trojan horse

What is svchost.exe? Is it a virus? Can I uninstall it?

Nov 5th, 2008
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This question popped in our heads many times in the past and for some, it’s still an enigma. So, I will try to clarify what is svchost.exe, what’s used for and why in some occasions it eats your CPU.

What is svchost.exe?

According to Microsoft, “svchost.exe is a generic host process name for services that run from dynamic-link libraries” or, in plain English, svchost.exe is a system program that is needed by Windows to launch other programs that cannot be run without being hosted (thus the generic host process).

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MS Word: malicious gateway to your PC

Jul 11th, 2008
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0

A new bug within Microsoft Office seems to allow attackers to plant Trojan horses within our computers. This new exploit isn’t confirmed at this moment, Symantec, the security company behind this finding, is still in discussions with MIcrosoft to confirm this exploit. Symantec states that some MS Office versions, even if fully patched, are affected.

Microsoft released a Security Advisory, with further details regarding this security flaw. Within this security report, they state:
“Microsoft is investigating new public reports of a possible vulnerability in Microsoft Office Word 2002 Service Pack 3. Our initial investigation indicates that customers who use all other supported versions of Microsoft Office Word, Microsoft Office Word Viewer, Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats, and Microsoft Office for Mac are not affected.”

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