What is COM surrogate?

[Joseph Locicero]

I found this program on task maneger called COM surrogate and i heard its a virus but i NEVER EVER go on strange websites or i never got a pop up from it or anything i have kaspersky protection.My friend has the same thing on his computer..It dosent eat up my CPU like others have reported though..Help. Thank you. it uses 0% of the cpu though

 

[Phillip Corcoran]

COM Surrogate (fancy name for the file dllhost.exe) is a genuine Windows file if it's location is:

C:\Windows\System32\

and

C:\Windows\winsxs\

(that's on Win7 32-bit, I haven't checked my 64-bit Win7 to see if the locations are different)


However, there does exist a trojan with similar name (the similarity is deliberate to better disguise itself).
But provided you have a trustworthy antivirus/anti-spyware installed, and keep it up to date, and stay away from dodgy websites, you need not be concerned.