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ForumsAs a computer technician, here is a problem I have been coming across more and more. About 30secs to 1 minute after booting into Windows the computer starts lagging heavily. When CTRL+ALT+DEL is pressed it shows that svchost.exe is using up maximum CPU resources and only occurs when Automatic Updates is enabled. Microsoft has recognized this problem and has released a patch. However, on all computers I have worked on with this problem, the Microsoft patches don’t fix the problem. This is a guide on how to fix this problem with svchost using maximum CPU.
First of all, to identify if you have this problem you need to press CTRL+ALT+DEL all at the same time, go to the “Processes Tab” and then press “Mem Usage”. If you have this svchost.exe memory leak bug after about 1 minute you will see that the amount of memory usage svchost.exe uses will keep increasing until CPU becomes 99 or 100%. Below is an example of what this looks like:
How to stop svchost.exe using up 100% system resources (Windows XP Only):
- Visit the Microsoft website and Download Windows Update v3 WindowsUpdateAgent30-x86.exe and save it to your C:\ drive
- Download this file fix_svchost.bat (right click and choose save as..) and save it to your C:\ drive
- Download this file WindowsXP-KB927891.exe (right click and choose save as..) and save it to your C:\ drive
- Reboot the computer and log in to Windows XP in safe mode. To do this, press F8 just before the WindowsXP logo shows up during boot and press up to choose “Safe Mode”
- Once Windows has loaded and you have the option of which user account to use, log on as “Administrator”.
- Click Start > Run, choose the Browse button and find the fix_svchost.bat file you saved before, press Open, then OK.
- A black screen will pop up and white text will scroll past. Wait for this process to finish as it could take several minutes. It will close itself when its finished.
- Once the black screen disappears, Click Start > Run, choose the Browse button and find the WindowsUpdateAgent30-x86.exe file you saved before, press Open, then OK. Follow the prompts as it installs.
- When Windows Update Agent finishes installing, Click Start > Run, choose the Browse button and find the WindowsXP-KB927891.exe file you saved before, press Open, then OK. Follow the prompts as it installs.
- Reboot the computer
Great tip, I love it! I can’t wait to use it
Have you come across this issue yet? As mentioned in the article I am coming across with with increasing frequency.
Hello,
Thanks!
I too have been coming across this with increasing frequency on my network.
Thanks,
Melanie
I see it all the time… I usually just disable the msconfig startup options and I find that helps some.
I was trying to do this fix as I was having this on my own laptop. I was unable to get into safe mode my laptop would die when it got to what looked like my ATI drivers. I did the updates in standard mode under my login which is an administrator. It looks like it works I couldn’t find any information on this issue till I saw this article. Seems resolved so now I just have Symantec lagging me on bootup.
Hi Bryce,
I followed your advice above and unfortunately it did not work. When I rebooted the computer it just kept freezing. I went back into safe mode and went into msconfig where i unchecked most of the services. When I rebooted, it worked, but without many services.
Is there anyway to reverse the 3 files that I installed? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Did the computer start freezing AFTER installing those three files? or was it freezing beforehand?
If it was freezing before hand you might as well leave them on there since they are Windows patches that you probably should have anyway.
There is a possibility that your issue isn’t what is mentioned here in this article. When you go into Task Manager, is svchost.exe using 99% CPU?
To check, follow these instructions:
First of all, to identify if you have this problem you need to press CTRL+ALT+DEL all at the same time, go to the “Processes Tab†and then press “Mem Usageâ€Â. If you have this svchost.exe memory leak bug after about 1 minute you will see that the amount of memory usage svchost.exe uses will keep increasing until CPU becomes 99 or 100%.. Look at the picture above for an example.
If it is the case, try going to Start > Control Panel > Automatic Updates and choose “Turn off Automatic Updates”. Restart the computer and see if you are still having the freezing issue. If it fixes it, it IS this issue. Let me know.
I have similar problem for the memory. The svchost.exe kept runnung until the memory usage reach about 1.93GB and then stay there. CPU usage is low (about 1~3%).
Can the fix mentioned above be able to correct this? Thanks.
If svchost.exe’s memory usage keeps growing (regardless of CPU) then yes, this will fix that.
