What is Com Surrogate Doing in my Computer – Is it a Virus?

Com Surrogate

Suppose you guys are worried about COM Surrogate, then chances are you have come across it in your task manager & are concerned it might be a virus. So, Before you go and format your machine or replace any hardware, you should know it’s almost certainly not. Also, in either case, you don’t want to remove it. This COM surrogate process is needed to load DLL files and is essential for your PC. In this article, We’re going to explore in my PC what Com Surrogate Does – Is it a Virus? Let’s begin!

What is COM Surrogate (dllhost.exe)?

Well, COM stands for Component Object Model. That is an interface Microsoft introduced back in 1993. This enables developers to create “COM objects” using some different programming languages. Primarily, these COM objects plug into other applications and extend them as well.

So as the Windows file manager uses COM objects to create thumbnail images of images & many other files when it opens a folder. This COM object handles processing images, videos, and all other files to generate the thumbnails. That allows File Explorer to be extended along with support for new video codecs, for example.

However, this can lead to problems. Suppose a COM object crashes, and then it will take down its host process. Well, At one point, it was widespread for these thumbnail-generating COM objects to hit. Plus take down the whole Windows Explorer process with them.

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Further

Com Surrogate

Therefore, if you want to fix this sort of problem, then Microsoft created the COM Surrogate process. This COM actually process runs a COM object outside the original method that requested it. Suppose the COM object crashes, and then it will only take down the COM Surrogate process, and also the actual host process won’t crash. Before-mentioned as Windows Explorer (now known as File Explorer) starts a COM Surrogate process whenever it wants to generate thumbnail images. This COM process hosts the COM object, which does the work. Suppose the COM object crashes, then only the COM Surrogate crashes, & the original File Explorer process will keep on trucking as well.

As the official Microsoft blog The Old New Thing puts it in other words, the COM Surrogate is the code I don’t feel best about, so I am going to ask COM to host it another time. This way, if it crashes, then it’s the COM sacrificial process that hits rather than my approach.”

What is COM Object a COM Surrogate Is Hosting?

The standard Windows Task Manager does not give you any more information. Well, About which COM object or DLL file a COM Surrogate process is hosting as well. Suppose you want to see this information, then we recommend you Microsoft’s Process Explorer tool. To find out which COM object or DLL file is hosting you can download and mouse-over a dllhost.exe process in Process Explorer.

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Is COM Surrogate a Virus?

In the past, trojans and viruses have been hidden in the working system of Windows by masking themselves as COM Proxy and all other Windows processes. If you open Task Manager, right-click and choose Open file position. You will find the location of the source for this operation. 

Suppose the COM Surrogate process leads to a file that is called ‘DLLhost’ in the C:\Windows\System32 folder. Then it’s unlikely to be a virus. If it shows elsewhere, then you should run a virus scan immediately.

Often, COM surrogate uses very little memory and CPU, and there are only one or two instances of it running actually. Suppose there are many dllhosts.exe processes or the process is eating up more than 1 to 2 per cent of your CPU. So, I would suggest performing an offline virus scan, which can better detect tricky hidden viruses as well.

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Conclusion

Okay, That was all Folks! I hope you people like this article and also find it helpful to you. So, please give us your feedback on it again if you guys have additional queries and issues related to this article. Later let us know in the comments box below. We will go back to you shortly.

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