SVCHost @ ~95% CPU

[Bob Davis]

I'm helping a friend diagose an odd problem on his rather old AMD system
running XP with current updates. At times, usually a minute or two after
booting the computer, something kicks in and takes up ~95% of the CPU and is
shown as SVCHost in Taskmgr. This will tie up the CPU for up to four
minutes at a time, rendering his box literally useless.

I suspected it was indexing or some other service, so I set up services like
I have on my box, which doesn't have the problem. However, the issue
continued. Is there a way to find out what SVCHost is doing when it
undertakes this activity?



--

 

[TheMachineRNC]

You'd better have a gander at the registry and see if anything odd is
running in

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

and

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

SVCHost often is a disguise for virus/worm activity. Be careful, because
this is a good mask as SVSHost is usually reserved as needed Windows
processes.

I'd make sure there is a current Virus software package installed and that
it is fully updated and make sure any vulnerabilities are patched. Bug
writers now even write hacks that attach Antivirus software....

 

[Ronaldo]

Install Process Explorer to see what svchost is doing when it takes up 95%
CPU...
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/utilities/ProcessExplorer.mspx

 

[Ed Metcalfe]

Process Monitor (from the same site) would probably be of use as well...

Ed Metcalfe

 

[Ronaldo]

Thanks for the tip!..

--------------------------

Process Monitor (from the same site) would probably be of use as well...

Ed Metcalfe

 

[Rock]

I'm helping a friend diagose an odd problem on his rather old AMD system
running XP with current updates. At times, usually a minute or two after
booting the computer, something kicks in and takes up ~95% of the CPU and
is
shown as SVCHost in Taskmgr. This will tie up the CPU for up to four
minutes at a time, rendering his box literally useless.

I suspected it was indexing or some other service, so I set up services
like
I have on my box, which doesn't have the problem. However, the issue
continued. Is there a way to find out what SVCHost is doing when it
undertakes this activity?

When you use Automatic Updates to scan for updates or to apply updates to
applications that use Windows Installer, you experience issues that involve
the Svchost.exe process
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932494/en-us

 

[Michael Mastergeorge]

I got this from another newsgroup but it worked for me:

I've been stuggling with this problem myself. After days of looking
online, installing patches, and people telling me I had a
virus.....sort of hard to do since it was a FRESH install.
None-the-less, I'm glad someone has a solution that works.

 

[PA Bear]

Try deleting the contents of this folder (or the folder itself) & reboot:

C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\DataStore

If no joy, try deleting the contents of this folder (or the folder itself) &
reboot:

C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution

Also see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927891

Workaround: Change the default from Microsoft Update to Windows Update: Go
to Microsoft Update > Click on Change Settings in left pane > Scroll to
bottom of page > To Stop Using Microsoft Update > Disable Microsoft Update
software and let me use Windows Update only (check).