Yeah I have been coming across the same problem alot over the past month or so took me a while to work it out but got there in there end.
Britec IT Solutions
http://www.britec.co.uk
Hi Bryce,
Thanks for getting back to me. I noticed that svchost.exe was definately using 99 to 100% of the CPU. It was spiking to 100% every 10 seconds or so then back to 1% then up to 100% again. Thats why I thought I would try your solution. The computer was not freezing before I applied the 3 files, but was definately behaving oddly in the task manager as I mentioned above.
I have also turned off automatic updates, but this does not solve the problem.
Mind you, the svchost.exe is no longer spiking to 100% so that bit is fixed, but it still freezes approximately 40 seconds after windows boots up then that only thing I can do is turn off the power and restart in safe mode.
I have tested all the services one at a time to see what was causing the problem, and the computer froze when I activated the “Windows Management Instrumentation” and the “Windows Management Instrumentation Driver Extensions” services. Unfortunately these seem to be essential services so I have no idea how to solve this problem…
Because it was not freezing before i applied the 3 patches you mentioned, I was hoping that if i could undo them, I could solve the freezing problem, but live with the svchost.exe problem..
Im so over this computer!!!!! Any help would once again be greatly appreciated
Robyn, in Control Panel > Add Remove Programs. Look for “KB927891″ and uninstall it. You may need to tick “Show Updates” up the top in order to see it.
Well I never Did have this problem until I JUST UPDATED and INSTALLED THE FIX,
that’s when the svchost started this, however it seems it did go away as of posting this after I installed the SBE 2k3 SP2..but again the Cure update made mine go whacko..
I’m going to try the fix anyway, but in Normal Windows mode as Litestep sucks in safemode, it tries to start up everything.. oh wait that’s right.
i can just set explorer as shell again, reboot into safe mode, follow the directions and when done switch back.. I just of that when I was writing this comment.
It doesnt seem to work for me, i have 2 xp pro comps networked, they seem fine until i both are booted and accessed. I was getting 100% cpu usage but about 25mb mem. I also was getting 40kb traffic between them even when doing nothing, i noticed this svchost.exe (system) i could stop by ending process, which also stoped the transfers! if i am on the net (still 56k) i cannot bring my other pc online or access the h.d’s on it as it kills, downloads etc i assume from cpu prioritization? I noticed the problem only about a month ago which maybe coincedence but my internet speed also has droped aswell. (rather than a re-install id like to fix if poss) installing your fix my pc took about 30 minutes on regsvr32 /s initpki.dll and also may have had an error as i briefly saw you can access help? thx for your help
I think the best way to get rid of the svchost.exe problem at STARTUP is: to make an administrive account, log on to that, delete you’re actual account (but not you’re files!) and maybe create a new account if you want to. This usually works for me. Seems like problems accure on old ragged accounts.. dunno
Thank you,
Clear and concise. I’m looking forward to try this
Hi i have the same problem but it’s only intermittent every now and then it just make everything go really slow and then 1 min later back to normal is this the same problam if it is i will try patch as it’s most annoying when i’m coding
thanks
Hi
i have the same problem and your workaround solution works perfet with me.
Thanks with best regards.
Othman
Hi.
I had the same problem. Your solution fixed it.
Thanks,
Chris.
I cannot find the words to thank you enough, Bryce. The last few months have been painful with the slowness after start up. I used to blame it on wuauclt.exe, but your solution fixed it immediately. Thank you ever so much. I will bookmark this site (and your name) for future questions.
Thank you!!!!!!
Don
can’t thank you enough for your easy and simple fix! , saved me alot of hassle.
thanks again
My svchost.exe isn’t the problem when I checked the processes. Mine is something called System Idle Pr???
I don’t know what that is, but it uses over 99 CPU. Is that something to worry about. My computer freezes constantly while I’m on Yahoo and I can’t figure out how to fix it. I use Windows XP with IE 7.
Very usefull information. It helps me and I’m happy now.
If you have same problem, just fallow this guide and everything will be allright. 
Oh, i wanted to say THANKS, great job Bryce Whitty!
Can you please tell me why it has happened. Any reason!!
