What is svchost.exe and is it Safe or is it a Virus?

[Bookman]

If you’re like me, you enjoy opening up Task Manager to review what applications are running as well as inspecting other important details about your system. Here, you have likely noticed several instances of svchost.exe running. Like me, you may wonder what it’s function is or, if it’s a virus, malware or an application gone wrong.

[jonsmaradona]

If you’re like me, you enjoy opening up Task Manager to review what applications are running as well as inspecting other important details about your system. Here, you have likely noticed several instances of svchost.exe running. Like me, you may wonder what its function is or, if it’s a virus, malware, or an application gone wrong.

[Bookman]

The problem with the command line is, it just brings up even more weird looking processes that appear as mysterious as svchost itself. So here is where we need to download a program from Microsoft called Process Explorer.

Process Explorer is a fantastic application written by Microsoft to help you understand the nuts and bolts about Microsoft Windows. Once you have it running, you can highlight individual processes and see what each process is doing. The tool has been around since Windows XP and continues to be supported and updated for Windows 10.

[Bookman]

Now that we know a DLL file is, it should be easier to understand why svchost is called a “generic host.” All it does is load DLL files so they can run and execute system applications. So it’s nothing to worry about right? Well, there is the possibility that you could download a virus that could make your innocent svchost load up some DLLs from the dark side. Keeping your computer updated with all of the Microsoft Security Updates and running an anti-virus app should minimize the chance of this.

[BrightHulk]

The good news is, svchost.exe isn’t a virus or artificial intelligence taking over your computer. The bad news is, it’s mysterious and good at hiding exactly what it’s done — by design. That said, with a bit of digging, we can learn quite a bit about what exactly svchost.exe is doing on your computer.