Help, please. My computer has some sort of bad program.

[RangerWickett]

I'm running Windows XP, SP2.

Yesterday I installed some automatic updates and turned off my computer. This morning I turned it on, got to the log-in screen, and logged in, but then it said 'updating' or something similiar which suggested to me that it was making sure everything worked after the update.

Well, things didn't work. It sat on that screen for 10 minutes, never even getting to my desktop, and the only way I could turn off the computer was by depressing the power button for a few seconds.

When I restarted, I tried again, and this time I managed to log in and get to my desktop, but I couldn't open any programs without freezing the computer. I tried this several times, including a few times when I logged in to the 'guest' account instead of my own, and still pretty much any program seemed to freeze the computer. I could still open windows and browse my computer, and as long as I had not yet tried to start any other programs, I could use Ctrl-Alt-Delete to get to the task manager.

In the task manager, I discovered that svchost.exe was using about 99% of my CPU resources. Attempts to terminate the program failed and froze the computer. I turned off the power again and this time started up in safe mode, which is how I'm posting here.

Any idea of what's the problem, or how to fix it? The computer is pretty old, but all I really use it for is internet, winamp, and typing, with the occasional low-impact photoshop editing. I was hoping to get a new computer around Christmas time, but I don't have the budget to do so now, at least not a good one.

Help?

 

[Anime Kidd]

I ain't an expert on computers, but from what I little I Google on svchost.exe, it is a normal Windows process but can can also be used for malicous purposes. Seeing how you can post in Safe-mode, maybe you can use StartupList. The program just takes note of any auto-starting programs during startup. Maybe it can find anything that isn't suppose to be there. I know it won't solve the problem, but maybe it help a find what is doing it.

 

[Bront]

Safe mode may help.

Do you have multiple Anti-virus programs running? That can do it sometimes.

svchost.exe is a program inherant with windows, so it shouldn't be the problem.

Not quite sure what is the problem, but if you can boot up in safe mode, and do a restart, that sometimes helps.

 

[caudor]

Check for spyware/adware first.

If you find your svchost file has been compromised, you can repair your installation with your Windows XP CD (easy to do). You'll have to reinstall all the MS patches if you do so, but won't have to reinstall your own software.

Of course, be sure to make a backup of all your data just to be safe.

 

[trancejeremy]

Yeah, it sounds like maybe the windows update corrupted the windows installation. I would guess you might want to try to re-install windows.

 

[Plane Sailing]

svchost is 'service host' - it runs all the services which are running under windows.

OK, you need to find out (if you can) which service svchost is running which is causing you all your problems. I'd do the following

1. Download Process Explorer from sysinternals.com, and hope that I can run it. You can use this to see what services in which svchost are consuming all the CPU (the services within an svchost appear on a tooltip when you mouse over the svchost entry)

2. Use services manager to stop the candidate offending services and set their startup to "Disabled" via the service properties dialog.


Let us know if that is any help.

 

[Mycanid]

Phooey ... Plane Sailing beat me to my suggestion. But this little program he mentions is VERY helpful for trouble shooting things like this. Can't praise it enough!

 

[Simplicity]

Yeah, svchost is an incredibly annoying feature of windows.
A service is essentially a process that can be started or stopped on user request (usually from the services panel in the administrative control panel). But windows runs ALL services under the svchost name. So, it's difficult to find out what process links to which service without other tools.

 

[ssampier]

You could try a System File Check. No guarantees it'll work, but it's worth a shot

Click on Start, Run, type in sfc /scannow.

You'll need your Windows XP CD.

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/...ddocs/en-us/system_file_checker.mspx?mfr=true

 

[RangerWickett]

The problem fixed itself, but I'll look into the other solutions you suggested.