100% CPU, The Welchia Worm, & Hardware Damage

Hi all,

For the last couple of days, I've noticed that my CPU was running at 100% and the *supposed* culprit was a known Microsoft system tool called dllhost.exe. The high cpu rate only occurred when I was online and while an automatic Windows update was taking place.

I thought everything was normal...but just to be sure, I began reading the forums. Long story short, everything seemed to point to a normal process but I just couldn't believeLink that any normal process could use that many resources for that kong with no end in sight. I went to sarc.com and learned about the Welchia virus, downloaded their tool and, lo-and-behold, found I was infected!

I deleted the virus but now I'm a little concerned.

1. I have recently purchased my computer and it is still under warranty. My question is, could that high rate of cpu usage over a span of two days have caused any hardware damage? (i.e., heat issues due to the VERY high temp associated with cpu use)

2. Normally, my cpu usage ranged in the 1-3% range. But now after removing the virus, cpu usage is in the 3-7% range. I'm concerned some sort of "residual" processes associated with the virus are still around. Can this be true?

3. I really hate patching stuff like this in Windows (things never seem to run right afterwards). Is it recommended that I do a fresh install of Windows?

Thank you very much for any help you can provide!

SPECS:

2.2 Ghz
512 Mb RAM
Windows XP PRO

you should not have to worry about hardware damage, may end up installing windows windows at worst. sometimes even after using the removal tools some viruses leave damage behind in the file system, which a repair or reinstall can fix, i never had any luck with system restore in virus issues.

Nah, you shouldn't have any problems mate

Heat [ul]damage[/ul] can only occur if you didn't install the heatsink+fan assembly properly or if you overclock your components.

The worst that can happen in your case is that the system will randomly reboot if it gets too hot. However, this would only occur if you reach a certain temp (around 70-80 degrees for AMD?). If you have an Intel CPU, then it will shut down before the core will get damaged.