How to fix svchost.exe problem in Windows 7?

“Don’t let the fear of losing be greater than the excitement of winning.”

— Robert Kiyosaki

In this article, we are going to talk about svchost.exe, the problems it may cause to your computer and how to fix them in Windows 7.

Svchost.exe (Service Host, or SvcHost) is a system process that hosts many Windows services in the operating system. It was introduced in Microsoft’s Windows 2000. Svchost is vital for the implementation of shared service processes, where many services can share a process to reduce resource consumption. It groups many services into a single process to conserve computing resources. The downside to this is that if one of the services has a problem, the entire process may crash. Also identifying the problematic service is difficult even for experts. Svchost.exe is located in C:\windows\system32\svchost.exe

The main problem that users encounter and complain about is that svchost.exe is using up excess Memory resources and CPU without obvious reasons. There are several reasons why this happens:

1. Your computer may be infected with a virus
2. There is a service which uses high memory resources
3. Your Event Viewer Log is Full
4. Windows Update problems

We are going to talk about the solution to all the above-mentioned problems

Solution 1

Computer viruses are very common nowadays. Users are often tricked into downloading them into their computers in various ways: for example, malicious websites spam your email with infected attachments. They force you to open such emails with links to malicious software, which gives them access to your computer files. Note that Svchost.exe is located in C:\windows\system32\svchost.exe, and if you find it in another location, then it is a virus.

There are many anti-malwares tools on the internet, but I will recommend you to use Auslogics anti-malware. This software will automatically scan your PC for harmful and potentially harmful files, which are then quarantined or deleted. It also removes unwanted files from your PC, clears up space, and increases the speed and performance of your computer.

Solution 2

Here you will need to find and disable the service that causes the Svchost high usage problem. Many programs and services need Svchost.exe in order for them to run. So, you need to find which service or program runs under the svchost.exe process and is excessively using memory and CPU resources. When you find the program or service, disable it or uninstall it from your PC. Do it, using the following steps:

1. Press Ctlr + Alt + Del on your keyboard, then open Task Manager.
2. Go to the Processes tab, and at the bottom of the tab, check the Show processes from all users checkbox.
3. Look for the high usage svchost.exe process, right-click on it and select Go to Services.
4. You will see some highlighted services that run under the svchost.exe at the Services tab.
5. In this tab, you need to find the process that is excessively using your CPU resources: you can do that in 2 ways.
6. Using Google, perform a sequential search of all the highlighted services to see if the search service is vital for your PC or not. Because disabling a vital service or program can cause your PC to malfunction.
7. You can stop the services sequentially until CPU resources return to normal.

To temporary stop a service, right-click on it and choose Stop Service.

• After you figured out which service or program is the culprit, go to Services in Computer Management and disable that service or totally remove it.

To disable a service permanently:

1. Press Window key + R to open the Run command box.
2. Type sevices.msc in the run command box and press Enter.
3. In the Services management window, right-click on the service or program and choose Properties. Note that, in most cases, Windows Update Service is the culprit.
4. At the General tab, change the Startup type to Disable, then press Apply and Ok to save the changes made.
5. Restart your computer.

Solution 3

Empty the Event Viewer Log. Sometimes, large log files in the Windows event viewer may be the cause of[AB17]  the svchost.exe high CPU or Memory usage problem. So, clearing the Event Viewer’s log can solve the problem. To do this, use the following steps:

1. Press the Windows Key + R to open Run command box.
2. Type eventvwr in the run command box and press Enter.
3. In the Event Viewer box, double-click on Windows Logos to expand it.
4. In the drop-list right-click on Application and choose Clear Log.
5. Perform the above steps to clear the Security, Setup, and System log.
6. Restart your computer.

Solution 4

Fix for Microsofts’ svchost windows 7 issue. [AB18] Sometimes Windows searches for updates in the background, and this[AB19]  may lead to the Svchost.exe high memory or CPU usage problem. Perform the following steps to fix[AB20] the svchost windows 7 error:

Step 1. Trick Windows to recreate an empty Windows Update Store folder on your PC.

The Windows Update Store folder where Windows stores the downloaded updates is called the SoftwareDistribution folder. You will face problems during Windows update if this folder is corrupted. So, try to trick Windows to re-create a new empty SoftwareDistribution folder [AB22] by using the following steps:

1. Press Windows key + R to open Run command box.
2. Type services.msc in the run command box and press Enter.
3. Scroll down to Windows Update service, then right-click on it and select Stop.
4. Now, go to the C:\Windows folder.
5. Delete the SoftwareDistribution folder or rename it to SoftwareDistributionOLD.
6. Restart your PC.
7. The next time your computer checks for Windows updates, it will automatically create a new folder to store the updates.
8. Restart your PC again and then check for updates.
9. If you still encounter problems with the svchost.exe, then try the next step.

Step 2. Run Windows Update troubleshooter.

First, download Microsoft’s Windows Update Troubleshooter to your computer.

1. Open Windows Update Troubleshooter and select Accept at the first screen.
2. Select the Detect problems and apply the fixes for (Recommended) options.
3. This program will fix the problem with Windows Update.
4. Restart your PC.
5. If you still encounter problems with svchost.exe high CPU and Memory usage after you check for updates, then try the next step.

Step 3. You will need to install the latest version of Windows Update Agent.

To do this:

1. Go to Windows Update Agent download site and download the latest package for your Windows 7.
2. Run WindowsUpdateAgent.exe.
3. First close all open programs.
4. On the Windows Update Agent Installer box[AB23] , choose Next.
5. In the next box, choose “I agree” and click Next.
6. Click on Finish. The installer will finish the installation.
7. Restart your computer.

Step 4. Install critical Microsoft Security Bulletin MS13-097.

Go to https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/security-updates/SecurityBulletins/2013/ms13-097 and download the appropriate Internet Explorer Cumulative Security Update for your Internet Explorer and Windows Version. Run “IE11_Windows*-KB289875*.exe”. Now, restart your PC and check the updates again.

Step 5. Fix corrupted Windows System files[AB24]  by using the System Update Readiness tool (DISM tool).

1. Go to System Update Readiness tool download site and download the DISM tool for your Windows version.
2. Install the downloaded file.
3. Restart your computer when the installation is completed.

Here are some other solutions you may try:

Case 1: Uninstall the KB2562937 from Installed Updates, then restart your computer.

Case 2: download and install the Security Update KB2993651 according to your operating system version.

•        Security Update for Windows 7 for x86 based Systems (KB2993651)
•        Security Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB2993651)
•        Security Update for Windows 8.1 for x86-based Systems (KB2993651)
•        Security Update for Windows 8.1 for x64-based Systems (KB2993651)

Restart your computer.

I hope this article has solved your problem with svchost.exe on Windows 7. Please share this article with others who encounter similar problems with svchost.exe.

Do you have any ideas or questions regarding this issue?

We are looking forward to your comments!