Help.Svc.exe is hogging my cpu...

Hello!

Oddest thing happened for the first time ever today. Comp had been left unattended for 2 hours and when I came back, CPU was used to 100% by something that the Taskmanager identified as Help.Svc.exe

I run a search for the bugger to see where it was located, to see what it was. It doesn't exist on my computer, extended search to hidden stuff and sys files as well.

A search on the net suggests it is a win xp problem that was corrected with SP2. I've also found people saying it is a trojan, but that seems unlikely.

Anyone have better info on what this bugger is, and what I can do to tell it to mind its own business? My puter doesn't need that much help, it is quite capable of taking care of itself for 2 hours!

I'm running Win XP, SP2, updated on winupdate 2 days ago.

I have just installed Kaspersky Internet Security 6.0. Been on Norton before, but put on a system image and installed Kaspersky a few days ago. A scan earlier today revealed nothing.

 

you can disable it in the taskmanager then check in your services in your adminstrative tools in the control panel.

 

Solange et Scott.
I run a program called "The Ultimate Troubleshooter" and in it's notes on SVCHOST it says:"An integral part of Windows, leave alone. Multiple runnings of SVCHOST is normal".
I'm not a wizz kid but had to speak up on this one.
(Bygosh, as if I don't have enough troubles of my own )
Cheers.

 

The following may or may not work:

Or try chaning the "Help and Support" service to manual under services.msc.

 

i knew it need to be disable somehow and was wrong about going to services

 

so i was right about the services huh.

 

Well, disabling the service gets rid of the help and support option. But, setting this to manual, will only start the service only when it is needed.

Probably modifying the registry entry might be the best solution, but I did find another solution that was more tedious.

And this just dawned on me, that one can alway re-install xp sp2 (JUST THE SERVICE PACK), to perhaps fix this.

 

Bleh!

Reinstalling SP2 isn't an option, slipstreamed windows cd. Don't have time to reinstall OS this week, so that will have to wait. Guess I'll try to poke around a bit in the registry instead. Or disable it, who needs help and support anyway... http://members.chello.se/solange/smileys/Rotfl.gif

Thanks for your help! And for confirming that it was a part of windows, and not a trojan as was suggested in a helpforum where I searched for the answer...

 

Is it helpsvc.exe or help.svc.exe, because the second is indeed a trojan/spyware. If it's the first try this: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;839017

 

It was the second one, Help.Svc.exe. The process hasn't re-occured though, neither Kaspersky or online scanners has picked up on anything unusual, and a simple search for it reveals nothing.

I'm wondering if it was a ghost I saw!

Or if my av proggie dealt with it and forgot to inform me... For now, I'm guarding my cpu like a hawk, I'll get back to you if I'm in trouble!

Thanks for your help!

 

Hrm, I was thinking it was a typo, since I also saw the help.svc.exe issue also, being a trojan.

 

A typo? Me? Never!

I've searched the registry for the key mentioned in the symantec thread. Not there. I've also searched for the .dll file. Seems my computer is clean. Only solution I can think of is that the AV found it and dealt with it. There are a few entries in the backup log, but the names don't look like they have anything to do with this. I guess that must be what happened though. Don't you just love the mystery of computers!

 

If it hapens again, here is the site for Symantec to cure it for you.
http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/backdoor.madfind.html
The trojan is named "help.svc.exe" to try and look like a valid Microsoft component.
Good that it's gone though.