What is svchost.exe And Why Is It Running?

You are no doubt reading this article because you are wondering why on earth there are nearly a dozen processes running with the name svchost.exe. You can’t kill them, and you don’t remember starting them… so what are they?

So What Is It?

According to Microsoft: “svchost.exe is a generic host process name for services that run from dynamic-link libraries”. Could we have that in english please?

Some time ago, Microsoft started moving all of the functionality from internal Windows services into .dll files instead of .exe files. From a programming perspective this makes more sense for reusability… but the problem is that you can’t launch a .dll file directly from Windows, it has to be loaded up from a running executable (.exe). Thus the svchost.exe process was born.

Why Are There So Many svchost.exes Running?

If you’ve ever taken a look at the Services section in control panel you might notice that there are a Lot of services required by Windows. If every single service ran under a single svchost.exe instance, a failure in one might bring down all of Windows… so they are separated out.

Those services are organized into logical groups, and then a single svchost.exe instance is created for each group. For instance, one svchost.exe instance runs the 3 services related to the firewall. Another svchost.exe instance might run all the services related to the user interface, and so on.

So What Can I Do About It?

You can trim down unneeded services by disabling or stopping the services that don’t absolutely need to be running. Additionally, if you are noticing very heavy CPU usage on a single svchost.exe instance you can restart the services running under that instance.

The biggest problem is identifying what services are being run on a particular svchost.exe instance… we’ll cover that below.

If you are curious what we’re talking about, just open up Task Manager and check the “Show processes from all users” box:

Checking From the Command Line (Vista or XP Pro)

If you want to see what services are being hosted by a particular svchost.exe instance, you can use the tasklist command from the command prompt in order to see the list of services.

tasklist /SVC

The problem with using the command line method is that you don’t necessarily know what these cryptic names refer to.

Checking in Task Manager in Vista

You can right-click on a particular svchost.exe process, and then choose the “Go to Service” option.

This will flip over to the Services tab, where the services running under that svchost.exe process will be selected: 

The great thing about doing it this way is that you can see the real name under the Description column, so you can choose to disable the service if you don’t want it running.

Using Process Explorer in Vista or XP

You can use the excellent Process Explorer utility from Microsoft/Sysinternals to see what services are running as a part of a svchost.exe process.

Hovering your mouse over one of the processes will show you a popup list of all the services:

Or you can double-click on a svchost.exe instance and select the Services tab, where you can choose to stop one of the services if you choose.

Disabling Services

Open up Services from the administrative tools section of Control Panel, or type services.msc into the start menu search or run box.

Find the service in the list that you’d like to disable, and either double-click on it or right-click and choose Properties.

Change the Startup Type to Disabled, and then click the Stop button to immediately stop it.

You could also use the command prompt to disable the service if you choose. In this command “trkwks” is the Service name from the above dialog, but if you go back to the tasklist command at the beginning of this article you’ll notice you can find it there as well.

sc config trkwks start= disabled

Text Translation at Mobile

Google will soon answer many travelers’ prayers who are literally lost in translation.

The search engine giant today reportedly offered a demonstration on new software it plans to introduce that translates text captured on a phone’s camera, according to industry sources. The demo was Google CEO Eric Schmidt's (News - Alert) keynote speech at Mobile World Congress, a cell phone trade show that is running through Feb. 18 in Barcelona.

During the demo, an engineer took a picture of a German dinner menu with a phone running Google (News - Alert) Inc.'s Android software. An application on the phone sent the shot to Google's servers, which sent a translation back to the phone. The translation: "Fruhlingssalat mit Wildkrautern" as "Spring salad with wild herbs."

While software that translates text from pictures currently exists for some phones, it handles the processing on the phone, the Associated Press (News - Alert) said. By sending the image to Google servers for processing, Google can offer more computing power for faster accurate results.

There was no word on when the software would be available.

Amy Tierney is a Web editor for TMCnet, covering business communications Her areas of focus include conferencing, SIP, Fax over IP, unified communications and telepresence. Amy also writes about education and healthcare technology, overseeing production of e-Newsletters on those topics as well as communications solutions and UC. To read more of Amy's articles, please visit her columnist page.

