New user + feedback on svchost.exe problem

Hi there,
I've used the MajorGeeks site for malware removal, so here is my way of perhaps contributing by helping others.

I recently had a problem with svchost.exe taking up 99% of CPU for several minutes, effectively locking the system. I thought it was a virus or spyware, so I went through the cleanup process. The tools found /cleaned a few problems and things got better for a while (2-3 days).

Just now I got the svchost.exe problem again on a supposedly clean system so I checked the network activity screen on my firewall (Outpost trial version). Lo and behold the problem seems to be Automatic Update!!!

If you folks at MajorGeeks agree with this, please add an appropriate comment in the correct forum, or point me in the right direction so I can do it myself.

I am running WinXP SP1 on s Toshiba Portege 4000 (750MHz PIII) with 512MB RAM.

Thanks,

-- Hossein

P.S. I have a screenshot showing this nicely, but the filesize is 122KB so the website won't let me attach it.

 

Welcome online! You might think about reducing the size or trimming the image (latter is probably the right way to go). I'm not an expert on this, so I'll let wiser heads advise.