Vap0r

Does anybody know what this is and if it is critical to running a system?

At times I find it hogging 95% CPU power for no particular reason, killing it solves the problem but it gets tedious when it happens so randomly.

Rampage

It's a "generic host process" used by Windows. It *is* critical to running the OS (the times I've ended the process, my system begins a reboot immediately).

I would say there's something bumping heads in your system if this is hogging 95%. As an example, I've seen this happen if I try to go to a web site that typically opens a new IE session but won't actually do anything. I get tired of waiting and close IE (sometimes with Task Manager). In these cases, I often see svchost.exe spiking upward. I found the root of this particular problem to be with Spybot S&D 1.3 on very specific systems (removing Spybot or disabling the SDHelper.dll will stop this problem).

As for what's causing it on your system, I haven't the foggiest. But maybe that will give you some ideas.

=DdogG=

there should be 5 svchost.exe 's running at all times. they are all critical processes,

the critical processes list is:

svchost.exe
svchost.exe
svchost.exe
svchost.exe
svchost.exe
explorer.exe
lsass.exe
services.exe
winlogon.exe
csrss.exe
smss.exe
System
System Idle Process

everything else is expendable. if there is something not on this list that you cannot turn off, then you need to make sure you know what it is, that you want it there, and that it is what it says it is. aol, symantec, and mcaffee are the worlds worst for putting crap in there that you cannot get rid of.

there are times you need a barebone system (defragging or doing an online virus scan), and when you cannot turn something off, it is very frustrating. AVG can go completely away in three steps.....

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Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. -Albert Einstein
The two most common elements in the universe are Hydrogen and stupidity. -Harlan Ellison

If all else fails: "rm -rf /"

TheFeniX

Virus's can use svchost.exe or can actually spoof the name: Quick google Search.
http://www.experts-exchange.com/Secu..._21328869.html

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Scooper

Got a great program the other day. lemme crank up my notebook....

Aha... got it from TechRepublic. It's called "Windows Service Process Identifier script" You'll have to register to download it HERE. (but you can read the paragraph)
So I uploaded it for ya. Click Here if you wanna just score it off my space.

Read the .pdf file as it warns of the anti-virus warnings because it's a script.
Puts out a nice little Excel file like this SS:

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Chuck Norris can believe it's not butter

DarkWombat

But just so you know, it's normal to have multiple processes of scvhost.exe . Some viruses disguise themselves, poorer ones diguise themselves as SCVH0ST.EXE (that's a zero, not an O), but if you're feeling suspicious and have slowdowns, scan your computer and run a spyware removal program like Spybot and/or Adaware.

USN_Squid

I found this great guide to windows services. I've used this site before and they are usually very good.

Beginners Guides: Understanding and Tweaking Windows XP Services

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