Hi
Excellent post! I have been looking for an adequate solution to this problem ever since I first came across it (some 3 years ago). The frequency that it occured wasn’t very high (maybe 4 PC’s a year) but it still worried me that I couldn’t find a simple solution to this problem.
So yesterday an enduser at our company again contacted me for the very same problem, and before excecuting the normal script (which is a highly automated reinstall of the machine) I tried my usual google search first (you never know if someone has found a simpler solution) and there you were…
Works like a charm!
3 cheers from Belgium!
Geert
Hi,
the procedure describe above didn’t help on my computers.
Deleting the Value “NetworkService = DnsCache” in HKLM\Software\Microsoft\WinNT\CurrentVersion\SvcHost
did the trick for me on a lot of systems.
Cheers!
Charles
(SME-Admin of 50+ PCs/NBs)
I went through this fix and it had no affect or improvement. Then I remembered I recently installed HP software for a new multi-function printer. I had problems with HP software before. I un-installed the software after seeing a similar post on svchost on Ask Leo’s site. The problem went away. WTF HP - what gives with your software?
it worked well because the cpu of the svchost went down to 0 and memory to about 23,000 and my pc is working normally now thanks!
did not work
Our laptop just started doing this about a week ago. My family is a bunch of gamers, so the lag is creating a huge disruption for all of us!:) Anyway, I saved everything you showed above, but when I go to run the fix_svchost file, it won’t run. I also don’t get the black screen pop up, but it goes straight to the screen where I can run or cancel. I click run & nothing happens. Please help! We really need to get this fixed!
Disregard my last post. I got everything to work ok & it ended the whole svchost problem. However, now my iexplorer & explorer.exe are running high like the svchost was. What could this be? We run Adaware constantly & have etrust antivirus monitoring everything. We’ve defragmented & did a cleanup of old files & stuff like that. This all just happened suddenly, & we really need your help!
Hi All,
I found out it can happend after buying a new HP printer and installing the latest printer software.
Via the process explorer of Microsoft you can see the a HP process is taking all the time.
This is the solution:
Go to services (start –> run –> services.msc) and put the following service to manual:
HP network device support.
Thanks dude, it was the best and straight forward solution, it works marvellously.
Hi All,In reference to post #33, I also just installed HP network printer software and was having this same issue.
i installed and it works but and error step to me, the windows media player do not open and there was a problem with jbscript.dll and vbscript.dll
do yo now how this step to my computer?
This is really worth
Thank you post 33 that finally worked for each comp on my network. I figured I was in for a ride when hp wanted to install 225MB of driver feel good.
My wife’s laptop had a svchost.exe consuming 100% of CPU problem a while back. It seemed to only occur some of the time. After some aggravation I got it to go away using a repair install. The only painful part was re-installing all of the various patches afterwards. Of course this assumes you can find a proper CD to repair install from. I have used the repair install as a last resort on a couple of occasions. Both times it worked the gremlins out of the system.
I did exactly what your post said, worked great. Thanks!
Thank you post 33. simple excelent solution. “Cheers”
Post 33 - solved.I am SO annoyed with HP.
Having a similar problem, I have 5 instances of SVCHOST running, but only one of them is taking up 17,208 KB of memory. The rest are only taking up around 4,000. I only noticed this after I tried playing some Divx videos I had burned to CD a long time ago, Windows thingie said it didn’t want to run the file because it would risk security (Didn’t know I had Dr Watson…) I tried playing the video in Winamp and it crashed. Sometimes even trying to click the file in Explorer would cause an error and Windows to say it didn’t want to play the file. I always thought that viruses couldn’t be attached to media files.
Thanks Bryce for the fix sorted the SVCHOST problem out a trick.
Hi, I have installed SP3 RC and have svchost problems, but that procedure cant overwrite update or that patch cause i have newly installed programs.
my leek is round 1.5 GB of all memory (so round 3 GB RAM and page file)
Can you help me???
Thanks to Toon Schilder (post 33). I finally had sense enough to google svchost cpu HP. Someone with more patience should send this thread up HP’s flagpole, so to speak.
Sweet solution # 33. Yesterday i loaded software for my HP printer and svchost.exe was at 99% cpu ever since. Your fix deserves a grammy award. Thanks.
Hooray for Toon (#33) — I’ve been fighting this for a month (ever since installing an HP all-in-one wireless printer on my network.
