Sunday, 30 September 2012

What is svchost.exe And Why Is It Running?

You are no doubt reading this article because you are wondering why on earth there are nearly a dozen processes running with the name svchost.exe. You can't kill them, and you don't remember starting them… so what are they?
So What Is It?
According to Microsoft: "svchost.exe is a generic host process name for services that run from dynamic-link libraries". Could we have that in english please?
Some time ago, Microsoft started moving all of the functionality from internal Windows services into .dll files instead of .exe files. From a programming perspective this makes more sense for reusability… but the problem is that you can't launch a .dll file directly from Windows, it has to be loaded up from a running executable (.exe). Thus the svchost.exe process was born.
Why Are There So Many svchost.exes Running?
If you've ever taken a look at the Services section in control panel you might notice that there are a Lot of services required by Windows. If every single service ran under a single svchost.exe instance, a failure in one might bring down all of Windows… so they are separated out.
Those services are organized into logical groups, and then a single svchost.exe instance is created for each group. For instance, one svchost.exe instance runs the 3 services related to the firewall. Another svchost.exe instance might run all the services related to the user interface, and so on.
So What Can I Do About It?
You can trim down unneeded services by disabling or stopping the services that don't absolutely need to be running. Additionally, if you are noticing very heavy CPU usage on a single svchost.exe instance you can restart the services running under that instance.
The biggest problem is identifying what services are being run on a particular svchost.exe instance… we'll cover that below.
If you are curious what we're talking about, just open up Task Manager and check the "Show processes from all users" box:
Checking From the Command Line (Vista or XP Pro)
If you want to see what services are being hosted by a particular svchost.exe instance, you can use the tasklist command from the command prompt in order to see the list of services.
tasklist /SVC
The problem with using the command line method is that you don't necessarily know what these cryptic names refer to.
Checking in Task Manager in Vista
You can right-click on a particular svchost.exe process, and then choose the "Go to Service" option.
This will flip over to the Services tab, where the services running under that svchost.exe process will be selected: 
The great thing about doing it this way is that you can see the real name under the Description column, so you can choose to disable the service if you don't want it running.
Using Process Explorer in Vista or XP
You can use the excellent Process Explorer utility from Microsoft/Sysinternals to see what services are running as a part of a svchost.exe process.
Hovering your mouse over one of the processes will show you a popup list of all the services:
Or you can double-click on a svchost.exe instance and select the Services tab, where you can choose to stop one of the services if you choose.
Disabling Services
Open up Services from the administrative tools section of Control Panel, or type services.msc into the start menu search or run box.
Find the service in the list that you'd like to disable, and either double-click on it or right-click and choose Properties.
Change the Startup Type to Disabled, and then click the Stop button to immediately stop it.
You could also use the command prompt to disable the service if you choose. In this command "trkwks" is the Service name from the above dialog, but if you go back to the tasklist command at the beginning of this article you'll notice you can find it there as well.

Tuesday, 6 March 2012

Bypass The Windows XP Log On Screen


To make logon an unattended process:
Click [Start] [Run] and type

control userpasswords2

Click [OK]

The [User Accounts] Property Sheet displays.

On [Users] tab, clear the [Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer] check box.

Click [Apply].

Enter a user name and password that should be used to logon automatically in the dialog box that appears.

Click [OK].

Go to [Control Panel] [User Accounts] [Change the Way Users Log On and Off].

Uncheck [Use the Welcome Screen] and [Use Fast User Switching]

The Sun sets on XP as Microsoft phases it out despite interest

Windows XP has been the iconic operating system since it debuted in October of 2001. By today's standards the computers made back then were little more than large calculators but perhaps I am exaggerating that point. Since that time Windows XP was installed on every single computer sold but now the sun is going to set on the operating system that was known as Windows XP.
Microsoft is intent on no longer making OEM versions of Windows XP, this means computer manufacturers will no longer be able to install XP on systems unless they have a very specific agreement with Microsoft or are just good buddies with them like Dell.
Dell will introduce systems under a Customized with XP slogan, there really isn't much more information on that but these systems won't be on offer until later this year. Other manufacturers will probably just offer Vista on all their systems since Dell is the only one to have strong objections to this so far. But, Dell also has some of the strongest ties with Microsoft so it makes sense THEY could get away with it.
This could also mean that you will no longer be able to pick up OEM copies of XP from online retailers like Newegg and others. It has not been speculated on what this means for full retail copies of XP, my guess is that its demise is not far behind.
APCMag is reporting that by early 2008 most of Microsoft's contracts with computer manufacturers will require them to install Vista only and they wont have a choice. Consumer demand for XP preinstalled on systems is still strong and given the compatibility and performance problems of Vista on SOME systems this move is probably a little premature on Microsoft's part. That isn't going to stop them.
I'm all for Vista, I think it is a nice step forward and believe it or not those backwards compatibility issues with programs is a security feature if older apps can't run that means older viruses or spyware can't run in some cases, I've also noticed lower infection rates across the board on Vista at least for the short few months it has been out.
What will keep most people away from Vista are the hardware requirements. Most consumers will have no choice but to buy a completely new system if they want the full Vista experience and that should include a dedicated graphics card, dual core processor and 1GB to 2GB of memory (laptop or desktop) when buying a computer with Vista.

Creating a Torrent file using uTorrent

By now, you have surely heard of, and probably used, torrent files. While you may know how to use them for downloading distributed content, did you know that you can use uTorrent to create your own torrent file for sharing your content?
1. Open uTorrent.
2. Go to the menu, click File and select Create New Torrent.
3. Once the new window appears, go to the Select Source section and click either the Add file or Add directory button, depending on what your need is. Browse to the desired file or directory, select it, and click the Open button.
4. If you know your Tracker and Web Seed information, enter them in theTorrent Properties section.
5. Click the Create and save as button and browse to the location that you want the file saved to. Click the Save button.

What is svchost.exe And Why Is It Running?

You are no doubt reading this article because you are wondering why on earth there are nearly a dozen processes running with the name svchost.exe. You can't kill them, and you don't remember starting them… so what are they?
So What Is It?
According to Microsoft: "svchost.exe is a generic host process name for services that run from dynamic-link libraries". Could we have that in english please?
Some time ago, Microsoft started moving all of the functionality from internal Windows services into .dll files instead of .exe files. From a programming perspective this makes more sense for reusability… but the problem is that you can't launch a .dll file directly from Windows, it has to be loaded up from a running executable (.exe). Thus the svchost.exe process was born.
Why Are There So Many svchost.exes Running?
If you've ever taken a look at the Services section in control panel you might notice that there are a Lot of services required by Windows. If every single service ran under a single svchost.exe instance, a failure in one might bring down all of Windows… so they are separated out.
Those services are organized into logical groups, and then a single svchost.exe instance is created for each group. For instance, one svchost.exe instance runs the 3 services related to the firewall. Another svchost.exe instance might run all the services related to the user interface, and so on.
So What Can I Do About It?
You can trim down unneeded services by disabling or stopping the services that don't absolutely need to be running. Additionally, if you are noticing very heavy CPU usage on a single svchost.exe instance you can restart the services running under that instance.
The biggest problem is identifying what services are being run on a particular svchost.exe instance… we'll cover that below.
If you are curious what we're talking about, just open up Task Manager and check the "Show processes from all users" box:
Checking From the Command Line (Vista or XP Pro)
If you want to see what services are being hosted by a particular svchost.exe instance, you can use the tasklist command from the command prompt in order to see the list of services.
tasklist /SVC
The problem with using the command line method is that you don't necessarily know what these cryptic names refer to.
Checking in Task Manager in Vista
You can right-click on a particular svchost.exe process, and then choose the "Go to Service" option.
This will flip over to the Services tab, where the services running under that svchost.exe process will be selected: 
The great thing about doing it this way is that you can see the real name under the Description column, so you can choose to disable the service if you don't want it running.
Using Process Explorer in Vista or XP
You can use the excellent Process Explorer utility from Microsoft/Sysinternals to see what services are running as a part of a svchost.exe process.
Hovering your mouse over one of the processes will show you a popup list of all the services:
Or you can double-click on a svchost.exe instance and select the Services tab, where you can choose to stop one of the services if you choose.
Disabling Services
Open up Services from the administrative tools section of Control Panel, or type services.msc into the start menu search or run box.
Find the service in the list that you'd like to disable, and either double-click on it or right-click and choose Properties.
Change the Startup Type to Disabled, and then click the Stop button to immediately stop it.
You could also use the command prompt to disable the service if you choose. In this command "trkwks" is the Service name from the above dialog, but if you go back to the tasklist command at the beginning of this article you'll notice you can find it there as well.

How To Change the Default View Source Editor for Internet Explorer

If you hate using Notepad as the source editor for IE, you can change the default View Source Editor for Internet Explorer by following one of these methods.
You have three choices:
(A) Download software
View Source Editor 
http://www.iconico.com/viewSourceEditor/
“Are you frustrated at Internet Explorer’s insistence on using Notepad when you click View Source? This little application let’s you use any text editor instead of Notepad. All you need to do it choose the program and you’re set.”
(B) Manual Registry Edit
Change default View Source editor in IE 
http://dotnet.org.za/thea/archive/2004/11/25/7933.aspx
(C) Create a Registry File
1. Copy below and paste into Notepad.
———-copy inside only———- 
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\View Source Editor]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\View Source Editor\Editor Name] 
@=”\”C:\\Program Files\\Notepad++\\notepad++.exe\”"
———-copy inside only———-
2. Modify the line @= to suite your choice. 
   (Match the syntax or it won’t work!)
3. Save-as IE_View_Source_Editor.reg (or any name + .reg)
4. Double-click or right-click and merge into the Registry.

Windows XP: Hide 'User Accounts' from users

Go to Start/Run, and type: GPEDIT.MSC 
Open the path: User Config > Admin Templates > Control Panel 
double click "Hide specified Control Panel applets" 
put a dot in 'enabled', then click 'Show" 
click Add button, 
type "nusrmgt.cpl" into the add box 

Share

Twitter Delicious Facebook Digg Stumbleupon Favorites More