do I need 13 svchost.exe's running in XP?

[MarkJSpinnover]

In Windows Task Manager, I found 13 svchost.exe instances running: 6-
System / 5-Local Service / 2-Network Service

The only app running is Windows Task Manager. McAfee is running in the
background. My laptop wireless switch is turned Off.

It seems excessive, is all I'm saying. Is there a tool that Microsoft
provides to see what each svchost.exe program is doing?

Thank You,

FeedScrn
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| The Screen is hungry, Feed it! |
+------------------------------------------------+

 

[Anteaus]

These are subprocesses launched by svchost.exe and as such they might be
needed, might not be. 13 is a lot though, two to five is more normal.

http://www.wiredprairie.us/journal/2006/10/how_to_identify_whats_really_r.html

May help.

 

[1PW]

In Windows Task Manager, I found 13 svchost.exe instances running: 6-
System / 5-Local Service / 2-Network Service

The only app running is Windows Task Manager. McAfee is running in the
background. My laptop wireless switch is turned Off.

It seems excessive, is all I'm saying. Is there a tool that Microsoft
provides to see what each svchost.exe program is doing?

Thank You,

FeedScrn
+------------------------------------------------+
| The Screen is hungry, Feed it! |
+------------------------------------------------+

Hello Mark:

Although yes, 13 instances seems much, my guess is you've got more
than your unknown version of some Windows and McAfee going.

Consider replacing Task Manager with Microsoft's, Mark Russinovich
written "Process Explorer" from their Sysinternals Suite:

<http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx>

Execute procexp.exe and have your mouse pointer hover over each of the
svchost.exe instances and a box will show you what /that/ instance
supports.

Many folks like procexp.exe so much that they replace "Task Manager"
with it with a single mouse click.

If you like Process Explorer, take a look at about 60 other utilities
in the suite by just entering sysinternals into your browser's address
bar.

 

[Thee Chicago Wolf (MVP)]

In Windows Task Manager, I found 13 svchost.exe instances running: 6-

System / 5-Local Service / 2-Network Service

The only app running is Windows Task Manager. McAfee is running in the
background. My laptop wireless switch is turned Off.

It seems excessive, is all I'm saying. Is there a tool that Microsoft
provides to see what each svchost.exe program is doing?

Thank You,

FeedScrn
+------------------------------------------------+
| The Screen is hungry, Feed it! |
+------------------------------------------------+

That's not unheard of but quite a lot. Go grab Process Explorer and
see the programs being executed by the svchost parent processes. It'll
tell you the specific child processes being launched and their names.