Now the svchost thing is FIXED. However, I still constantly lose the HP drivers and have to repeatedly re-add the device. Anybody else having THAT problem?!
Exact same problem occured day after installing software for a new HP C8180 All-in-One printer. Humm. Post 28,33,35,47,48 all similar problems with HP wireless printer. Hope the fix continues to solve this problem. thanks.
Post 48!
There is a patch on the HP web site support center for the problem of HP software uninstalling itself!
Post 33…….I LOVE YOU!!!!!!
Been futzing with this problem from day one of installing an HP all-in-one…….grrrrrrr
Aloha, Pete
I have 6 svchost.exe processes in my Task Mgr. All show a CPU usage of 00 but the Mem usage ranges from 3,xxxK to 29,xxxK. Im running XP Home SPack 2. Should I have this many svchost.exe? If not what can I do?
Great..Post 33..Thanks a lot man !! You save my time for installing windows 3rd time.
After installing HP software for HP4385 wireless printer/scanner a “new” svchost.exe started using 100% of the CPU. After deleting the HP software svchost.exe returned to normal and iexplorer.exe started using 100% CPU. Went into Internet Explorer Tools-Internet Options-Programs-Manage Ad-Ons and disabled “HP Download Manager”. Finally my computer is back to normal operations. Thanks HP for that great software (:
WOW!! Hats off to Post 33. New HP wireless software install. As soon as I did the recommendation…everything was great.
Installed Hp wireless printer about a month ago and have noticed a 100% cpu on SVCHOST..
I tried the solution#33
This is the solution:
Go to services (start
eureka eureka !!
it works !!!
Several people asked about if having so many svchost appear in their process list is okay, but no one responded to their question. Does anyone know this answer. Secondly, I have at least ten occurances of CLI.exe in my list that use up even more resources than svchost. Does anyone know how to fix this issue? Right now CLI.exe is using over 140KB of memory. It appears to be a ATI file. Any ideas are welcome! Thanks, Stardude
I did all of this and it fixed that problem - however now programs such as AOL Instant Messenger won’t open. They start and immediately close.
When I’m clicking a video link in Internet Explorer Windows Media Player won’t open either.
Anyone know what happened?
Gosh this is good onfo, I know I have done that Ctrl, alt and del. and did see all that stuff, Now I will try your segestions and will give you back the info. please do sign me up for your letters
Thanks
test.
This was a gr8 solution!! I am really happy with the performance of my laptop.
Hello Bryce,
i followed your steps you have posted… however when i restarted my comp agen after following your steps.. it appeared up again for 30 secs… is that supposed to happen..? i was wondering was the steps you posted was for eliminating the virus/problem.. or just make it less occuring.
Ps.. please get back to me, here’s my email, chiniz_panda@hotmail.com
thanks ^^
When I sign in mig33 from internet explorer my internet explorer getting slow when I see task manager IEXPLORE.EXE CPU reads 45,80,90 etc.
How do I fix this please?
Hi, my name is shady
Found another solution to the Svchost.exe problem mentioned in 33 and 42 etc. The issue seems to have something to do with the Firewall and the hp Wireless printers/all in ones. I have the hp All In One 4380 (mentioned in some of the other comments). By adding the Exclusion to the Firewall settings, the problem seems to go away without losing any other functionality.
Here it is:
To add “HPSLPSVC32.DLL” file to Firewall exception list, perform the below steps.
1. Click Start –> Run.
2. In Run dialog box, type “firewall.cpl” and press OK.
3. Windows Firewall dialog box will open. Select “ON” option. And then click OK.
4. Again perform the above steps to open “Windows Firewall” dialog box. Then select “Exceptions” tab.
5. Click “Add Program” –> “Browse”.
6. Select “C:\Program Files\HP\Digital Imaging\bin\HPSLPSVC32.DLL”
After completion of the steps, click Apply & OK.
Hope this is some help. This was a result of working with HP Tech Online Chat.
Ray
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU
This just saved me from what would have been a worthless OS Reload.
Virtual Beer on Me.
Hello all in reference to the HP printer driver problem, I have the HP PSC4385 AiO and had the svchost.exe maxing out at 99% of my CPU. Follow post 33’s instructions!
