Generic Host Process???

[Alan Moorman]

Lately, every third or fourth time I turn the computer on, I get this error
message:

"Generic Host Process for Win32 Services encountered a problem and needed
to close."

Why does this happen? What does it mean? How can it be fixed?

Thanks for your kind attention,

Alan

 

[Meena]

Make sure your firewall protection is turned on, furthermore, your pc is
likely to be infected with a sasser and blaster worm virus. Take a look at
the sites below for removal instructions:
http://www.pchell.com/virus/msblast.shtml
&
http://www.pchell.com/virus/sasser.shtml

 

[Guest]

Alan,

I'm guessing that the only virus you have is Windows XP ! As Meena
suggests, make sure you only have (only one) firewall turned on. Lots of
people are reporting this issue, but do check that you don't have any virii,
and there's also a known problem with an hp printer driver (see ms website
for details).

But for most people this has been a problem since the last Windows update.
I'm pretty sure it's related to that, although I may be totally wrong ! I
guess we just have to wait for Microsoft to fix the problem if that is the
case.

Are you on a network ? Home or business use ? I went back to a previous
restore point, and turned off windows updates. Although do make sure that
you turn it back on again once this issue is resolved, and regularly check
the updates feature on microsoft's website in the meantime.

As I said, this may not be the problem, but from looking at various
websites, the general consensus of opinion is the last windows updates being
the fault.

Hope this helps.

 

[Alan Moorman]

Alan,

I'm guessing that the only virus you have is Windows XP ! As Meena
suggests, make sure you only have (only one) firewall turned on. Lots of
people are reporting this issue, but do check that you don't have any virii,
and there's also a known problem with an hp printer driver (see ms website
for details).

I have the full-strength Norton protection package. It is on to screen
while the computer is running, it gets periodic updates, and it sweeps the
entire computer once a week. No alarms!

So I would guess it is something else.

But for most people this has been a problem since the last Windows update.
I'm pretty sure it's related to that, although I may be totally wrong ! I
guess we just have to wait for Microsoft to fix the problem if that is the
case.

I'm hoping you're right, and that I'm doing the right thing by rebooting if
this message pops up when I turn the computer on.

Are you on a network ? Home or business use ? I went back to a previous
restore point, and turned off windows updates. Although do make sure that
you turn it back on again once this issue is resolved, and regularly check
the updates feature on microsoft's website in the meantime.

Not on a network. Home use with a local isp for email and web surfing.

As I said, this may not be the problem, but from looking at various
websites, the general consensus of opinion is the last windows updates being
the fault.

Hope this helps.

I'll check on the virus sites Meena mentioned, but, mainly, I guess I'm
going to bury my head in the sand!

....Unless someone comes up with something more detailed!

Thanks,
Alan

 

[Alan Moorman]

Make sure your firewall protection is turned on, furthermore, your pc is
likely to be infected with a sasser and blaster worm virus. Take a look at
the sites below for removal instructions:
http://www.pchell.com/virus/msblast.shtml
&
http://www.pchell.com/virus/sasser.shtml

Thanks, Meena. I went and checked those, and they don't seem to fit the
situation. Different error message, and my XP is fully up-to-date. . . .

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Alan

Do you have more than one computer sharing your internet connection? Can
you pin down which application is using svchost.exe and causing the
problems?

What error reports ( if any ) show up in Event Viewer? Please post
copies.

Make an exact note of the precise text of any error message. Minor
discrepancies can
make it harder to search for information about the error message.

You can access Event Viewer by selecting Start, Administrative Tools,
Event Viewer.
When researching the meaning of the error, information regarding Event
ID, Source
and Description are important.

HOW TO: View and Manage Event Logs in Event Viewer in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308427&Product=winxp

A tip for posting copies of Error Reports! Run Event Viewer and double
click on the
error you want to copy. In the window, which appears is a button
resembling two
pages. Double click the button and close Event Viewer. Now start your
message
(email) and do a paste into the body of the message. This will paste the
info from the
Event Viewer Error Report complete with links into the message. Make
sure this is
the first paste after exiting from Event Viewer.


--


Hope this helps.

Gerry
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Stourport, Worcs, England
Enquire, plan and execute.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please tell the newsgroup how any
suggested solution worked for you.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Guest]

I have the full-strength Norton protection package. It is on to screen
while the computer is running, it gets periodic updates, and it sweeps the
entire computer once a week. No alarms!

So I would guess it is something else.
I'm hoping you're right, and that I'm doing the right thing by rebooting if
this message pops up when I turn the computer on.

Not on a network. Home use with a local isp for email and web surfing.
I'll check on the virus sites Meena mentioned, but, mainly, I guess I'm
going to bury my head in the sand!

....Unless someone comes up with something more detailed!

Thanks,
Alan

As I mentioned, I've been getting this error too, so I've been researching
it. Look at the postings at this site :
http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=12226.0 The guy's been in touch with
a microsoft engineer, who is of the opinion that a recent windows update is
at fault.

 

[Alan Moorman]

As I mentioned, I've been getting this error too, so I've been researching
it. Look at the postings at this site :
http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=12226.0 The guy's been in touch with
a microsoft engineer, who is of the opinion that a recent windows update is
at fault.

Thanks. You may well be right!

I have to ask: Just what does Generic Host do, anyway??????

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

This from the summary of a document called up in Help and Support:

Svchost.exe is a generic host process name for services that are run from
dynamic-link libraries (DLLs). The Svchost.exe file is located in the
%SystemRoot%\System32 folder. At startup, Svchost.exe checks the services
portion of the registry to construct a list of services that it needs to
load. There can be multiple instances of Svchost.exe running at the same
time. Each Svchost.exe session can contain a grouping of services, so that
separate services can be run depending on how and where Svchost.exe is
started. This allows for better control and debugging.

 

[Guest]

has anyone heard if Microsoft has fixed this yet? Many are uninstalling their
Feb2005 updates for now. Hopefully this should not cause any problems for now.