Svchost.exe Errors and How to Troubleshoot Them

The generic program svchost.exe is the utility which runs the dynamic link libraries which provide the continuously running services on your computer. Windows services include many things we use while working on the computer, like; the date and time we need to look at once in a while, the music we listen to, installing and uninstalling services, the windows firewall and lots of others. You can find listings of these services on the internet.

Multiple instances of svchost.exe may be run depending on what service you have knowingly or unknowingly instructed Windows to perform. Svchost.exe runs several services at the same time. Most of the svchost.exe errors stem either from the competition for the resources of the computer among the running services or from errors within the dll files themselves which includes missing and corrupted files.

When you are running Windows the instances of svchost.exe which are running can be seen in the task manager. You may notice many entries in the task managers “Image Name” column in of the processes tab and the memory usage for each running instance of svchost.exe. When the total memory usage of processes running in the task manager comes close to the memory limit of your computer, svchost.exe errors can start and the computer begins to show signs of slowing down. Before the signs of slowing down become indications of a crash, you should stop instances of svchost.exe that are not running useful services, particularly if you notice that is consuming a huge amount of memory.

On the other hand, if you don’t know enough about the computer system to be able to identify the source of svchost.exe errors that you can safely stop, restarting your computer might do the trick.

Besides overcrowded memory space, svchost.exe errors may also come from errors in the dll files themselves. The files may have been corrupted or may have been removed as when you uninstall programs and check the option to remove all dlls associated with that program. Dlls are actually small applets that are needed by one or more of the applications on your computer. The appropriate dlls needed by an application are installed and registered at the time the application is added to the system.

When and if you decide you want to remove a program from your computer, you are often asked to confirm whether you want to remove all dlls associated with that application and you should respone with a “No to all.” Having two or three duplicates of a dll is better than losing it altogether. The first situation is relatively harmless while the second situation is a serious svchost.exe error and will disable all programs that require that dll.

Remedying svchost.exe errors caused by corrupted dlls files is as easy as reinstalling a program. Svchost.exe errors due to missing files, on the other hand may be a bit harder to troubleshoot so that you should never remove files which are shared when uninstalling software to prevent svchost.exe errors.

Svchost.exe errors may also come from malicious agents in your computer which are constantly altering files. So if after you have reinstalled all the programs you removed and rebooted your system the svchost.exe error still occurs, you should be making backups of your files and preparing to reformat your computer for a fresh system installation.