What is the 'COM Surrogate' Process?
Wondering what is the 'COM Surrogate' process in your Task Manager? The good news is that it belongs to a legitimate Windows service. The bad news is that it is one of the top components that malware developers opt to disguise their malware as. Trying to identify rogue COM Surrogate processes manually might be impossible, so we advise you to rely on 3rd-party software if you are suspecting that there is anything shady about COM Surrogate.
COM Surrogate is usually run under the name dllhost.exe. It is present on any Windows machine, and it typically takes no CPU resources, as well as a few megabytes of RAM. If, however, you notice that this process is consuming excessive hardware resources, then you should certainly look into the issue. We have already explored some of the potential fixes in our post on What is dllhost.exe?
The first fix we would recommend if you are experiencing any issues with COM Surrogate is to restart your system. If the problem was caused by a Windows issue, the restart is likely to be enough to resolve the issue. However, if the problem persists, then you might need to take more drastic measures.
Start by running an antivirus scanner to check for the presence of malware on your device. Often, Trojanized cryptocurrency miners may hide under the name of the COM Surrogate process. If the anti-malware scan turns out clean as well, then you will need to check for Windows issues.
Fix COM Surrogate by running SFC and DISM Scans
The System File Checker (SFC) and Deployment Imaging and Servicing Management (DISM) scan can fix all sorts of Windows issues. To run these scans, you will need to use the Command Prompt.
- Open Start Menu -> Command Prompt. Make sure to right-click the CMD and select Run as administrator.
- Enter the command sfc /scannow.
- Enter the command DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /Scanhealth.
Both of these should take a few minutes each. After they are done, restart your system.