Svchost process slowly adds memory until programs start crashing

[elstie]

One of the svchost processes will slowly start to add memory to itself until it's eaten up enough to start crashing other applications.

If I restart the computer, it will start over, but then the problem starts again. It's seemingly random when it starts to eat up memory. It could take a day to accumulate or hours.

Process explorer is unable to show me which service within that svchost is the culprit. Not sure where to go from here.

 

[UsernameIssues]

Welcome to the Seven Forums.

Have you setup Process Explorer to send file hashes to VirusTotal?

See this post: http://www.sevenforums.com/system-security/320426-process-explorer-16-a.html#post2681060

You might also want to scan your computer with one or more offline scanners:
What is Windows Defender Offline?
Download Kaspersky Rescue Disk 10

 

[Sir George]

One of the svchost processes will slowly start to add memory to itself until it's eaten up enough to start crashing other applications.

If I restart the computer, it will start over, but then the problem starts again. It's seemingly random when it starts to eat up memory. It could take a day to accumulate or hours.

Process explorer is unable to show me which service within that svchost is the culprit. Not sure where to go from here.

Try using "msconfig" to diagnose the problem.

How to use MSCONFIG in Windows 7: NetSquirrel.com

HTH

 

[elstie]

Welcome to the Seven Forums.

Have you setup Process Explorer to send file hashes to VirusTotal?

See this post: http://www.sevenforums.com/system-security/320426-process-explorer-16-a.html#post2681060

You might also want to scan your computer with one or more offline scanners:
What is Windows Defender Offline?
Download Kaspersky Rescue Disk 10

VirusTotal wasn't showing anything as being malicious. When I scanned with Windows Defender offline it didn't come up with anything meaningful. I did the full scan overnight.

One of the svchost processes will slowly start to add memory to itself until it's eaten up enough to start crashing other applications.

If I restart the computer, it will start over, but then the problem starts again. It's seemingly random when it starts to eat up memory. It could take a day to accumulate or hours.

Process explorer is unable to show me which service within that svchost is the culprit. Not sure where to go from here.

Try using "msconfig" to diagnose the problem.

How to use MSCONFIG in Windows 7: NetSquirrel.com

HTH

Do you mean to disable things in the Startup tab and see if everything goes ok in order to narrow down the culprit?

 

[Sir George]

Welcome to the Seven Forums.

Have you setup Process Explorer to send file hashes to VirusTotal?

See this post: http://www.sevenforums.com/system-security/320426-process-explorer-16-a.html#post2681060

You might also want to scan your computer with one or more offline scanners:
What is Windows Defender Offline?
Download Kaspersky Rescue Disk 10

VirusTotal wasn't showing anything as being malicious. When I scanned with Windows Defender offline it didn't come up with anything meaningful. I did the full scan overnight.

One of the svchost processes will slowly start to add memory to itself until it's eaten up enough to start crashing other applications.

If I restart the computer, it will start over, but then the problem starts again. It's seemingly random when it starts to eat up memory. It could take a day to accumulate or hours.

Process explorer is unable to show me which service within that svchost is the culprit. Not sure where to go from here.

Try using "msconfig" to diagnose the problem.

How to use MSCONFIG in Windows 7: NetSquirrel.com

HTH

Do you mean to disable things in the Startup tab and see if everything goes ok in order to narrow down the culprit?

Correct! See the following link for a better explanation of how to use Msconfig. The section for Vista works the same for Windows 7;

How To Troubleshoot Your Windows With The MSconfig Utility

HTH

 

[elstie]

Correct! See the following link for a better explanation of how to use Msconfig. The section for Vista works the same for Windows 7;

How To Troubleshoot Your Windows With The MSconfig Utility

HTH

Ok. So here's the thing. Once the svchost process that is the culprit rears its head, I'm able to right-click it in the task manager and go to services. All the services that encompass it are highlighted in the list. Does this already narrow down the field for me?

If so, just based on this list, these seem like very important services to keep open (while the article says to leave important services that you don't know anything about activated).

Once it starts acting up again, I can post a list of these services, if that's helpful.

 

[Sir George]

Correct! See the following link for a better explanation of how to use Msconfig. The section for Vista works the same for Windows 7;

How To Troubleshoot Your Windows With The MSconfig Utility

HTH

Ok. So here's the thing. Once the svchost process that is the culprit rears its head, I'm able to right-click it in the task manager and go to services. All the services that encompass it are highlighted in the list. Does this already narrow down the field for me?

If so, just based on this list, these seem like very important services to keep open (while the article says to leave important services that you don't know anything about activated).

Once it starts acting up again, I can post a list of these services, if that's helpful.

The best place to start is Msconfig.

Read the article at the following link which will give you an idea of what svchost.exe does.

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/what-is-svchostexe-and-why-is-it-running/

HTH