computers! Help!

Hi everyone, this is on behalf of Maria who is exeperiancing some trouble with her laptop.

See, the problem is that svchost.exe (for "system") is running, and using 100% of the CPU's resources (according to the task manager). It does this when the laptop is turned on, and dosnt stop. I dont want to end the process, as it seems to be connected to the system and therefore could mash it all up

Whats going on, and will it stop it?! To turn off her laptop, we have to hold down he power button - its too busy running the svchost to turn off the normal way (via "start").

Matt

bummer. get a mac













hehe, windows tends to get full of ****. Its hard to pinpoint what the svchost.exe is as alot of applications use it. Go in to add/remove hardware and get rid of anything your sure you don't need. I used to get sick of the amount of software you get with printers, cameras etc that open up on startup. Also download a spyware cleaner, as these take up resources. There is a point of no return for pcs though, i tend to put 'my documents' on an external drive then just reformat. Its like having a new computer!

[fizzwheel]

Congratulations you have a virus and or spyware infestation I would suspect.

SVCHOST is critical to windows, but its also full of holes and security vulnerabilities.

So update or install AV
Download a spyware remover such as adaware personal edition
Visit Microsoft.com and download all the critical updates

And I suspect it'll start working a lot more smoothly again. I do this before I started hacking out hardware / software drivers you dont think you need, especially if you dont know much about windows / computers. Its really easy to mess your PC up.

Agree with Fizzwheel, sounds like you have a virus, either from a website or a something you have downloaded.
Important things - Antivirus, updates ( especially critical and IE), Error checking and defraging.