Conhost.exe

[Syzich]

The other day I was checking on someting and looking through my prefetch folder and noticed a .pf file for an .exe I hadn't heard of before. It's called conhost.exe. I did a search for it on my harddrive and saw that it's Console Host. I searched online and it seems it takes care of certain functions csrss.exe used to handle, hosts console windows and allows them to be skinnned with the current Windows theme. That's all good an well, but the last modification date/time of the .pf file at the time I checked it would indicate that I was playing a game at the time it had last run. So, I'm pretty sure there was no console window running. I then did a search online to see if anyone else had this issue. It seems it can be somehow related to itunes and also AVG.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread...art=0&tstart=0
http://forums.avg.com/us-en/avg-foru...show&id=111357

I don't use itunes, but I do have AVG, though conhost.exe doesn't seem to be an actively running process on my computer like the OP in the AVG thread I linked to. Though, I have noticed that after updating AVG, the conhost.exe .pf was modified at the same time. So it seems to run when AVG is updated. I also found a post somewhere that mentioned it can be related to Zone Alarm Extreme Security. I do run zone Alarm, but not the extreme security version.

So, anyway, my question is why does conhost.exe run when there is seemingly no console window open at the time? I suppose this isn't anything to really worry about, I just like to know my way around an operating system. I'm still fairly new to Windows 7.

Windows 7 SP1 64bit

[SpywareDr]

What is conhost.exe and Why Is It Running?
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/4996/...is-it-running/

[Syzich]

Thanks for the link, SpwareDr, but I've already read that page and it still doesn't quite answer my question of why conhost.exe runs when there is no console window running. After powering up again and having Windows running for a while, I checked the prefetch folder again. I saw that conhost.exe had run again. According to the modification time of the .pf file, it ran at the same time as AVG's prevalence reporter. So, I'm assuming that it running does indeed have something to do with AVG. Though, like I said, I'm still curious as to why it's running at all when there is seeminly no console window running.

[Steve R Jones]

Sounds to me that its required to be running because AVG needs it.

Odds are if you opened SERVICES and looked at the "dependencies" to AVG you'd find conhost listed.

[SpywareDr]

What is conhost.exe and Why Is It Running?
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/4996/...is-it-running/

...check out the file properties for the conhost.exe executable, and you’ll see that the description says Console Window Host:





If you look at the details of the process from within Process Explorer, you’ll notice that the ComSpec is set to cmd.exe, a clear indication that it’s hosting the command prompt.





So now you know what the conhost.exe process does, and why you should never attempt to delete it. Ever.

[Syzich]

Steve, it does make sense that it would be listed under depencies for an AVG service, seeing as it seems to run alongside various AVG processes. Though, when I checked Services the only service listed was AVG Watchdog Service and I didn't see it listed under depedencies.

SpywareDr, wouldn't that mean that cmd.exe should also be running when conhost.exe runs? I don't see a .pf for cmd.exe modified at the times conhost.exe runs.

[SpywareDr]

If you don't want conhost.exe, go ahead and delete it. After all, it is your machine.

Problem is, Windows will then be unable to run as designed because you're ripping out pieces and throwing them in the trash.

[Syzich]

I didn't say that I didn't want it running, I was just trying to figure out why it seems to only run when certain AVG processes run. It seems I've figured out why. I was looking through the Programs list and I saw Visual Studio 2008 x64 Redistributables and AVG Technologies is listed as it's publisher. As is my understanding of it, Visual Studio is used to develop console applications, among other things.