Svchost.exe high usage warning pop-up from Norton

[YajasK]

Norton insight shows svchost.exe the most resource taking application. This only appears when I am surfing on web. Recently I switched to chrome and added some free plugin on it. When I launch the browser it takes time to load, but once it is on it simply works properly. It looks that there is some hidden malware. I had gone on Norton forums which has similar thread. The users there says that chrome apps might have malware because of which the system resource is utilized at high rate. But when I run complete system scan that does not really shows any kind of infection. I am a bit confuse here. I am sure Chrome does not has any malware issue yet. Only thing that irritates is high system usage.

[shetty]

You said that you had added apps in your browser. Run Google chrome and then press ctrl + alt + del to launch task manager. In that go in processes. Check in the list there will be multiple chrome.exe server running. This is because of those apps installed in the browser. The higher number of widget you use the more system resource is consumed. This is not really a virus but its a chrome feature. So it is recommended that you must use the most least needed apps only.You can remove chrome and then re-install it back again. All plugin will be wiped out. Then check in Task Manager your system resource will be on minimal usage. But still if the same thing appear then it is a clean indication of malware or any virus in your system. Services associated with svchost cannot be terminated because they are system files. Run a full system can. Norton is a good antivirus, it will detect and remove the virus when found.

[Eeshwari3]

High cpu usage is caused by many things. It is not just the browser. There can be some background services in your system which is eating up your system resource. Remove unwanted software from your system first.

[Dalajit]

Until you receive any popup warning from Norton your system is not infected. Norton keeps a track on suspicious file. So first check your antivirus is updated. Run Windows update once. A number of time this kind of issues are fixed by Windows update. Because last time when I found the same issue, the service which was associated with it was Windows update. I downloaded them once, installed them and then turned off Windows update. Till now there is no issue and everything works fine.

[Badrinath]

There is a small tool called Process Explorer. Install this. This tool gives you the list of all apps in detail and the cpu usage. Check that you can track the file associated with Svchost.exe. If not then boot in safe mode and then run the tool back again.