Finding a Parking Space Could Soon Get EasierFinding a Parking Space Could Soon Get Easier

he Rutgers researchers say that making detailed parking data widely available via Web-based maps or navigation systems could alleviate traffic congestion by allowing travelers to decide whether to park in a central garage, hunt for street parking, or choose another mode of transportation in advance. If drivers choose street parking, it could help by suggesting parking spaces to users through a navigation device or cell phone.

The team, led by assistant professors Marco Gruteser and Wade Trappe, mounted ultrasonic distance sensors on the passenger-side doors of three cars. Using data collected over two months as the drivers commuted through Highland Park, NJ, the researchers developed an algorithm that translated the ultrasound distance readings into a count of available parking spaces that was 95 percent accurate. By combining this with GPS data, they also generated maps of which spaces were occupied and which were open that were over 90 percent accurate. 

Traffic congestion is a huge problem nationwide, particularly in downtown areas. A study by Transportation Alternatives, a New York City transportation advocacy group, found that up to 45 percent of the traffic in Manhattan is generated by cars circling the block looking for parking. In 2006, Donald Shoup, a professor in the department of urban planning at the University of California, Los Angeles, calculated that, over the course of a year, vehicles looking for parking in one small business district of Los Angeles burned 47,000 gallons of gasoline and produced 730 tons of carbon dioxide. The problem is so serious that some cities, such as San Francisco, have invested millions of dollars in "smart parking infrastructure"--systems that detect the presence of vehicles in parking spots using fixed sensors installed into the asphalt or in parking meters.

But such systems work only for metered or slotted parking spaces. They also have large installation and operating costs. The SFpark project in San Francisco covers 6,000 spaces--only about 25 percent of available street parking spots. 

Power your phone with your clothes with Nanofibres...

Recharging your mobile phone, iPod or gadget could soon become as simple as plugging it into your jacket, t-shirt, jeans or shorts... The project to create "energy-scavenging nanofibres" has reached a new level, and such technology looks like becoming a reality.

Hot on the heels of the sustainable energy of the Corky mouse, and the self charging devices that we've talking about recently is the news that the research regarding micro-fibres that contain energy scavening nodes - which allow energy to be transferred is soon to become a reality... read on...

An team of researchers and scientists - originally headed by California University, has created what they call "energy-scavenging nanofibres". A material that could be woven into clothing such as t-shirts and jackets. The idea behind this is that these nanofibres will be able to convert energy from "mechanical stresses" into electricity, and could one day be used to create clothing that can power electronic devices such as mobile phones and other smaller devices.

The nano-sized generators will have “piezoelectric” properties - this basically means that they can create energey by movement (a la Corky mouse).

Mr Liwei Lin - team leader in this project said "This technology could eventually lead to wearable smart clothes that can power hand-held electronics through ordinary body movements". And of course, it does make sense in terms of physics. The more rapid the movement, the more energy that can be created, so running, dancing and other forms of exercise may be able to fully charge a device.

The work is still in research mode, but I'd expect a prototype to be released sometime this year, so stay tuned...

happy women's day...

 

ஏட்டையும் பெண்கள் தொடுவது தீமைஎன்று
எண்ணி இருந்தவர் மாய்ந்து விட்டார்
வீட்டுக்குள்ளே பெண்ணைப் பூட்டி வைப்போம் என்ற
விந்தை மனிதர் தலை கவிழ்ந்தார்
-பாரதியார்

Gentle her touch, so her words
Bless the women for her powers


Women, the truth and the love
Showers on children and her love
Looking nothing, seeking no rewards
Only piety flowing through her glance" 

Proud to be a woman...

"HAPPY WOMEN'S DAY"

Remotely shutdown your computer with cellphone

An A-Z Index of the Windows XP command line

An A-Z Index of the Windows XP command line

   ADDUSERS Add or list users to/from a CSV file

   ARP      Address Resolution Protocol

   ASSOC    Change file extension associations•

   ASSOCIAT One step file association

   ATTRIB   Change file attributes

b

   BOOTCFG  Edit Windows boot settings

   BROWSTAT Get domain, browser and PDC info

c

   CACLS    Change file permissions

   CALL     Call one batch program from another•

   CD       Change Directory - move to a specific Folder•

   CHANGE   Change Terminal Server Session properties

   CHKDSK   Check Disk - check and repair disk problems

   CHKNTFS  Check the NTFS file system

   CHOICE   Accept keyboard input to a batch file

   CIPHER   Encrypt or Decrypt files/folders

   CleanMgr Automated cleanup of Temp files, recycle bin

   CLEARMEM Clear memory leaks

   CLIP     Copy STDIN to the Windows clipboard.

