Is this file (see title of thread) important? Or, could it be a virus?
- Jinx
According to my right-click on the executable itself, it is a “Generic Host Process for Win32 Services”.
I have 4 instances of it running, one of which eats 20mb or so every time i start up my computer. This one i terminate on a regular basis and another one pops up, usually eating around 5mb or so.
Mailbox
Wow, you’re brave to trust that Windows can handle your happy trigger finger. I don’t trust Microsoft products nearly that much.
From the MS link given above:
“At startup, Svchost.exe checks the services portion of the registry to construct a list of services that it needs to load. Multiple instances of Svchost.exe can run at the same time. Each Svchost.exe session can contain a grouping of services, so that separate services can run, depending on how and where Svchost.exe is started. This allows for better control and easier debugging.”
From the other link:
“Many services, drivers, and modules load at system startup and are essential to system operation. Even though they show up in Task Manager, they’re still critical.”
Any idea why it might cause an error and have to be closed – and apparently you can continue using things like Word and MSIE, with two exceptions – cut-n-paste either won’t work at all or works sporadically, and clicking on a link in MSIE that normally would open in a new window does absolutely zilch.
I have to bump this thread. Let me explain. I, and at least 8 people I know, are having issues identical to what Polycarp described and what I assume the OP was refering to. I had to type in the links provided by Mr. Blue Sky and Antimanics manually; I really love whatever is going on.
Polycarp, your reply seems to fit with what I am experiencing in MS Outlook 2000. Outlook works fine until I receive the following error message: “svchost.exe has generated errors and will be closed by Windows. You will need to restart the program. An error log has been created <OK>.”
After this, MS Outlook 200 will not send/receive. This appears to be the handiwork of a virus, I presume. What can I do to counteract this? Will virus scan and check back here ASAP…but IIRC virus scanning will come up clean.
Help Me! Help Me!
- Jinx
Yeah, the links don’t work. But, what do you mean you have to bump this thread? Where are you bumping it, and are you an Administrator? If so, why doesn’t your “handle” identify you as such? - Jinx
(Jinx, Heat of Gold means just to kick it back to the top of the page so others might view it before it falls. . . or am I being whooshed?)
Bumping is just posting a new message, perhaps with no content, to move a thread further up on the forum’s list (possibly off page 2) so it will get more attention. It’s not moving the thread off the forum.
It’s been a long, night…and the end is not in sight. Please tell me what this would accomplish? Would it make the links worl correctly, or is “Heat of Gold” trying to take a poll as to how many are experiencing the same problem? - Jinx very
Jinx:
I doubt I can solve your problem remotely, and I’m not even sure if I could if I were at your keyboard. A friend once had a very similar problem that I’m pretty darn sure was caused by the installation of a BellSouth DSL connection and related software. Have you installed something similar lately? I’m just curious although I know that there’s lots of things that could have caused your problem.
Well, for even more information than was given above try reading under the “Shared Service Processes” heading at this link:
http://www.winnetmag.com/Articles/Index.cfm?ArticleID=8943&pg=3
If it’s all Greek to you, maybe you can give it to someone you know who is more PC savvy. I hope it helps!
Ah Jinx, I simply did not want the thread to fall into the abyss. I am having the same difficulties as you are and I wish them to be solved. I realize this must be very hectic for you, or maybe it just seems that way from the outside looking in. By bump, I did indeed mean bring to the top of the list of threads. No harm intended by my choice of wording in this or any previous posts. I apologize for any discomfort I may have caused you.
I recently switched to BellSouth for ISP, using dial-up, but installed their MSIE 5.x over my quite functional 5.0 – the CD gave me no choice on this. I’ve had nothing but problems since, slightly alleviated by downlading MSIE 6.0 Svc Pack 1 from the Microsoft site.
I am not sure if the BellSouth IE install is related. I am not saying that it couldn’t be, but lets look at odds here. Several people on the sdmb and multiple friends of mine are having these problems. I know that I am having exactly the same problems as you, Polycarp and Jinx, have described, but I have not changed my isp in over a year. The problems are only days (maybe 2 or 3?) old.
Allow me to list what I know so far:
-friends (but not me actually) are having their computer randomly shut down (with a nice little warning message too)
-friends (I haven’t burnt anything in several days and I am pretty lazy so I haven’t tried) also claim cd burning difficulties
-office/IE difficulties
- media player malfunctions
I have to apologize right now if this post is incoherient (and horribly misspelled) because I am working on this problem with friends as I try to type this post out.
Now, it only seems to shut down on xp (I have 2000) and when it does shut down it says that it is shut down by “NT Authority System” and has an accompanying RPC error message (Remote Procedure Call).
Once again I apologize for my crazy post.
I also started getting similar svchost/rpc errors on my Windows 2000 box today; I had never had them before.
This is not the only thread concerning this problem on the SD/GQ, so I guess it’s been spreading fast and furious lately.
Symantec calls it W32.Blaster.Worm.
Network Associates calls it W32/Lovsan.worm.
I would post links, but part of this worm’s effect is to make cut/paste erratic; I can’t cut and paste the urls at the moment. Search for “virus alerts” at google, the major players in the anti-virus game have updates on this worm today. Network Associates inclues a link to “Stinger,” an apparently free mini-tool for virus removal; I’ll try it out and follow up.
HeartOfGold:
My sympathies, but you have a trojan that has been going around like crazy. There are several threads (to say the least) discussing this, and this one should answer all your questions:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=203867
It looks like I’ll just be duplicating info contained in the thread voltaire points out if I say much more.
I’ll note that the free Stinger program did work, though.
This is odd…
I definitely had the MSBlaster.exe thing on my WinXP system, and my computer was shutting down, but only when I was connected to the internet.
And I didn’t have any of the other problems people are mentioning.
I wonder what is different in my case… not that I’m complaining of course… 
-FrL-