Dec

Why Do I Get Svchost Errors?

By James

By John E. Blake (Contributed)
Svchost.exe is a program used by Windows to run system code. There are a seemingly endless number of svchost error messages. A quick internet search will turn up lots of examples, including an infamous problem related to Windows Update in 2007.

Svchost has been a critical part of Windows for years. So how is it that such an important piece of code has so many bugs? The short answer is: it doesn’t. But if svchost doesn’t have bugs, where do the error messages come from?

To understand that you have to understand how executable code works in Windows.

Svchost.exe Is Executable Code

The EXE at the end of the filename tells you that svchost is a standalone program just like a word processor or spreadsheet. EXE is short for “EXEcutable”, meaning executable code. However, there is another type of file for executable code call a DLL, short for “Dynamic Link Library”. A DLL contains code like an EXE, but it can’t run on its own. A DLL must be run from inside an EXE, that is, it must be hosted by a standalone program.

So What Good Is a DLL?

A DLL is very useful for sharing code. For example, the code to draw Microsoft Office toolbars is in a DLL that is shared by all the Office programs so that each program doesn’t need to duplicate toolbar code. Windows also uses DLLs to implement services, which are utility programs for things like networking that usually run in the background. However, because they are DLLs, services need an EXE to host them – and that’s where svchost comes in. Svchost is geek-speak for “service host”.

Svchost Errors

Svchost handles communication between services and the rest of Windows. When you get a svchost error it’s probably not from svchost itself, but rather from one of the service DLLs it hosts. Services are often newer code that hasn’t had as many bugs worked out yet. When a DLL crashes, the error message is associated with the EXE that hosts it. So when you get a svchost error message, it’s likely that it’s really from one of the services it hosts, not from svchost itself.

Services are linked to svchost via the registry. Corrupted or deleted registry entries can break a service and cause an error in svchost. You can reduce this type of problem by using a registry cleaner to keep your registry consistent.

Boost-Your-PC-Performance can provide you with advanced registry cleaning technology. It will scan, diagnose, and fix svchost errors, leaving you with nothing but a highly-optimized PC.

Click Here to Run a Free Scan for DLL related Errors