What is Svchost.exe? How to check if svchost.exe contains a virus?

In addition to applications, pre-installed systems, documents, junk files, . computer capacity  is  also occupied a significant part by svchost.exe files. So what is svchost.exe, is this the cause of lag, crashes, virus infection? This article will inform you about what svchost.exe is as well as how to check whether svchost.exe contains a virus or not!

1. What is Svchost.exe?

File svchost.exe  (Service Host) is provided by Microsoft for Windows operating systems  . As an important system process, svchost.exe serves as the host service to  group services that  need access to the same DLL to help  reduce  system resources .

When the computer is running, the programs will  run in the background  to ensure the system operates stably. If these programs work separately, it will drain a lot of memory capacity, leading to stuttering, lag, and freeze-up in the computer.

Microsoft has grouped programs together into  svchost.exe files . Each file serves a different purpose such as the process of updating Windows, connecting to the network, . Grouping into separate svchost.exe files helps them  work independently and  not be affected by each other.  and  easier to manage  .

That's why you can see many different processes and versions svchost.exe using RAM in Task Manager.

As such, svchost.exe is an important  part  of Windows so you  should not delete  or  disable  them. If you are sure that the svchost.exe file is malicious and not absolutely necessary, you should delete it.

2. The software uses svchost.exe service

As soon as Windows starts, the svchost.exe process is  activated  and  checks the HKLM hive of the registry  (for SOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionSvchost) to see which service will load into memory.

Svchost.exe works for Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP and Windows 2000 operating systems.

All services run  their own version of svchost  for systems with  3.5GB of RAM , starting with  Windows 10 Creator Update  (version 1703).

Services will be  grouped into shared svchost.exe processes , as in previous versions of Windows for systems with  less than 3.5GB of RAM .

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Some  Windows services  using svchost.exe may include:

1. Windows Update
2. Background Tasks Infrastructure Service
3. Plug and Play
4. World Wide Web Publishing Service
5. Bluetooth Support Service
6. Windows Firewall
7. Task Scheduler
8. DHCP Client
9. Windows Audio
10. Superfetch
11. Network Connections
12. Remote Procedure Call (RPC)

3. How to process svchost.exe process

- Check svchost.exe by Command Prompt

Note : The command prompt check shows  all the services  used by different svchost.exe versions. However, this test is more suitable for those who  know more  about computers.

Step 1 : Press the Windows + R key combination   to open the Run dialog box. Type ' cmd '> Click  OK  to open Command Prompt.

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Step 2 : Enter the command " tasklist / SVC "> Press  Enter .

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Step 3 : Wait until svchost.exe is running.

In the results returned,  the left column  is the  svchost.exe running  on the machine,  the right column  is the  corresponding services  running in it.

For example, the Windows update process   will be denoted  wuauserv . If you really want to disable the svchost file, you need to remember its  signature  .

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Step 4 : Reopen  Commannd Prompt  and  disable .

Reopen as Commannd Prompt in Step 1  > Enter the command " sc config wuauserv start = disabled ".

Note : In the above command, ' wuauserv ' can be replaced with the  symbol  of another program you want to disable. The program will be disabled from the next reboot.

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- Handling svchost.exe process by Task Manager

Troubleshooting progress with Task Manager is a  simpler  and  quicker check to  help you regain resources for your computer.

Step 1 : Open  Task Manager .

Right-  click  the  Taskbar  at the bottom of the screen. Select  Task Manager .

Or you can also press  Ctrl Alt Del  (or Ctrl Shift Esc) to open Task Manager.

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Step 2 : Select the Processes tab  .

Here, you will see the svchost.exe running. In some versions of Windows, these processes will appear as " Service Host .".

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You press  the right mouse  on them and selecting  Go to details .

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Step 3 : View the amount of space that svchost.exe is occupying.

Through the Memory  and  CPU columns  , you can see how much memory and CPU svchost.exe is occupying.

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Step 4 :  Disable  each process inside a svchost.exe.

This step helps you  not to accidentally disable  important svchost.exe errors!

In the Memory column,  right-click  on svchost.exe taking up a lot of space> Select  Go to Service (s) .

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In the Description column, the name of the service is displayed very specifically and you can stop it if it is not necessary by right-clicking on it and selecting  Stop .

However, is the svchost.exe file you want to delete really redundant or contains a virus? Let's see how to check if the file is a file containing virus or not before deciding to delete it!

4. How to check svchost.exe file is a file containing virus?

Many types of malicious code, viruses or spyware have ' hidden ' in the form of svchost.exe files to  steal information  and  gain access to  the computer. Misidentifying between the actual Windows svchost.exe file and the file containing the virus sometimes makes us mistakenly delete the actual process and omit the virus file.

Note : The svchost.exe file is a small file located in the Windows  System32 folder  . If they are  not  in this location then most likely it is a  virus  and you need to  disable  them as the above part of the article instructions.

To check the location of svchost.exe, you need to  right-click  on the process in  Task Manager  > Select  Open File Location .

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If its location is in the WindowsSystem32  folder  , rest assured it's  not a virus .

Conversely, if it is in  a different location,  it should be  deleted  according to the instructions above.

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In addition, to ensure safety and comfort during use a computer, you should  install  the  antivirus software  nhé!

Hopefully the above article has helped you to have more information about the svchost.exe file as well as how to check whether it is a file containing a virus or not. Thank you for watching and wish you a successful test!

Isabella Humphrey

Update 09 March 2021