How do I fix this high CPU usage svchost virus or whatever it is?

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It appears there are a number of resolutions to the svchost high usage issue. This occurred on one of my four PCs and turned out to be a DNS Client issue. Some weeks ago I added a new "host" file that exceeded 641K. I replaced the host file with the original which is 1K and the problem is gone.

I had this problem a few months back on my Windows XP SP-2.

When i did a netstat -a i found many ports open...

Then i used a software called proxifier to find out which program is trying to connect to the internet/network... as my firewall didnt come usefull for this...

there was some file (cant remember the name) in windows\system32\...

I deleted it using hijackthis and then my pc was running good for few days...

But the virus came back again...
I guess its a network virus. And not a bug.

this problem occured on my pc 3-4 days ago.
I tried every solution given in this site. Disabled the automatic updates but it didn't work. so downloaded process explorer.
I tracked svchost.exe threads, there i fount that msvcrt.dll is using all the CPU.
can anybody solve this issue?

I too had a problem concerning with svchost virus, I too worked a lot on that, and got a solution, for the help of users, I am providing the link to my article Getting rid of svchost virus. This article is recommended for those who have problem concerning with virus called svchost, and not with those related with printer, or other things. Those viruses cannot be detected using antivirus softwares, they are called as rootkits. Just read my article if you want to fix the virus which I have explained.

Has anyone had this problem AND had explorer hijacked? Using task manager I too changed the HP settings to manual and found another problem: iexplorer keeps launching to ad sites, even when I am using firefox, I see it opening multiple instances in the process window. I have scanned several times for spy/ad/viruses and it seems to keep on happening.

I had a user experiencing long periods (hours) of high CPU utilization from svchost.exe. Unsure that I wanted to run unproven (freeware) "reg cleaner" I learned about Microsoft Process Explorer on this web site and ran it. I was immediately able to determine the cause of the problem.

It was an HP (who else) printer discovery service that was installed during a recent all-in-one printer connection. I shut down the offending service in System Manager and CPU usage dropped instantly. Now I can confidently address my problem with the offender!

Thanks to Ask Leo!, I was able to learn about, identify and correct the problem without the risk of potentially currupting an 'unbroken' registry. Thanks Leo! Scott

My XP computer was running fine UNTIL I installed the hp c7250 printer last week. Now I get the 100% cpu usage with svchost.exe. I can kill the process, but that is temporary. Is there a permanent fix? Has anyone contacted HP about this?

I think I found a fix for my problem, or at least a workaround. My problem was caused by a HP utility called "HP Digital Imaging Monitor". The solution was to go into the "System Configuration Utility" by typing msconfig from the run command. Next, I went to the Startup tab and unchecked "HP Digital Imaging Monitor" so that it wouldn't startup everytime I started my machine. The "HP Digital Imaging Monitor" monitors my connection to the printer and alerts me if I lose the connection. It is really not necessary anyway so it doesn't even need to be installed, so removing from startup will not decrease any functionality of the printer.

THANK YOU DON! I have had this svchost cpu-hogging problem since installing an HP wireless printer. I just stopped the auto startup of "HP Digital Imaging Moniter", and my CPU usage has returned to normal. Hooray!

Leo, thank you very much for your help on this problem. For a few weeks I had been experiencing a sluggish, 100% usage not knowing what the issue was. Coincidently, however I had installed a new HP Wireless D7460 printer, and after reading the comments after the article I thought that would fix the problem. It didn't, so I proceeded to Microsofts Update site and downloaded all the newest available updates. After that didn't work, I searched the update under your 23-May-2007 Update. After installing that and rebooting by computer, I was happy to see my CPU usage to drop to normal levels! Thank you for your help, it's greatly appreciated!

-Jennifer

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