Post 33, you are the best. Did your simple solution, and all went well. You are awesome!
To everyone else that had the issue with HP printers, I work for a 3rd party company that represents HP, so I have some connections. I’ll be sending this one off to our HP lady. Hope they fix this!
Hi
I tried this as prescribed and unfortunately it didn’t fix the problem, I don’t know what to do.
I might try those lonks to downloading the fix.
I am also having problems with the SVCHOST.EXE as a popup, with error reporting. The error message is: IT EVEN COMES UP BEFORE I CLICK ON MY ACCOUNT WHILE IT’S BOOTING UP. I run Windows XP PROF.
SVCHOST.exe Application Error
The instructions at “0×009a96bc referenced memory at “9×00000000″. The memory could not be “written.” Click okay to terminate or Cancel to debug.
I also have a wireless all in one HP. Model 7410. Went to do the fix from #65 and I do not have the HPSLPSVC32.DLL
I’m very sorry I didn’t mention this to you in my previous message. I did purchase TWO very popular spyware and registry programs that promised to get rid of the SVCHOST errors. OMG, the errors got worse One of the programs ended renamed my Norton files and it took me forever to get NORTON360 fixed. I had to uninstall it several times and reload. It is now functioning working again:
OOPS there’s that darn:
SVCHOST.exe Application Error
The instructions at
just got done talking to technical assist with HP. They gave me the same instructions as POST 33.
1. Click on windows –> Search box.
2. In the search dialog box, type “services.msc” and press OK.
3. In the opened Services window, search for “HP Network Device Support”.
4. Right click on “HP Network Device Support” service and select Properties.
5. In the “Startup” type, select change to “Manual” from “Automatic”.
6. And press Apply & OK
After performing the steps, restart the computer
I wish I could send you a screenshot. No where in services is HP listed. I even ran a search for “HP Network Device Support”, it’s not in there either. I also used the Run command as listed in #33.
#33 This is the solution:
Go to services (start
Re Char Post #70
Mine also got worse after trying the programs at the top of the page, I think I’ll try Dave’s #39 doing a reinstal and see what happens, anyone else had any luck with this?
Thank you so very much, Bryce. I have spent the better part of my day today trying to solve this problem. At one point I had to unplug my PC because I had spent 1.5 hours trying to get in to terminate the svchost process that I knew was causing the problem, but I could never get in because everything was locked up! The funny thing is that I didn’t seem to have a memory leak - it stayed stable - but did have 100% CPU usage. So very frustrating. I am very happy now! Time to get to work (10:00 p.m., my day started at 8:30…)
It worked like a charm! Thanks.
I just love this site! I finally took the bull by the nose and called HP since svchost.exe was caused by them. They had me do a grade 3 uninstall of their software, and reinstall the updated version from their site. Not only did it fix all my svchost errors, it also fixed my win32 closure error!
Thanks for directing me to HP all.
Hi All,
What worked for me was to change the time from when Automatic Updates was scheduled for to a later time in the day so the CPU for svchost wasn’t high at startup. Hope this helps
Svchost is essential for Windows. Had the 100% CPU problem after having unintentionally left my firewall off. Fixed the whole problem by 1) activating Firewall, running full virus scan 2) cleaning out all unecessary files, 3) downloading Windows Service Pack 2, KB 884020, Windows Security update for XP KB941644, and Windows Defender, 4) runnig a quick scan with Windows Defender, 5) wiping hard drive with Ace Utilities (other programs do this), 6) Dowloaded CCleaner from CCleaner.com (free software), 7) and then defrag.
Discovered I couldn’t access Yahoo anymore so uninstalled Java through Windows and re-installed in off-line mode.
Computer works beautifully now. CPU is back to 10-20% with 4 programs running.
Tip in tools and settings for Windows Defender, turn off realtime protection as it uses quite a bit of CPU and program scan when it suits you.
Thanks for both Bryce and then #33 as I needed to do both to fix this problem, and at last I have a system I can use……..tymuch
Just thought you should know, this fix also works for Windows 2000. Simply download the corresponding KB927891 update for 2000 and proceed as instructed.
You may consider updating the article to reflect this fact.
