Legitimate process taking all CPU!

Hello,

I know this was posted before (similar), and we were discussing this a few days ago in a thread about SERVICES.EXE, I said then that I solved my problem by restarting the service that the process represent.

Anyway, it worked for a month and now it's coming back! The Print Spooler service (spoolsv.exe) is taking all CPU making the performance unbelievable.

I don't know what to do. I made a temporary solution where I stop the service and start it only when I need to print, but this is not convenient. Should I reinstall the OS? (Windows XP SP2).

 

There may have a corrupted print file stuck in the system32 folder. To fix it do the following:

Click on 'Start' >> 'Run'.

In 'Run' type "cmd" without the quotes and click OK.

In command prompt type "net stop spooler" without the quotes and press Enter.

Now go to C:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\PRINTERS and delete the files there. You may find some '00002.SHD' and '00020.SPL'. or something similar.

Again open command prompt and type "net start spooler" without the quotes and press 'Enter'.

See if the cpu usage is normal.

 

There's a virus/malware going around with the same name; spoolsv.exe or it's very, very close to it (it might be spoolsvs.exe or spoolvs.exe, but it is out there)...