svchost.exe processes in task manager

[pantzi10]

Hy,
I have several svchost.exe processes runing in my task manager(Win XP pro) and some of them take up to 10Megs of memory.
I understand that theese processes run some files (mostly .dll and services) that the computer might need.
Is there any way of nowing if I can kill some of them (there are 4 or 5 at all time running)??
Thanks in advance

 

[soaplover]

Listen carefully , don't just kill svchost.exe 's
Click Start on the Windows taskbar, and then click Run.
In the Open box, type CMD, and then press ENTER.
Type Tasklist /SVC, and then press ENTER.
This gives you a list of what's running under each svchost.exe
e.g
Image Name PID Services
========================= ====== =============================================
System Idle Process 0 N/A
System 4 N/A
smss.exe 904 N/A
csrss.exe 964 N/A
winlogon.exe 988 N/A
services.exe 1032 Eventlog, PlugPlay
lsass.exe 1044 ProtectedStorage, SamSs
svchost.exe 1216 RpcSs
svchost.exe 1376 AudioSrv, Browser, CryptSvc, Dhcp,
EventSystem, FastUserSwitchingCompatibility,
helpsvc, lanmanserver, lanmanworkstation,
Netman, Nla, RasMan, Schedule, seclogon,
SENS, ShellHWDetection, srservice, TapiSrv,
TermService, Themes, TrkWks, W32Time, winmgmt
svchost.exe 1536 Dnscache
svchost.exe 1548 Alerter, LmHosts
spoolsv.exe 1684 Spooler
sstray.exe 324 N/A
iTouch.exe 372 N/A
MXOaldr.exe 380 N/A
CloneCDTray.exe 396 N/A
MBM5.EXE 408 N/A
RivaTuner.exe 472 N/A
jusched.exe 484 N/A
ctfmon.exe 504 N/A
SpySweeper.exe 520 N/A
avgupsvc.exe 540 Avg7UpdSvc
cvpnd.exe 604 CVPND
svchost.exe 808 stisvc
iexplore.exe 1240 N/A
alex.exe 740 N/A
wisptis.exe 3340 N/A
Explorer.EXE 3884 N/A
avgamsvr.exe 1656 Avg7Alrt
avgcc.exe 2792 N/A
avgemc.exe 3864 N/A
cmd.exe 2488 N/A
tasklist.exe 784 N/A
wmiprvse.exe 2680 N/A

It's not smart to kill the svchost with the pid 1376 .
Unwanted services should be deleted elswhere(registry).

//Regards Soaplover

 

[Jontmke]

Sysinternals has a process explorer which will show you this data in a Windows program also. svchost.exe is a generic program that interfaces with other programs. Look at the entries above. What you can do is turn off some of the other services that are not needed which will reduce the need for one or more of these svchost.exe processes.

http://www.theeldergeek.com/

has a nice tutorial on unneeded services you can safely turn off. (disable)

Jon

There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge. (Bertrand Russell)

 

[soaplover]

Freeing some few MB of memory isn't really
that important to me , that is if it was my threadings you were refering to jontmke .As i have 1GB + pagefile to go on. In game playing however i shut down some stuff .
A nice trick for playing games is to setup different hardware profiles .Disable all you wont need in the gamer one .

//Regards Soaplover

 

[jfryer]

I would recommend going to Black Vipers web site for a VERY comprehensive listing of what each service does and what you should or shouldnt disable.

http://www.blackviper.com

Look forthe XP Services in the menu on the left.

Using his recommendations I only have 3 svchost.exe instances, and I have a fully functional machine (For my purposes at least).

-------------------------------------------
There is no magic, only onions
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[linney]

A Description of Svchost.exe (Q314056)

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;314056&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH