Question:
Is it safe to kill a svchost.exe process if i know it has a virus?
2009-06-24 13:22:21 UTC
I am 100% sure i have an infostealer virus in one of my svchost.exe processes. I have 8 of them running, but I would like to know if it is safe to kill the process using process explorer. I don't know if it is a legit svchost with a virus in it, or if it is a fake one running fake processes to confuse me ;) somebody who knows what they are talking about help?
Six answers:
xxxyyyzzz
2009-06-25 09:50:30 UTC
Svchost.exe is a process on your computer that hosts, or contains, other individual services that Windows uses to perform various functions.

There can be multiple instances of svchost.exe running on your computer, with each instance containing different services. One instance of svchost.exe might host a single service for a program, and another instance might host several services related to Windows.



How to Remove Infostealer from Your Computer



To completely purge Infostealer from your computer, you need to delete the Windows registry keys and registry values associated with Infostealer. These registry keys and values are respectively listed in the Registry Keys and Registry Values sections on this page.



For instructions on deleting the Infostealer registry keys and registry values, see the following section How to Remove Infostealer from the Windows Registry.

How to Remove Infostealer from the Windows Registry



The Windows registry stores important system information such as system preferences, user settings, and installed programs details as well as the information about the applications that are automatically run at start-up. Because of this, spyware, malware, and adware often store references to their own files in your Windows registry so that they can automatically launch every time you start up your computer.



To effectively remove Infostealer from your Windows registry, you must delete all the registry keys and values associated with Infostealer, which are listed in the Registry Keys and Registry Values sections on this page.

IMPORTANT: Because the registry is a core component of your Windows system, it is strongly recommended that you back up the registry before you begin deleting keys and values. For information about backing up the Windows registry, refer to the Registry Editor online help.



To remove the Infostealer registry keys and values:



1. On the Windows Start menu, click Run.

2. In the Open box, type regedit and click OK.

The Registry Editor window opens. This window consists of two panes. The left pane displays folders that represent the registry keys arranged in hierarchical order. The right one lists the registry values of the currently selected registry key.

3. To delete each registry key listed in the Registry Keys section, do the following:

* Locate the key in the left pane of the Registry Editor window by sequentially expanding the folders according to the path indicated in the Registry Keys section. For example, if the path of a registry key is HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\software\FolderA\FolderB\KeyName1, sequentially expand the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, software, FolderA, and FolderB folders.

* Select the key name indicated at the end of the path (KeyName1 in the example above).

* Right-click the key name and select Delete on the menu.

* Click Yes in the Confirm Key Delete dialog box.

4. To delete each registry value listed in the Registry Values section, do the following:

* Display the value in the right pane of the Registry Editor window by sequentially expanding the folders in the left pane according to the path indicated in the Registry Values section and selecting the specified key name. For example, if the path of a registry value is HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\software\FolderA\FolderB\KeyName2\,valueC=, sequentially expand the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, software, FolderA, and FolderB folders and select the KeyName2 key to display the valueC value in the right pane.

* In the right pane, select the value name indicated after a comma at the end of the path (valueC in the example above).

* Right-click the value name and select Delete on the menu.

* Click Yes in the Confirm Value Delete dialog box.



Registry Keys:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\clsid\{f369da09-fade-44cb-987f-e2e0def51bca}

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\interface\{49a188c9-bdd7-430a-8f01-c9eaaa65f359}

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\popupbho.cbho

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\popupbho.cbho.1\clsid

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\typelib\{6c01440a-7479-40e3-ac7e-b6f452c2bf17}

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\software\microsoft\windows\currentversion\explorer\browser helper objects\{f369da09-fade-44cb-987f-e2e0def51bca}



refer:

http://www.symantec.com/security_response/writeup.jsp?docid=2000-122016-0558-99&tabid=3



P.S: dont kill the processes. in fact if u click "show processes from all users", u will see more svchost.exe processes!!
Rainbow
2009-06-26 13:23:47 UTC
Svchost.exe is a Windows system process file. I suggest not modifying this file because it is essential for Windows OS. But the location of the file is also important because viruses can carry exactly the same names as systmem files as long as they are not in the same location with sytem files. That is why I suggest scanning you computer with this free X-Ray My PC scanner:

http://www.xraymypc.com/scanner.html

It will list all processes and provide the risk info about them
?
2016-05-24 14:49:38 UTC
that's a very bad virus! the anti-virus software will cost money... i had a trojan virus that was on level 6 (1-10) and i had to take out the whole operating system on my computer. after i did that i downloaded McAfee Security for free and haven't had any problems since.
Stormende
2009-06-24 13:42:21 UTC
I bet you have norton av, hmmm anyway get stinger and check your puter, if nothing is detected then the processes you see opened are legit, depends on the OS you have you can have plenty of them, ie I have right now 6 of them, all legits and I am running XP Pro on this puter.
2009-06-24 13:34:45 UTC
if you stop one of them chances are your computer is gonna shut down or restart the processes are gonna come back up and probobly in a different order so i sudgest stopping a processes tree instead of just one but thats just my opinion or u can get trendmicro and get rid of the virus
2009-06-24 13:40:10 UTC
infostealer removal http://www.lavasoftsupport.com/index.php?showtopic=5814


This content was originally posted on Y! Answers, a Q&A website that shut down in 2021.
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