If you have ever looked at the list of processes that are running on your PC, you will find nearly a dozen different processes that are all running under the same name: svchost.exe. These are usually not related to any process that you have started yourself, and you can't get rid of them. So what are they?

Microsoft says that the svchost.exe processes are just a generic name for services that run from dynamic link libraries. In simpler terms, when Microsoft switched service files to the .dll extension, there was no way to directly launch the .dll file from Windows. So to get around this problem, the svchost.exe was created.

The svchost.exe processes will usually not get in your way. Even though there might seem like a lot of them running at any given time, you will find that if all of the processes were completely separated instead of grouped together in svchost.exe files, you computer would not be able to function.

Want to do something about all of these files? Well, there are really no clear cut ways to cut down on the svchost.exe files that are running. To get your computer to run efficiently, make sure that you are only running the services that you need at any given time. And if you get a svchost application error, there are a few svchost application error tips that you can follow in order to check out the process and see what is going on.

First, you will want to know what the particular svchost.exe process is connected to which service. This will require you to open up your Task Manager and then check the "show processes from all users" box. You can also check this from the task list command from the command prompt if you prefer.

For Windows Vista, all you have to do is right click on the process and select "Go to Service" in order to see what svchost.exe is running what service. Once you have found out what svchost is connected to which services, you will have a few choices. First, you can leave the process alone. Second, you can disable the svchost.exe process and see if this corrects the problem. Windows will also give you other options if you think that you will still need this process, but do not want it running all the time. You can choose to keep is a manual process so that you can turn it on and off whenever you like. You can also keep it automatic, or automatic with a delayed start. This can help with the time is takes for Windows to start up if you feel that it is too slow.

If none of these svchost application error tips have helped you, you can always check out Microsoft's online resources to see if they have any further information for your particular system. Since you will find these processes on any system that works with Windows, there are a lot of resources available to discuss the topic further.