done. Do some googling for more info on the subject, it's great!

 

But I don't think my laptop came with any recovery discs (unless it is the "Drivers and Utilities" disc.

That guide made it sound simple enough. The only hard thing seems like it is finding and burning the recovery DVDs from the recovery partition.

Also, when you clean install does the recovery partition stay partitioned, or do you have to re-do that yourself?

 

What imaging software have you had failures with?

 

Perhaps compared to any other Windows OS, nizzy. In the years I've owned Macs, I've only installed the OS twice: once to switch to OSX 10.4, and the other when I gave my son an old PowerBook. More time would have been wasted getting rid of my apps and music than just reinstalling the OS. Took about a half hour or so. Not sure how long it took my boy to install his own apps (ProTools was his main concern) but it surely didn't take anywhere near four hours.

Don't know how you folks can cope with all the reformatting and reinstalls so often. You surely have more patience than I.

 

I have 11 of these SVCHost processes running...but only one of them consumes 50MB, the rest are all under 5MB...should I ponder the clean install...

 

I suggest that unless your system is corrupted, you all simply turn of the services you don't need.

 

Seems to be the concensus, vaio, though I'd try to clean the machine instead so that if the problem should arise again, you'll know why, and how to fix it.

 

Bah, I mention clean installing and now everyone wants to do it.

Only clean install if:
1. Your machine is FUBAR and you want to get it back running better than new.
2. You're like me and demand the best from your computer. Plus clean installing is second-nature to you and just another normal afternoon.

 

But how can you tell which one's to turn off? They all say the same thing (svchost.exe).

 

Read the posts from Elminst and swarmer, and google for more info.

 

Agreed! I like a clean install every now and then just for kicks!

 

Thanks for all ya'lls help. I think I may end up doing a clean install over Christmas break. It will give me a project/something to do.

Lithus and scooberdooder, do you guys mind if I pm you if I have any questions or need some help?

I really appreciate it.

 

I have turned a lot of services off and tweaked many settings. My system performs well for me. However after I rebooted for the first time after installing Ubuntu 7.10, I selected the first of two options for Vista...taking me to the VAIO Recovery Center...rebooted again, chose the second option, and I was into Vista, but it was very unusual..CPU was maxing out at 100% although memory consumption was at all time lows around 500MB. I had to hard reboot to fix it. It puzzles me why the CPU usage was 100%. As of now there are still those 11 SVCHost processes, although its not affecting memory consumption....normal around 750-800MB with a few applications open.

 

PM me anytime!

 

I have 9 running. If I turn some off aren't they going to start up again when needed any way?

 

A search of scvhost.exe on blackviper turn up zilch

 

Wikipedia:

In software Svchost.exe is a generic host process name for services that run from dynamic-link libraries (DLLs) within modern versions of the Microsoft Windows operating system.

At startup, Svchost.exe checks the services part of the registry to construct a list of services that it must load. Multiple instances of Svchost.exe can run at the same time. Each Svchost.exe session can contain a grouping of services. Therefore, separate services can run, depending on how and where Svchost.exe is started. This grouping of services permits better control and easier debugging, but it also causes some difficulty for end users wishing to see the memory usage or vendor legitimacy of individual services and processes.

 

Your choices are; "automatic", "manual", or "disabled".

 

I've got 14 of the lovely things busying away but I experience no slow down or any other problems. They can all stay in the warmth of my laptop for now.

 

Hm I only have half a dozen svchost running but this topic made me think that I might be due for a clean install anyway.

 

Well, after much deliberation, I think instead I may just "downgrade" to XP.

Is it a hard process going from Vista to XP? I know I'll have to go out and buy XP, but I think its worth it.

 

I love XP; best M$ OS ever IMO.

 

There are 12 instances running for me. Using Tasklist, the reasons for them are ambiguous at best. I would do a clean install, but it's only been a month at most since I last did one, plus I'm waiting for a 64-bit Windows Anytime disc to get here that I ordered.

I need to do some research as to which of these I can kill. They're not taking up much space, aside from one that's using 56mb and another that's 17mb, the rest are 2mb or less.

 

People, PLEASE listen up! Just because you have a lot of processes running DOES NOT mean you need to do a clean install. Please re-read the thread to get a clue, thanks!

 

I know that, I was just stating that a clean install had already been performed and already, 12 instances are now showing up.

I was just wondering if it might be possible to kill off the higher-RAM-using ones; unfortunately, I can't figure out just which ones those are. Tasklist shows them by process ID, I think, and doesn't show them by RAM usage.

 

I have 15 of them running and I did a clean install of Vista under a month ago. Vista runs fast and smooth.

 

It has a lot to do with available RAM, the more the better.

 

If you really want to find out what services all of those svchost tasks are supporting as well as how much ram and cpu use they REALLY are taking, then run don't walk to:

Linkrocess Explorer

All will be revealed.

Gary