My computer crashed and I bought a new one upgrading from 98 Second Edition to XP..... Now that the cheers have died down, a question. I recognise all the zonealarm pop-ups for permission to connect except: Generic Host Process for Win32 services.

I said no every time it popped up. However when I looked in Zone Alarm I found it had gained its own permission. One GHP for Win pops up when I enter Mail Washer. I say no and it doesnt make any difference to the functioning of MW, although I have noticed MW sometimes leaps into Outlook Express without being prompted.

Is it safe to allow permission to GHP for Win everytime it pops up. I have no idea what is safe and what is not.

Thanks

"Svchost.exe" (Generic Host Process for Win32 Services) is an integral part of Windows OS. It cannot be stopped or restarted manually. It manages 32-bit DLLs and other services. At startup, Svchost.exe checks the services portion of the registry to construct a list of services that it needs to load. In normal conditions multiple instances of Svchost.exe run at the same time. Each Svchost.exe session can contain a grouping of services, so that separate services can be run depending on how and where Svchost.exe is started. This allows for better control and debugging.

Note: The svchost.exe file is located in the c:\windows\System32 folder. In other cases, svchost.exe is a virus, spyware, trojan or worm!