text: why do i have so many 'svchost.exe' processes running on my computer? i have 6!?   service host (svchost) is a program that runs services on your computer. services are background programs that you don't normally see (like antivirus software, digital camera software, firewalls, etc) and that is the main program that controls all the services running on your computer. it has several instances because it usually needs one for each type of service it runs. this is completely normal, and is nothing to worry about.