I was to soon…..When I restart my laptop, svchost goes beserk again……….I have to use Byrce;s fix……BUT as you can understand it’s not permanent, so I have to have something in my startup that overrides Bryce’s stuff and #33, #67 have been done ……ideas………………….HELP
The real problem here is the XP SP3 service pack update. The first thing I did was disable Windows automatic updates, which freed my CPU from the dreaded svchost.exe lock up. Then I took Microsoft’s recommendation and temporarily disabled my CA virus protection and went to Windows update and selected manual update. It identified a file described as windows XP validaiton, then it updated me to SP3, then Office 2003 SP3, then all was right.
Works for me! Most thanks.
Bryce,
Nice fix on the svchost. lots of forums with no knowledge, just commentary. Thanks.
Been looking for a solution to this for a while, and although I use neither Windows Update (I update manually) nor an HP printer I did have problems trying to run Outlook or IE straight after booting.
I found the fix for this in post 27 - DNS caching being set up as a network service at startup through a registry key (although on my machine it is at “HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SvcHost” rather than “WinNT” as mentioned)
Presumably on most machines either Windows Update or HP driver update utilities are trying to run at startup and cause svchost to hog resources, so rather than sort each of the apps that use svchost in this way it is better to fix the problem at source (DNS caching)
Cheers!
After many hours of brute force tinkering and asking the laptop owner if they could remember any software install that occurred around the cpu overload, I got a response about it seeming to happen after buying and installing a new hp printer… ugghh .. wish I had found this thread earlier! This Dell laptop had been running flat out 100% hot for months
Thanks #33
thanks worked like a charm for me
I think Sir, that I should get down on my knees and kiss your feet! I started having this issue on 2 systems at the same time. My wife’s computer was at a crawl/standstill. Check mail? Are you kidding? I couldn’t even get the Task Manager to come up without waiting for 15 minutes. I tried everything I could think of.
Thanks!!!!
Awesome Fix! I had the problem both on my laptop with XP Home Edition and my desktop with XP Pro Edition. Incredible efficiency difference immediately in the two PCs I was beginning to call “Legion One” and “Legion Two.” So can I contribute to “The Society for Unemployed Technology-Anchored Techies?” Among other serious problems they exhibit, they believe that if their peers think their skills are indespensable to the organization, managers and other bean counters will think the same thing…you of course must do the disgusting type of networking to survive in today’s techie environment.I will answer my own question, “No I can’t contribute because I’ve just been downsized (again” If you want to understand how you could have ever thought that your peers’ opinions could trump the opinions of the downsizers, see, “Career Anchors” (copyright ~1994). It is as awesome a self evaluation procedure as this svchost solution is a prized silver bullet! Thanks! Sincerely,OnePointFiveYearsToGo!
Thanks for the fix. I just upgraded to Win XP SP3, and out of nowhere, arose this issue. Hopefully with the svchostfix, this won’t be coming back.
This worked until I went on the internet
then 100% svchost
I also found the “microsoft” update site was not working
When I went into the options & went back to “windows” update the problem went away
yahoo
Hope that helps some others too
cheers
I started having this problem after I recently installed SP3. Big mistake. I should have waited until Microsoft geniuses would figure out the immediate patches they needed before releasing something. (as usual).
Holy crap! This completely worked for me. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!
I also recently installed HP printer software and started seeing the svchost.exe run at near 100% cpu usage as well. I did what #33 suggested and it worked wonderfully! Thanks Toon Schilder for posting your solution. I am so grateful.
If you have Ca Anti-Virus, there is a hotfix for this problem on their website http://homeofficekb.ca.com/CIDocument.asp?SimpleUI=1&GUID=95781F6810644AAF9A0AA509450E414B&ExternalCallID=0&Ver=&AddBookmark=0&KDId=3196. It worked for me with SP3.
I have been looking for a solution to this problem for about 2 weeks. Microsoft always gives their half arse answers as they did this time. This work very well. Thanks for the time and research.
Thanx a lot.
i had the problem with the memory usage of svchost. i run the three files that you indicated and by now everything seems to work fine.
one of the problems that i was facing and seems to no longer exists was that i couldnt even hear to mp3s. the player was asking for some codecs. after the patching everything was resolved “magicaly”.
thanx a lot
This fixes my problem but after a period of time, sometimes hours, sometimes longer, the problem returns. Any suggestions?