   CLS      Clear the screen•

   CLUSTER  Windows Clustering

   CMD      Start a new CMD shell

   COLOR    Change colors of the CMD window•

   COMP     Compare the contents of two files or sets of files

   COMPACT  Compress files or folders on an NTFS partition

   COMPRESS Compress individual files on an NTFS partition

   CON2PRT  Connect or disconnect a Printer

   CONVERT  Convert a FAT drive to NTFS.

   COPY     Copy one or more files to another location•

   CSCcmd   Client-side caching (Offline Files)

   CSVDE    Import or Export Active Directory data

d

   DATE     Display or set the date•

   DEFRAG   Defragment hard drive

   DEL      Delete one or more files•

   DELPROF  Delete NT user profiles

   DELTREE  Delete a folder and all subfolders

   DevCon   Device Manager Command Line Utility

   DIR      Display a list of files and folders•

   DIRUSE   Display disk usage

   DISKCOMP Compare the contents of two floppy disks

   DISKCOPY Copy the contents of one floppy disk to another

   DISKPART Disk Administration

   DNSSTAT  DNS Statistics

   DOSKEY   Edit command line, recall commands, and create macros

   DSADD    Add user (computer, group..) to active directory

   DSQUERY  List items in active directory

   DSMOD    Modify user (computer, group..) in active directory

   DSRM     Remove items from Active Directory

e

   ECHO     Display message on screen•

   ENDLOCAL End localisation of environment changes in a batch file•

   ERASE    Delete one or more files•

   EVENTCREATE Add a message to the Windows event log

   EXIT     Quit the current script/routine and set an errorlevel•

   EXPAND   Uncompress files

   EXTRACT  Uncompress CAB files

f

   FC       Compare two files

   FIND     Search for a text string in a file

   FINDSTR  Search for strings in files

   FOR /F   Loop command: against a set of files•

   FOR /F   Loop command: against the results of another command•

   FOR      Loop command: all options Files, Directory, List•

   FORFILES Batch process multiple files

   FORMAT   Format a disk

   FREEDISK Check free disk space (in bytes)

   FSUTIL   File and Volume utilities

   FTP      File Transfer Protocol

   FTYPE    Display or modify file types used in file extension associations•

g

   GLOBAL   Display membership of global groups

   GOTO     Direct a batch program to jump to a labelled line•

   GPUPDATE Update Group Policy settings

h

   HELP     Online Help

i

   iCACLS   Change file and folder permissions

   IF       Conditionally perform a command•

   IFMEMBER Is the current user in an NT Workgroup

   IPCONFIG Configure IP

k

   KILL     Remove a program from memory

l

   LABEL    Edit a disk label

   LOCAL    Display membership of local groups

   LOGEVENT Write text to the NT event viewer

   LOGOFF   Log a user off

   LOGTIME  Log the date and time in a file

m

   MAPISEND Send email from the command line

   MBSAcli  Baseline Security Analyzer.

   MEM      Display memory usage

   MD       Create new folders•

   MKLINK   Create a symbolic link (linkd)

   MODE     Configure a system device

   MORE     Display output, one screen at a time

   MOUNTVOL Manage a volume mount point

   MOVE     Move files from one folder to another•

   MOVEUSER Move a user from one domain to another

   MSG      Send a message

   MSIEXEC  Microsoft Windows Installer

   MSINFO   Windows NT diagnostics

   MSTSC    Terminal Server Connection (Remote Desktop Protocol)

   MUNGE    Find and Replace text within file(s)

   MV       Copy in-use files

n

   NET      Manage network resources

   NETDOM   Domain Manager

   NETSH    Configure Network Interfaces, Windows Firewall & Remote access

   NETSVC   Command-line Service Controller

   NBTSTAT  Display networking statistics (NetBIOS over TCP/IP)

   NETSTAT  Display networking statistics (TCP/IP)

