Quick overview:
Many problems and problem solutions on the Internet are related to the so-called SSDP search service. This causes high CPU utilization of svchost.exe, opens security holes under Windows XP or sends unknown data to the outside world. It is regularly advised in communities to deactivate it. Very few people know exactly what is behind this - here Windows-Tweaks would like to shed more light on the matter:
The SSDP search service searches for so-called Universal Plug & Play components (UPNP). In future, devices such as alarm systems, surveillance cameras, coffee machines, projectors, multimedia devices etc. will be networked with the PC via this UPNP protocol and controlled via it. Whether this makes sense in the future is another question, but there are many interesting possibilities for this technology. The Simple Service Discovery Protocol search service is switched on by default in Windows XP and already (unnecessarily) searches for devices of this digital home networking system.
SSDP is a multicast search service and is used to bring audio and video files to the computer via streaming (live transmission). This technology sends a multimedia file once to several groups on the Internet instead of sending it several times to each individual - intermediate servers help with this branching of the data. This IP6 process reduces the load that a server has to carry. However, as these techniques are not yet widely used today, it is recommended to deactivate the SSDP search service for the following reasons:
To deactivate the SSDP search service
1. If you have not installed the UPNP patch from Microsoft, a foreign user can access your PC via an overflow of the UPNP memory buffer and execute various programs.
Click on the following page to obtain information on the other operating systems: MS Security Bulletin MS01-059
2. Many network cards and routers are not yet able to cope with UPNP, so that it is easily possible for IP addresses of network computers to be seen on the Internet. Open gates (ports) thus invite hackers to transfer dangerous programs.
3. Both the service and the firewall that has to log these UPNP packets cause an unusually high CPU load, as it is constantly searching for such devices.
Switch off the SSDP search service as follows: Click on Start/Control Panel/Administrative Tools/Services and double-click on SSDP Search Service. Under Startup type, select the entry Disabled.
NOTE FOR NEW PUBLICATION: This article was produced by Sandro Villinger and comes from the Windows Tweaks archive, which has been built up since the late 1990s.
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