by PCguy » Fri Mar 19, 2004 10:48 pm
Svchost, as the name implies, stands for "Service Host". Many of components of the Windows operating system are implemented as what are called "services" - a fancy name for programs that run in the background, and aren't necessarily associated with whomever is logged into the machine. You can quickly see which services are running by typing "NET START" in a command window, or by looking in Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Services.
A fair number of those services are implemented in DLLs, rather than in stand-alone executables. But a DLL is only a library of functions that can be called by running programs - it can't be run on its own. Enter svchost. It's a standalone program whose job is to execute services that are implemented in DLLs.
You can see which copy of svchost is running what service by typing "tasklist /svc" in a Windows XP command window. On my machine one copy of svchost is responsible for 30 separate services, another is hosting 4, and the remaining 3 have one apiece.
This will help you see which one may be running a virus. Stop it and scan the PC. Also make sure it is updated from Microsoft.
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