What is the Host Process for Windows Tasks and why does it run much on the computer?

If you've ever taken the time to look into the Task Manager window, you'll see a process called 'Host Process for Windows Tasks'. In fact, you may have seen many versions of this process running at the same time. This article will explain to you what the Host Process for Windows Tasks process is and why it runs a lot on such computers.

1. All problems about using Task Manager

What is the Host Process for Windows Tasks process and why is it running so much in Task Manager.

Host Process for Windows Tasks is Microsoft's official process. In Windows, executable file download services (EXE) can identify themselves as full, separate processes on the system and are listed by name in Task Manager. Services downloaded from the Dynamic Linked Library file (DLL) not from the EXE file cannot identify themselves as a complete process. Instead, the Host Process for Windows Tasks serves as the host for these services.

You will see a Host Process for Windows Tasks entry running for a service based on DLLs loaded in Windows or possible for a group of DLL-based services (The way DLL-based services are grouped depends on service developer). The version number of the process depends entirely on the number of processes you are running on the system. In the above image, there are two versions, but on other systems, there may be dozens of versions.

However, the Task Manager provides users with a way to see exactly which services (or service groups) are attached to each Host Process for Windows Tasks process. To find out which services are attached to the Host Process for Windows Tasks, you can use the Process Explorer utility from Sysinternals provided by Microsoft. This is a protable tool, so there is no need to install, just download, extract the file and run it. In Process Explorer, select View> Lower Pane to see the progress of the process. Scroll down the list and select one of the taskshostw.exe items, this is the file name of the Host Process for Windows Tasks process.

After selecting taskhostw.exe, you will see details about it in the table below. In the above illustration, this service is linked to the audio driver and has a Registry key related to the keyboard layout. Therefore, the service will track the activities when pressing any media key on the keyboard, such as volume, mute, etc., and move the appropriate command to where needed.

Why does it use multiple resources when booting Windows?

Typically, the amount of CPU and memory that each Host Process for Windows Tasks service uses depends on the task it performs. If you find any version of Host Process for Windows Tasks using more resources than usual, you need to find a service that is associated with that version and fix the service-related problem.

You will notice that the Host Process for Windows Tasks versions are consuming resources right after booting, especially using multiple CPUs. When Windows starts, the Host Process for Windows Tasks scans the Services items in the Registry and builds a list of services based on the DLL it needs to load. Then download each service in there, and you'll see it consumes a bit of CPU during this time.

Can the Host Process for Windows Tasks process be disabled?

The answer is no, you cannot disable the Host Process for Windows Tasks because this is the process needed to load DLL-based services in the system. And Windows also does not allow users to temporarily 'end task' the process.

Is this process a virus?

This process is an official part of Windows. Although it may happen that the virus has replaced the actual Host Process for Windows Tasks process with its executable file, but very rarely, there have been no reports of a virus attacking this process. To be sure, you can check the Host Process for Windows Tasks file location by, in the Task Manager, right-click on the Host Process for Windows Tasks and select ' Open File Location '.

If the file is stored in the WindowsSystem32 folder, this is the actual Host Process for Windows Tasks file and you don't need to worry about dealing with the virus.

If you find the file is in a different location, not in the System32 folder, you can use the appropriate antivirus software to scan your computer.

See more:

1. About svchost.exe
2. Device Association Framework Provider What is a Host and why is it running on a computer?
3. Learn about the conhost.exe process in Windows