Had the same problem as #33. Thanks toon.
Great advise! I am using Service Pack 3 XP and I believe the only fix that was required for my installation was Fix SVCHost.Bat
Thanks for the advise
A tip is to go and buy Vista!
i cant download anything from microsoft. can someone send zip or rar to yahyeq@hotmail.com
I followed your steps to shut down svchost.exe. Now I get alot of BLANK web pages or no video. In most cases the links don’t work. and System REstore comes up with just a blank box! HELP!
And Now it will not let me D/L updates from Microsoft!
About 2 weeks after installing service pack 3 on my XP pro, I was suddenly hit with this bug, exactly as described above, only even more severe, with an instance of svchost.exe reaching 70-80K in task manager, leaving my computer ‘dead in the water’ at my modest 512MB of RAM. Bring up task manager under these conditions was a feat in itself. Some people here have flagged HP software as being a trigger for this,(in my case, it was uninstalling an O&O drive backup program) but I really think the root of the problem is with Microsoft and no one else.
I was ready to do a new clean install of Windows,
which would have been very inconvenient right now with the amount of work I need to do on the comp, but this fix worked perfectly for me! Windows update does, however, present some serious flaws and apparant memory leaks when connecting to the update site. I may try turning automatic updating off completely if it creates problems.
I would have expected Microsoft to have addressed the issue more directly, especially in SP3, but, obviously, they didn’t.
Thanks Bryce for providing this fix!
This fix worked for me on XP with SP3. It even got my network use up to almost 100%, which I´ve never seen go over 20% or 30% on my 100Mb LAN.
However, this svchost problem is a symptom of more serious problems that most likely need a clean installation to solve completely.
I think this problem surfaced after having a virus. Removed the virus and searched for weeks for a solution to the SvcHost problem. Your procedures worked perfectly. Was able to complete without going into Safe Mode. Running XP Pro with SP2.
Thank you man, but the problem keeps repeating it self after a couple of days! any suggestions?
I found the best way to solve this for the moment (after the above solution) was to go back to ‘Windows Update’ (not Microsoft Update) which can be changed in the left-hand column (change settings) at the update site and also turn off automatic updates.
This is less than ideal, but it works well and the computer can be scanned for updates without problems.
hi,
i wanted to know if this could work in vista to?
I followed your instructions but it did not work. I even registered with Netcom3 and paid $49.95 for it to clean it out but it was still there. I found that the only way I could stop it is to go into Task Manager and end its process and also run msconfig and disable it from startup. But when I updated Windows, it came back on again! Does that mean it is an inherent Microsoft Windows problem? Anyway I did the 2 things again and killed it again.
WOW!!! post number 27 did it!! thanks a lot bro i’ve been looking for this solution for 7 months wheeeeww!! Thanks a lot your such a nice guy mwuuuaaahhh……
Cheers!! From Philippines
R.A. Padilla Carranglan Nueva Ecija.
thanx a lot.. seems to work.. i hope for no surprices in the future !!!
The fix did not work for me either. I have a pre-release version of service pack 3, and I followed your instructions. I had already installed the 927891 or whatever number it was service pack that you mentioned, and already had the windows update agent. But now, my automatic updates window doesn’t show up any more - let me check whether the service is started. And I still have that svchost memory leak error. When I end the process in Windows Task Manager, it seems then that my RPC server is then toast. I have another computer which I use to connect to the internet, as a gateway, and this one connects to the internet through that computer. So after I toast that process, I can no longer go into Network Connections and connect to the internet under that Internet Gateway icon. Plus when I open “cmd” and type in ipconfig /renew it says that the rpc service or server something like is not available. Plus, if I’m already connected to the Internet, I won’t be able to use that icon to disconnect - it just won’t work. And if I’m disconnected, I can’t use it to connect. I’m thinking of going into my services and switching all of them to manual just to see if that will help. Maybe if I got an updated version of svchost off the web or something that might help as well. I wish I could find a program that would in more detail tell me what svchost is all about and what it’s running, which dll file it’s working with and what not. But it seems that it’s the