Basics on Windows Software Processes

Similar to most operating systems that are in place today, Windows functions on the basis that there are several programs that can be run simultaneously. Despite this you will need to have multiple processors if you want to be able to perform more than one task at a given time. In order to overcome this problem Windows is capable of switching from one program to another so fast that you are given the impression that all the programs are being run at once. But if you are in the throes of a crash, you will know that all the processes will stop working at the same time. In order to prevent this, there are several software processes that Windows has in place. Here is a look at some

csrss.exe is a process that Windows has registered as a trojan. The Microsoft Client Server Runtime Server subsystem makes use of this process to take care of most of its graphical instruction that are used with the Microsoft Windows OS. Overall Csrss.exe makes available core functions of the operating system, and closing it down can result in you getting the Blue Screen of Death on your screen. Csrss.exe is in control of threading as well as the Win32 console window features. Threading is how an application can break itself up into numerous functioning tasks at one time. In terms of memory usage, the Csrss.exe process will continue to rise as and when the drive letter changes. This is on a computer that is functioning on a Windows Server 2008 or Windows Vista.
Microsoft has another software process known as svchost.exe which is the generic name for the host process that runs from dynamic-link libraries. Put a bit more simply, Windows began to move all of the functionality from internal Windows services into .dll files. This move was in place of.exe files. From the view of a programmer this meant that there was a bigger chance for reusability. The only problem was that one cannot run.dll file from Windows directly. In order to facilitate this move, the svchost.exe process came about.

There is also the "lsass.exe" or what is better understood as the Local Security Authentication Server. It checks and ensures that the user logons you have on your computer or your PC are valid. Lsass brings about the process that is needed for verifying users for the Winlogon service. This is done with the use of authentication packages that come with the default, Msgina.dll. Once the authentication is complete Lsass creates a user token for access and this is used to facilitate the launch of the initial shell.