[dba-Tech] Svchost.exe error

Hi All,

I could use a little help figuring this one out. 

My son-in-law, Brad, has this problem:  during some operation, could be 
booting up, could be almost anything, he gets the warning "svchost.exe 
application error" usually with something like "instruction at 
referenced memory at "0x00000010" and "memory could not be read."  It 
seems to me I have recently seen this error with a corrupted or faulty 
update of some software - I think I had that happen with an HP companion 
process, something like "image monitor" that bogged down my whole 
system, and in my case the problem was solved by a reinstall and a 
disabling of the culprit application (it was hogging my CPU resources, 
and I really didn't need it).  Googling the svchost.exe error postings, 
I find that it is likely caused by some corrupted dll file that didn't 
get to finish whatever it was doing, and nothing else could function 
because of that bottleneck.  Several of the postings suggested that it 
might be a failed or incomplete or corrupted Windows update, and the 
solution could be as easy as doing a manual Windows update and rebooting.

When I tried to get to the Windows update site from his computer, I 
could not get there - IE consistently reported that it could not display 
the page.  This was true whether I used the Windows update command on 
the menu or I launched the browser and typed in the URL.  I tried 
Googling the Windows update and clicking the link from the Google search 
results, too.  Nothing worked. 

Because he is doing work, often using a VPN connection with his home 
office, he has IT support available.  I told him that while I believe I 
can get this figured out and fixed, it will probably be a lot faster to 
make use of his IT guys.  Today, they have been working remotely on his 
computer - they've uninstalled all his malware protection and 
reinstalled fresh copies, they've updated his browser to IE8, they 
thought they had it fixed, and then it popped up again, while they were 
getting ready to sign off. 

Does anybody on this list know what I'm really dealing with here?  I 
would love some guidance!

Best regards,
T