Windows Vista slow startup due to svchost.exe and large HOSTS file
Recently I reformatted my PC, installed Vista OS and a bunch of other software, and noticed that Vista took well over a few minutes to fully startup. The delay was resolved by killing the svchost.exe process in Windows Task Manager (the one that uses the most memory; it's normal to have multiple svchost processes). That led me to pinpoint the culprit and full solution...
THE PROBLEM: Slow Vista startup; Killing svchost.exe process resolves the issue.
THE REASON:The HOSTS file has been customized by you or a 3rd party application and is too large. For me, my HOSTS file is managed and updated by Bluetack Internet Security Solutions' (B.I.S.S.) Hosts Manager to block ads, malware/adware, and malicious websites from loading when I surf the web.
WHAT IS THE HOSTS FILE?The HOSTS file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. This file is loaded into memory (cache) at startup, then Windows checks the Hosts file before it queries any DNS servers, which enables it to override addresses in the DNS. This prevents access to the listed sites by redirecting any connection attempts back to the local (your) machine. Another feature of the HOSTS file is its ability to block other applications from connecting to the Internet, providing the entry exists.
THE SOLUTION: Disable the "DNS Client" service.
Step-by-step instructions on how to do this:
- START + R to open the Run Command
- Type in services.msc and the Services Manager should open
- Find the DNS Client service, double click on it to open up its properties.
- Change Startup type to Disabled
- Reboot and Vista should load in a jiffy without the lag!
I've seen this problem before on other Windows OS's so most likely this solution should work on XP and 2000 as well.
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