I think I killed it. o.O;' .. Maybe?

[Katheryn]

Hi, umm...
I was trying to remove viruses and stuff a while ago with Hijackthis, and I deleted something called svchost with it.
Now, I know that svchost is important, but I didn't think that it'd be on Hijackthis.

Ever since I did that I have no absolutely no problems with any of my viruses or spyware, but there was a *serious* downside.
I now have no sound, like, at all. My device manager kind of.. doesn't show up... It just says it's blank, and my bottom panel for my start menu, quick launches, etc is stuck in Windows Classic Style because the XP things, such as the metalic one are all.. sort of.. unavailable. (Windows Classic is the only thing on the list.)

Does anyone know how I could fix my problem, or even what I did in the first place?
It'd be appreciated if someone could e-mail me, because.. well.. I'm sort of a dunce. ~Smiles abruptly.~

Use the address [email protected]
Thanks for your time!

-Katheryn T.

[Dusty]

Svchost.exe probably the most important .dll host and probably the most misunderstood.

Don't know what OS you are using as you didn't say, but you could try running SFC /SCANNOW from the command prompt and maybe, just maybe, it will give you back a copy of Svchost.exe

You will need your full copy of the OS cd.

Otherwise if you know of someone who is running the same OS as you, you might persuade them to dash off a copy for you.

Good luck

[Raptor]

HijackThis lists it because there is malware that can call itself svchost.exe.

Plus, HijackThis shows all running processes because it was designed to do so. (That is why they tell you to be careful when removing entries)

If you are using Windows XP, try a repair installation:


Installing and Using Recovery Console

Perform a Repair Installation

How to perform an in-place upgrade (reinstallation) of Windows XP

[Katheryn]

So, would it be recommended that I fix this, or leave it?

I have had no problems what so ever with anything due to viral problems since.. so..
Does that mean that my viruses can't be activated, or something? >.<;'..

Oh, by the way, my OS is Windows XP Home Edition.

[Raptor]

1. would it be recommended that I fix this, or leave it?

2. Does that mean that my viruses can't be activated

1. If it is broke, fix it. If it isn't  broke, upgrade it.

2. No such thing unless they are quarantained by your virus scanner.

[Fed]

I just searched my computer & found 2 instances of svchost.
C:\winnt\system32\svchost
C:\winnt\system32\dllcache\svchost
On XP the 'winnt' directory would be the 'windows' directory.
You could do a search and replace the missing one in the appropriate directories if you find a spare.