When I open task Manager after my computer loads, I notice that I have several instances of svchost.exe running.
According to both official (namely, Microsoft) and unofficial (namely, various tech support sites), it is normal to have six versions of svchost.exe (a crucial component for Windows to operate, check it out yourself on google) running under XP 64-bit edition; two for SYSTEM, two for LOCAL SERVICE, and two for NETWORK SERVICE. This is because it uses one set of each for 32-bit apps, and the other for 64-bit apps.
The thing is, though... I have a third SYSTEM instance, and it's quite a bit larger in terms of memory usage.
The one highlighted is the one I'm talking about:
If I terminate that one, Windows still runs perfectly fine, with no change in memory or processor use. But when I open Task Manager again, I get this (again, the highlighted one is the one I'm talking about):
All of the "User Name" column disappears. Things still run fine, though. I can run Winamp while playing UT 2004, and leave Firefox and IRC running in the background. No problems at all.
I've gone through with virus scans, hijackthis, spybot, everything I have, and nothing shows up. According to pretty much every site I googled, there are some trojans and viri that like to hide with the same name as the real version. But like I said, nothing showed up on the scans. And there are no extra files with that name anywhere on my system (as the real svchost.exe is only found in the system folder). I've searched about thirty different sites, including MS's documentation and support services, looking for what this could be, and nothing has popped up.
It's probably nothing, but it does bother me somewhat. I'm running two firewalls, update whenever I need to, and scan at a rather regular rate, so there shouldn't be anything that got through. Anyone have any idea on what this is doing, or if it's doing anything at all?