The Wizard3
Owner / Designer
Global user
Registered: 06-2006
Location: Castle Belgalor
Posts: 1858
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What is svchost? - Is it a virus ?
A lot of people have got this abbreviation mixed up with the virus called svhost This was an email I had today from an online friend who lives in Australia.
Hi,
After reading in a computer magazine yesterday about svhost.exe being a virus, I thought I had a reason my computer was acting in a similar way.
I have checked in Device Manager but could not find svhost.exe, but I did find 7 entries for svchost.exe, which were using up over 26,000KB of memory!
I ran a full system scan with Norton Anti-Virus, which is supposed to detect worms and other threats but nothing showed up. What is it and is it necessary for it to be running at all times?
I also have 4 other processes hogging memory which are,
vsmon.exe - 26,000kb
imapp.exe - 12,000kb
ccapp.exe - 15,000kb
ccsetmgr.exe - 12,000kb
What are they and can they be safely disabled?
Thanks
Terry
Here is my reply and fix to this question
Hi Terry,
In short, NO, it's not safe to disable any of those. To answer your first question, don't confuse svhost.exe which IS a virus, with svchost.exe which is an essential part of Windows.
The virus writers have played on the name svhost to hide themselves when people attempt diagnostics like you have.
The svchost process is used by programs when they need access to certain Windows functions. It won't be picked up Norton or other virus detection programs as it is not a virus.
As for your 4 other processes terry, they are all used by your security software.
vsmon - This is part of your Zone Alarm firewall
ccapp - This is used by Norton
ccsetmgr - This is used by Norton
imapp.exe - This is used by Incredimail email program you have installed
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22/2/07, 21:27
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