what does svchost.exe mean?

Question

its on the task manager under processes. is it bad? what does it do? please help

Answer 1

The Svchost.exe file is located in the %SystemRoot%\System32 folder. At startup, Svchost.exe checks the services part of the registry to construct a list of services that it must load. Multiple instances of Svchost.exe can run at the same time. Each Svchost.exe session can contain a grouping of services. Therefore, separate services can run, depending on how and where Svchost.exe is started. This grouping of services permits better control and easier debugging.

Answer 2

Svchost.exe is a generic host process name for services that run from dynamic-link libraries (DLLs).
MORE INFORMATION
The Svchost.exe file is located in the %SystemRoot%\System32 folder. At startup, Svchost.exe checks the services part of the registry to construct a list of services that it must load. Multiple instances of Svchost.exe can run at the same time. Each Svchost.exe session can contain a grouping of services. Therefore, separate services can run, depending on how and where Svchost.exe is started. This grouping of services permits better control and easier debugging.

Svchost.exe groups are identified in the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Svchost
Each value under this key represents a separate Svchost group and appears as a separate instance when you are viewing active processes. Each value is a REG_MULTI_SZ value and contains the services that run under that Svchost group. Each Svchost group can contain one or more service names that are extracted from the following registry key, whose Parameters key contains a ServiceDLL value:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Service
To view the list of services that are running in Svchost: 1. Click Start on the Windows taskbar, and then click Run.
2. In the Open box, type CMD, and then press ENTER.
3. Type Tasklist /SVC, and then press ENTER.
Tasklist displays a list of active processes. The /SVC switch shows the list of active services in each process. For more information about a process, type the following command, and then press ENTER:
Tasklist /FI "PID eq processID" (with the quotation marks)
The following example of Tasklist output shows two instances of Svchost.exe that are running. Image Name PID Services
========================================================================
System Process 0 N/A
System 8 N/A
Smss.exe 132 N/A
Csrss.exe 160 N/A
Winlogon.exe 180 N/A
Services.exe 208 AppMgmt,Browser,Dhcp,Dmserver,Dnscache,
Eventlog,LanmanServer,LanmanWorkstation,
LmHosts,Messenger,PlugPlay,ProtectedStorage,
Seclogon,TrkWks,W32Time,Wmi
Lsass.exe 220 Netlogon,PolicyAgent,SamSs
Svchost.exe 404 RpcSs
Spoolsv.exe 452 Spooler
Cisvc.exe 544 Cisvc
Svchost.exe 556 EventSystem,Netman,NtmsSvc,RasMan,
SENS,TapiSrv
Regsvc.exe 580 RemoteRegistry
Mstask.exe 596 Schedule
Snmp.exe 660 SNMP
Winmgmt.exe 728 WinMgmt
Explorer.exe 812 N/A
Cmd.exe 1300 N/A
Tasklist.exe 1144 N/A

The registry setting for the two groupings for this example are as follows:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Svchost:
Netsvcs: Reg_Multi_SZ: EventSystem Ias Iprip Irmon Netman Nwsapagent Rasauto Rasman Remoteaccess SENS Sharedaccess Tapisrv Ntmssvc
RApcss :Reg_Multi_SZ: RpcSs

Answer 3

svchost.exe is a system process belonging to the Microsoft Windows Operating System which handles processes executed from DLLs. This program is important for the stable and secure running of your computer and should not be terminated.

Recommendation for svchost.exe:
Should not be disabled, required for essential applications to work properly.


p.s. next time try a google.com search before yahoo answers. google can answer more tech questions.

Answer 4

It is a very important part of Windows. I have quite a few instances of it running on my computer, so don't worry about it unless it's taking up too much system resources