Why is SVChost.exe using up so much ram..?

imported_goku

Diamond Member
Mar 28, 2004
7,613
3
0
I've got four instances of this "program" running and of the 4, one of them is consuming 25MB of ram and I'm not sure why. The rest use up like 3MB, I close the 25MB one and the system doesn't crash, I can browse the network and internet is fine, so what gives?
 

oog

Golden Member
Feb 14, 2002
1,721
0
0
yes, if it happens to wrap a critical service.

edit: you can get a tool called process explorer from www.sysinternals.com and it can tell you what other modules each process is loading in this way, you may be able to identify what that particular instance of svchost.exe is doing.
 

imported_goku

Diamond Member
Mar 28, 2004
7,613
3
0
Originally posted by: oog
yes, if it happens to wrap a critical service.

edit: you can get a tool called process explorer from www.sysinternals.com and it can tell you what other modules each process is loading in this way, you may be able to identify what that particular instance of svchost.exe is doing.

thats what I was using, it didn't tell me much except a lot of DLLs. Problem with process explorer is the fact its bad at reporting how much memory is being used.
 

Markbnj

Elite Member <br>Moderator Emeritus
Moderator
Sep 16, 2005
15,682
14
81
www.markbetz.net
Just get the process ID of the instance that is using a lot of memory in Task Manager, and then look for that same process ID in process explorer.

In general svchost.exe is something you want to leave alone. It runs Windows services that are built as DLLs. Just a generic process wrapper for loading these DLLs and registering their state with Service Manager.
 

bsobel

Moderator Emeritus<br>Elite Member
Dec 9, 2001
13,346
0
0
Originally posted by: goku
I've got four instances of this "program" running and of the 4, one of them is consuming 25MB of ram and I'm not sure why. The rest use up like 3MB, I close the 25MB one and the system doesn't crash, I can browse the network and internet is fine, so what gives?

This is normal (and not a big deal, at all, it's amazing how much you think optimizing out a couple meg matters on a current OS). Run tasklist /svc to see a breakdown of what each of those is doing.

But if your not happy, just delete svchost.exe from the system32 directory ;)
 

xtknight

Elite Member
Oct 15, 2004
12,974
0
71
svchost.exe 1156 DcomLaunch, TermService
svchost.exe 1236 RpcSs
svchost.exe 1324 AudioSrv, Browser, CryptSvc, Dhcp, dmserver,
EventSystem, FastUserSwitchingCompatibility,
lanmanserver, lanmanworkstation, Netman,
Nla, RasMan, SENS, SharedAccess,
ShellHWDetection, TapiSrv, Themes, W32Time,
winmgmt
svchost.exe 1364 Dnscache
svchost.exe 1404 LmHosts, WebClient

It lists like this. If you kill the PID 1236 (RpcSs) your Windows is definitely history. The others may not completely shut down your Windows, but they will render it inoperable. I strongly recommend AGAINST closing any of the svchost.exes. All you'll gain from doing that is a less functional Windows.
 

Markbnj

Elite Member <br>Moderator Emeritus
Moderator
Sep 16, 2005
15,682
14
81
www.markbetz.net
Agreed. Just as importantly, you should identify which service is loading and manage it from the service manager. If you kill the process you may corrupt any data it was working with, and it will be back after the next reboot anyway.

Of the services that xtknight listed, you can safely disable the DHCP service and the RAS (Remote Access Server) Manager service if you are not acting as a dial-up server. You don't need any of the RAS-oriented services if you are not doing any dial-up. You also do not need the fast user switching service if you don't log onto the box with multiple accounts.

There are a number of sites out there that specialize in windows optimization, including specifying which services are essential and which are optional. If you are interested in optimizing your memory usage and the number of running processes, I would start there rather than playing around in Task Manager.
 

bsobel

Moderator Emeritus<br>Elite Member
Dec 9, 2001
13,346
0
0
Originally posted by: Markbnj
Agreed. Just as importantly, you should identify which service is loading and manage it from the service manager. If you kill the process you may corrupt any data it was working with, and it will be back after the next reboot anyway.

Of the services that xtknight listed, you can safely disable the DHCP service and the RAS (Remote Access Server) Manager service if you are not acting as a dial-up server. You don't need any of the RAS-oriented services if you are not doing any dial-up. You also do not need the fast user switching service if you don't log onto the box with multiple accounts.

There are a number of sites out there that specialize in windows optimization, including specifying which services are essential and which are optional. If you are interested in optimizing your memory usage and the number of running processes, I would start there rather than playing around in Task Manager.

FYI, yhat is the DHCP client in that list, not server.
 

imported_goku

Diamond Member
Mar 28, 2004
7,613
3
0
Originally posted by: bsobel
Originally posted by: goku
I've got four instances of this "program" running and of the 4, one of them is consuming 25MB of ram and I'm not sure why. The rest use up like 3MB, I close the 25MB one and the system doesn't crash, I can browse the network and internet is fine, so what gives?

This is normal (and not a big deal, at all, it's amazing how much you think optimizing out a couple meg matters on a current OS). Run tasklist /svc to see a breakdown of what each of those is doing.

But if your not happy, just delete svchost.exe from the system32 directory ;)

I'm NOT goanna delete it... Great way to have a NON functioning system...
 

imported_goku

Diamond Member
Mar 28, 2004
7,613
3
0
Originally posted by: bsobel
Originally posted by: Markbnj
Agreed. Just as importantly, you should identify which service is loading and manage it from the service manager. If you kill the process you may corrupt any data it was working with, and it will be back after the next reboot anyway.

Of the services that xtknight listed, you can safely disable the DHCP service and the RAS (Remote Access Server) Manager service if you are not acting as a dial-up server. You don't need any of the RAS-oriented services if you are not doing any dial-up. You also do not need the fast user switching service if you don't log onto the box with multiple accounts.

There are a number of sites out there that specialize in windows optimization, including specifying which services are essential and which are optional. If you are interested in optimizing your memory usage and the number of running processes, I would start there rather than playing around in Task Manager.

FYI, yhat is the DHCP client in that list, not server.

Yup