Probably, many users of Windows operating systems, regardless of the installed version, faced with a situation where the computer does not shut down immediately, and a message line appears on the screen waiting to close the background programs. The Task Host Windows service is responsible for this . What kind of process is it, why is it needed, how does it work and why does it load system resources, we will consider later in the article. Special attention will be paid to the issues of deactivation of this service and its removal.
Task Host Windows: what is this service?
Many users in situations where, for unknown reasons, an increased load on system resources begins to be observed, immediately call the "Task Manager" and try to establish the cause of this phenomenon. It is right.
But often they find there a rather "gluttonous" process represented by the taskhost.exe executable file. Some consider it a virus. It could be like that too.
However, let's look at the original Task Host Windows process . What kind of service is this? This is a system component that is responsible for calling or accessing dynamic libraries loaded at the moment of launching some programs into RAM. It is clear that not all applications can be represented exclusively as EXE files. A vivid example of this is the executable components of dynamic libraries (DLLs).
The service itself, unlike two more similar ones (rundll32.exe and svchost.exe), which can be launched as several separate processes with the same name, never starts again. In other words, it calls all libraries alone, while the other two processes share the load between running copies. Hence the load on resources.
Excessive resource load with Task Host Windows: how to fix it?
It is believed that this component is guilty of computer braking only in one case - if it is a virus. We’ll talk about its removal separately. Now let's see what can be done to reduce the load on system resources.
First of all, you need to call the "Task Scheduler" (you can use the administration section) and activate the item for showing hidden tasks in the view tab.
If you navigate through the directory tree through the Scheduler libraries, you can see that the Task Host Window program is located in the RAC section and is represented by the RacTask component. To get rid of this process, you need to use the PCM menu, where the shutdown is selected, and then reboot the system.
Can I delete a service file?
However, many users do not stop there. They are painfully interested in answering the question about how to remove Task Host Windows (and in general, how safe it is).
In principle, as practice shows, there is nothing particularly critical in this. At least the reviews of users who deleted the file responsible for starting the service indicate that nothing happened to the system. However, for security reasons, it is best not to. And if you do, then only at your own peril and risk.
This is the Task Host Windows service. What it is is a little understandable. Now let's look at the location of its executable EXE component (taskhost.exe file). The standard location of the latter is the System32 system directory, located in the main system directory, from where it needs to be deleted. But to perform such actions is necessary only in Safe Mode. With normal boot, the system will not do this.
What if it is a virus?
Finally, a few words about the most unpleasant situation associated with the Task Host Windows process. What could it be in terms of viral infection? Immediately, we note that this is a rather dangerous threat, capable of destabilizing the operation of Windows to such an extent that even system processes cannot be executed due to an excessive increase in the load on resources.
You can determine that this is a virus in the same “Task Manager”. The first sign is two or more processes of the same name. Which one is the virus? The original service has the launch attribute LOCAL SERVICE and no other. Another determination method is viewing through the PCM menu on the selected process the file location. If it differs from System32, you can be sure that it is a virus. The original file has a size of no more than 50 Kbytes, and the virus reaches 150 Kbytes or more. Identified folders and files must be deleted immediately in manual mode. As it turns out, this can be done without much difficulty.
Well, then you need to run some portable anti-virus scanner or AdwCleaner utility and check the system for virus or spyware components, remove threats if they are found, and finally clean the system with some utility to optimize or remove computer debris, including registry.
Instead of a total
That's it for the Task Host Windows service. What kind of processes these are in different versions, I think, is already clear. It remains to add that it is generally not recommended to deal with their removal. You never know what can happen. One user is fine, while the other can have the most unpredictable consequences. With viruses, too, everything is simple. As you can see, even manual deletion helps, since the threat itself is not masked in the system and does not create its own copies.