JSI Tip 2060. What is Svchost.exe and why does Task Manager show more than one of them?.

%SystemRoot%System32Svchost.exe is a generic process name for service groupings that run from DLLs.

When you start your Windows 2000 computer, it checks the registry at:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftwareMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionSvchost for each Value Name. How many Value Names you have, depend upon wether you are running W2K Pro or one of the Servers, and what is installed. Multiple groups allow better control and debugging.If you look at:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESystemCurrentControlSetServicesParameters

you will see that only services with a populated ServiceDll value name have an entry in a Svchost Value Name. This is a type REG_MULTI_SZ data type, so you should use Regedt32 to view it. Click in the MULTI-STRING Editor to deselect the entries, or you may destroy them while looking.