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At random times, the svchost process takes a lot of memory, and the PC becomes unusable. A screenshot is below.

Is it a known issue? How can I found out what causes it, and how can it be fixed?

enter image description here enter image description here

Paul
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  • Really all you've told us is that your PC becomes unusable. That `svchost` sometimes takes a lot of memory is normal and common knowledge and doesn't help us troubleshoot your problem. How did this problem start? When does it happen? How long does it last? What makes it go away? In what way is the PC unusable? Etcetera. – David Schwartz Jul 12 '15 at 11:27
  • @DavidSchwartz are you saying that a 800 MB memory usage of `svchost` is normal? I don't think so. Is there a way to identify which of the listed services is responsible for the memory usage? – Paul Jul 12 '15 at 11:29
  • Yes, I'm telling you it could be normal, particularly on a PC with lots of memory and without an SSD. (Which may or may not apply to you since you've told us nothing about your PC.) Why don't you think so? I mean, it might be evidence of a problem, but without a problem description, how could anyone tell? – David Schwartz Jul 12 '15 at 11:31
  • @DavidSchwartz well, it's usually no higher than 100-200 MB. And when this spike happens, it's barely possible to use the PC - everything hangs. System info added to the question. The PC is quite low-end, no SDD and 2 GB of RAM. – Paul Jul 12 '15 at 11:50
  • @einpoklum that question seems to be about CPU usage, although the title is about memory usage. This is a specific Windows 7 question, and has a precise answer, that magicandre1981 has provided. – Paul Aug 09 '15 at 14:54
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    Close voters: based on this question's accepted answer the proposed duplicate...isn't – I say Reinstate Monica Aug 11 '15 at 01:10

2 Answers2

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This is a known issue with Windows Update. Microsoft fixed this issue with the update KB3050265 in June 2015:

Windows Update Client for Windows 7: June 2015
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3050265

Fixes included in this update

This update addresses an issue in which system performance can be decreased during scans. This issue has the greatest effect on computers that have a small amount of physical memory.

Download and install the update Windows6.1-KB3050265-x64.msu.

magicandre1981
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Svchost is a container for windows dll services. Many instances of svchost can and usually will run at the same time. This is not necessarily a bad thing.

One approach is to start disabling services you don't need. Which in general can be a smart move performance wise.

A more direct approach is to run 

tasklist /SVC

Which will list(amongst all processes) the svchost processes and their pid (process id). Check the process id of the svchost instance causing your problem in task manager. And either disable the process if you don't need it, or troubleshoot the underlying cause.

laurisvr
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