It is quite normal to have several instances of svchost running. It is used by many of the XP services.
If you want to reduce the number of things running in the background, you could disable some services that XP starts automatically, but which, depending on your setup, you might not need. See:
You could also look to see what programs you have set to load at startup.
You can do that from msconfig, or if you have Spybot S&D, it makes it easy to exclude items you don't want and put them back in later if you do.
To open msconfig, click start, run, type msconfig, click OK. Look at the startup tab. Uncheck any programs you don't need. You will need to restart your PC and it will open with a message that you are in selective mode, and msconfig will open again. That's your chance to revise the changes you made. If your'e happoy with the changes, click the checkbox at the bottom of the message box and next time you restart it won't come up again.
You can also get information on what the startup items relate to (should that not be clear from the description in msconfig) from Pac startup list:
------------------------
Process File: svchost or svchost.exe
Process Name: Service Host Process
Description: Application that works as a host process for services that run from dynamic link libraries.
Company: Microsoft Corp.
System Process: Yes
Security Risk ( Virus/Trojan/Worm/Adware/Spyware ): No
------------------------
Running 45 processes is NOT. Standard user only needs about 25. Anything extra is absolutely unnecessary, and may significantly degrade system performance.
Well it depends on how you want to run your PC and what you find convenient to have running.
I notice on your site you recommend deleting all programs in the startup folder. Actually, I have three that I want there. I did, of course, disable those services I did not want, and removed entries at the \run keys in the registry for things I did not want. But I actually use the indexing service and system restore and, and.... Also, of course AV and firewall softwarerun in the background.
For my way of running my PC, about 40 processes run under most conditions, of which about 20 are system, the others me. I have no problems at all (Dimension 8300, 3GHz, 512MB RAM, XP SP1 home), certainly no 'significant degradation'.
fireberd
9 Legend
•
33.4K Posts
0
August 6th, 2004 17:00
That sounds about normal for an XP system. I have XP pro and right now I have 41 running and 4 copies of Svchost.exe.
JRosenfeld
2 Intern
•
4.4K Posts
0
August 6th, 2004 17:00
It is quite normal to have several instances of svchost running. It is used by many of the XP services.
If you want to reduce the number of things running in the background, you could disable some services that XP starts automatically, but which, depending on your setup, you might not need. See:
http://www.beemerworld.com/tips/servicesxp.htm
http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm
http://www.theeldergeek.com/services_guide.htm
for three sites with good advice.
You could also look to see what programs you have set to load at startup.
You can do that from msconfig, or if you have Spybot S&D, it makes it easy to exclude items you don't want and put them back in later if you do.
To open msconfig, click start, run, type msconfig, click OK. Look at the startup tab. Uncheck any programs you don't need. You will need to restart your PC and it will open with a message that you are in selective mode, and msconfig will open again. That's your chance to revise the changes you made. If your'e happoy with the changes, click the checkbox at the bottom of the message box and next time you restart it won't come up again.
You can also get information on what the startup items relate to (should that not be clear from the description in msconfig) from Pac startup list:
http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_content.php
Scroll down to the programs section and download the startups.exe, that allows you to look up items off line.
Spybot S&D is highly recommended for malware/spyware scanning. See
http://www.cjwd.demon.co.uk/compsafetyonline.html
100mph
1.2K Posts
0
August 6th, 2004 17:00
Please see the link in my signature.
tryan7
4 Posts
0
August 6th, 2004 18:00
Thank you all for your responses. I was worried that I had gremlins running.
Judy
100mph
1.2K Posts
0
August 6th, 2004 20:00
------------------------
Process File: svchost or svchost.exe
Process Name: Service Host Process
Description: Application that works as a host process for services that run from dynamic link libraries.
Company: Microsoft Corp.
System Process: Yes
Security Risk ( Virus/Trojan/Worm/Adware/Spyware ): No
------------------------
Running 45 processes is NOT. Standard user only needs about 25. Anything extra is absolutely unnecessary, and may significantly degrade system performance.
JRosenfeld
2 Intern
•
4.4K Posts
0
August 6th, 2004 23:00
100mph,
Well it depends on how you want to run your PC and what you find convenient to have running.
I notice on your site you recommend deleting all programs in the startup folder. Actually, I have three that I want there. I did, of course, disable those services I did not want, and removed entries at the \run keys in the registry for things I did not want. But I actually use the indexing service and system restore and, and.... Also, of course AV and firewall softwarerun in the background.
For my way of running my PC, about 40 processes run under most conditions, of which about 20 are system, the others me. I have no problems at all (Dimension 8300, 3GHz, 512MB RAM, XP SP1 home), certainly no 'significant degradation'.