Super slow XP - Security Centre

[MobileTechie]

I've been troubleshooting a very slow XP machine that is reported as hanging up and needing rebooting constantly, yet getting substantially faster by the end of the day.

Using PE and Task Manager I've tracked it down to the Security Centre service (an svhost with huge page faults in Task Manager). When this is disabled the machine runs perfectly.

Anyone heard of this before?

I can just leave it disabled but I'd rather find out why. Any ideas?

I'm reinstalling the AV which is Kaspersky IS right not just in case it's related to that.

 

[JRDtechnet]

yeah svhost is a virus.

 

[DarDar]

yeah svhost is a virus.

svhost is not a virus in itself. It is a container that allows for progrmas to run as a service. the hint is in the name - SerVice HOST.

Use process explorer and it will show what app is being run through the particular svhost.

it often associated with being a virus as it is a common ploy for a virus to run through an svhost instance

 

[shamrin]

There is an ongoing problem with Svchost and Windows Update taking tons RAM on some XP machines. The problem is open and unsolved with MS. Are you seeing Wuauclt (SP?) going nuts as well?

You could try turning off Windows Defender (which is really quite useless anyway) and see if it helps, better than switching off Security Center altogether.

/sch

 

[MobileTechie]

yeah svhost is a virus.

................................

 

[MobileTechie]

There is an ongoing problem with Svchost and Windows Update taking tons RAM on some XP machines. The problem is open and unsolved with MS. Are you seeing Wuauclt (SP?) going nuts as well?

You could try turning off Windows Defender (which is really quite useless anyway) and see if it helps, better than switching off Security Center altogether.

/sch

No wuaclt is not a problem. The problem is with the Security Centre service.

It's an XP machine so doesn't have defender on it by default and they didn't install it. So it's nothing to do with defender.

 

[red12049]

I've been troubleshooting a very slow XP machine that is reported as hanging up and needing rebooting constantly, yet getting substantially faster by the end of the day.

Using PE and Task Manager I've tracked it down to the Security Centre service (an svhost with huge page faults in Task Manager). When this is disabled the machine runs perfectly.

Anyone heard of this before?

I can just leave it disabled but I'd rather find out why. Any ideas?

I'm reinstalling the AV which is Kaspersky IS right not just in case it's related to that.

Is it "svhost" or "svchost"?

Rick

 

[ATTech]

svhost is not a virus in itself. It is a container that allows for progrmas to run as a service. the hint is in the name - SerVice HOST.

Use process explorer and it will show what app is being run through the particular svhost.

it often associated with being a virus as it is a common ploy for a virus to run through an svhost instance

That's svchost.exe, not svhost.exe

 

[DarDar]

That's svchost.exe, not svhost.exe

And there was me trying come across all smart!

 

[MobileTechie]

Ah that explains the comments - my apologies! My fault for not spelling it correctly in the first place. I meant svchost of course.

 

[CPU]

You can disable security center and just stay on top of your firewall, virus solution, and windows updats on your own. If its a client you can find the root cause or just seek a repair method. Did it allways do this or did it just start? When did it start? is there any error reports during that time or minidump files? Is the system clean?

 

[atlanticjim]

Ok all

This is one reason that the virus writing guys are so sneaky.

Of course svchost is the MS service host that runs dll services as processes.
Read this article.

scvhost IS a virus. (just google it). note the reversing of the "v" and the "c". Most eyeball scanning will miss that transposition.

svhost I would be very suspicious of.

Note: There are many reports of svchost memory leaks that end up using all available memory but the behavior is usually rapidly decreasing performance after boot not the reverse.

 

[red12049]

Ok all

This is one reason that the virus writing guys are so sneaky.

Of course svchost is the MS service host that runs dll services as processes.
Read this article.

scvhost IS a virus. (just google it). note the reversing of the "v" and the "c". Most eyeball scanning will miss that transposition.

svhost I would be very suspicious of.

Note: There are many reports of svchost memory leaks that end up using all available memory but the behavior is usually rapidly decreasing performance after boot not the reverse.

Hence why I asked to clarify the actual spelling in a previous post.

Rick