Is it safe to delete all svchost processes?

Question

On Windows 7 I ended the Network Restricted one to speed up my computer. It worked (thank god) but my computer is still a bit slow.

Is it safe to delete all the svchost processes?

Answer 1

Absolutely not!

The svchost.exe processes are, as the name implies, hosts for Windows services that don't require their own process. (They appear with the line TYPE: 20 WIN32_SHARE_PROCESS in the list generated by sc query.) Many important system functions run inside these processes, including:

• Windows Update (wuauserv)
• Windows Management Instrumentation (Winmgmt), which provides information on system components and facilitates management of the system through its API
• Windows Defender (WinDefend)
• WebClient (WebClient), which if I remember correctly is what lets URLs appear as open-able local files for some applications
• Windows Connection Manager (Wcmsvc), which makes decisions about how to utilize your network adapter(s)
• Themes (Themes), which provides visual styles for windows
• Workstation (LanManWorkstation), which lets your machine connect to shared resources via the SMB protocol
• Plug and Play (PlugPlay), which lets your computer recognize and configure new devices; you will be extremely sad if you stop this service

Feel free to read through the output of sc query or open services.msc to see what other functions Windows services provide. Don't kill service host processes!