   NOW      Display the current Date and Time

   NSLOOKUP Name server lookup

   NTBACKUP Backup folders to tape

   NTRIGHTS Edit user account rights

p

   PATH     Display or set a search path for executable files•

   PATHPING Trace route plus network latency and packet loss

   PAUSE    Suspend processing of a batch file and display a message•

   PERMS    Show permissions for a user

   PERFMON  Performance Monitor

   PING     Test a network connection

   POPD     Restore the previous value of the current directory saved by PUSHD•

   PORTQRY  Display the status of ports and services

   POWERCFG Configure power settings

   PRINT    Print a text file

   PRNCNFG  Display, configure or rename a printer

   PRNMNGR  Add, delete, list printers set the default printer

   PROMPT   Change the command prompt•

   PsExec     Execute process remotely

   PsFile     Show files opened remotely

   PsGetSid   Display the SID of a computer or a user

   PsInfo     List information about a system

   PsKill     Kill processes by name or process ID

   PsList     List detailed information about processes

   PsLoggedOn Who's logged on (locally or via resource sharing)

   PsLogList  Event log records

   PsPasswd   Change account password

   PsService  View and control services

   PsShutdown Shutdown or reboot a computer

   PsSuspend  Suspend processes

   PUSHD    Save and then change the current directory•

q

   QGREP    Search file(s) for lines that match a given pattern.

r

   RASDIAL  Manage RAS connections

   RASPHONE Manage RAS connections

   RECOVER  Recover a damaged file from a defective disk.

   REG      Registry: Read, Set, Export, Delete keys and values

   REGEDIT  Import or export registry settings

   REGSVR32 Register or unregister a DLL

   REGINI   Change Registry Permissions

   REM      Record comments (remarks) in a batch file•

   REN      Rename a file or files•

   REPLACE  Replace or update one file with another

   RD       Delete folder(s)•

   RMTSHARE Share a folder or a printer

   ROBOCOPY Robust File and Folder Copy

   ROUTE    Manipulate network routing tables

   RUNAS    Execute a program under a different user account

   RUNDLL32 Run a DLL command (add/remove print connections)

s

   SC       Service Control

   SCHTASKS Schedule a command to run at a specific time

   SCLIST   Display NT Services

   SET      Display, set, or remove environment variables•

   SETLOCAL Control the visibility of environment variables•

   SETX     Set environment variables permanently

   SFC      System File Checker

   SHARE    List or edit a file share or print share

   SHIFT    Shift the position of replaceable parameters in a batch file•

   SHORTCUT Create a windows shortcut (.LNK file)

   SHOWGRPS List the NT Workgroups a user has joined

   SHOWMBRS List the Users who are members of a Workgroup

   SHUTDOWN Shutdown the computer

   SLEEP    Wait for x seconds

   SLMGR    Software Licensing Management (Vista/2008)

   SOON     Schedule a command to run in the near future

   SORT     Sort input

   START    Start a program or command in a separate window•

   SU       Switch User

   SUBINACL Edit file and folder Permissions, Ownership and Domain

   SUBST    Associate a path with a drive letter

   SYSTEMINFO List system configuration

t

   TASKLIST List running applications and services

   TASKKILL Remove a running process from memory

   TIME     Display or set the system time•

   TIMEOUT  Delay processing of a batch file

   TITLE    Set the window title for a CMD.EXE session•

   TLIST    Task list with full path

   TOUCH    Change file timestamps  

   TRACERT  Trace route to a remote host

   TREE     Graphical display of folder structure

   TYPE     Display the contents of a text file•

u

   USRSTAT  List domain usernames and last login

v

   VER      Display version information•

   VERIFY   Verify that files have been saved•

   VOL      Display a disk label•

w

   WHERE    Locate and display files in a directory tree

   WHOAMI   Output the current UserName and domain

   WINDIFF  Compare the contents of two files or sets of files

   WINMSD   Windows system diagnostics

   WINMSDP  Windows system diagnostics II

   WMIC     WMI Commands

x

   XCACLS   Change file and folder permissions

   XCOPY    Copy files and folders

   ::       Comment / Remark•

Commands marked • are Internal commands only available within the CMD shell.

All other commands (not marked with •) are external commands which may be used under the CMD shell, PowerShell, or directly from START-RUN.