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What is svchost.exe?

August 26th, 2008 · by David Bradley >> 8 Comments

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svchost.exe in task managerIf you’re on a Windows machine, you’ve no doubt been forced to do the three-finger shuffle – control-alt-delete (^-alt-del), which was invented as a programmer’s debugging tool by my namesake, David Bradley. Rather than rebooting the machine, Windows brings up the Task Manager, with this command and lets you see what is running on your machine and kill suspicious processes. So, you’ve probably seen entries in the Task Manager list like “svchost.exe”, “jusched.exe”, and “ctfmon.exe” and asked what are they and why are they running?

Microsoft says that svchost.exe is “a generic host process name for services that run from dynamic-link libraries”, in English, it’s a system program that launches other Windows system programs that cannot be run directly without being hosted. So, it’s not a worry, but if you see dozens of svchost.exe entries in Task Manager, you might think about trimming down or disabling unneeded Windows services (How-to Geek has a lot more on identifying what each svchost.exe might be hosting).

Do not confuse svchost.exe with scvhost.exe in which the c and the v are transposed, this could very well be a virus and is not an essential Windows component.

Meanwhile, if svchost.exe is not your concern, then perhaps you’re wondering what “jusched.exe” is doing in your Task Manager list. Well, jusched.exe is the Java Update Scheduler, it uses up a stack of memory to do nothing more than a monthly check of the Java servers and downloads an update. You can disable this task permanently through Windows Control Panel, Java Control Panel section.

Finally, How-to Geek highlights a third Task that you may be curious about, ctfmon.exe. “Ctfmon is the Microsoft process that controls Alternative User Input and the Office Language bar,” How-to Geek says. If you use any of those tools and devices, leave well alone, for the rest of us, you can safely disable ctfmon.exe and H2G explains how-to.

If you’re curious about any other entries you see when you open Task Manager, then leave a comment here giving precise details and the name of the entry and I’ll see what I can find out about it for you.

8 responses so far ↓

  • Anonymous // Oct 31, 2008 at 9:20 pm

    what is slserv.exe, i noticed i can end it without any system problem (OS=windows XP pro)

  • David Bradley // Oct 31, 2008 at 9:25 pm

    slserv.exe is installed alongside Smartlink communication products and offers additional support to the modem service. This program is a non-essential process, but should not be terminated unless suspected 0f causing problems.

  • Tina // Dec 2, 2008 at 8:56 pm

    Microsoft sent an “Error Reporting” message saying that some unexpected errors have happened to programs that i used and i was not asked to send these error reports a that time. Now they are asking for reports. I read the info on svchost.exe, but the entry Microsoft has is svchost.exe.mdmp. Are they the same?

  • David Bradley // Dec 2, 2008 at 9:00 pm

    Is someone requesting the report by email? Sounds suspicious to me. I’d delete it and do a virus/trojan scan on your system if you’ve clicked anything you weren’t 100% sure of.

  • Tina // Dec 2, 2008 at 9:29 pm

    No. I booted my computer up a while ago and it was a box on my screen. I did a screen shot of it and sent it to you. Just wanted to make sure it was safe to send the report as I’ve never gotten one of these boxes before (other than hte ones that pop up immediately).

  • David Bradley // Dec 2, 2008 at 10:49 pm

    Is that Vista? I’ve not looked into error reporting on Vista. I wouldn’t send anything though

  • David Bradley // Mar 4, 2009 at 5:32 pm

    From Tina via email:

    its been a while, but wanted to let you know that it was a trojan. i had virtumunde and zlob and i got rid of it. so basically if you havent heard of virtumunde it was sending me a false report that my computer was having issues and it looked like microsoft was doing it, but it wasnt. once you click on it they wanted you to buy a spyremover program for about $19.00, then it would clean your computer, but not completely. so basically it is a worthless program just out to get your money.

    Thanks again!

    Tina

  • Carlo // Apr 29, 2009 at 8:00 am

    Ciao,
    ti consiglio Process Explorer di mamma Microsoft per comprendere al meglio il funzionamento di questo particolare processo.

    -English-
    Hi, try Process Explorer of Microsoft to know how this process works and how to reduce the resource of its work. Cya!

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