Prevhost.exe is the executable file for Preview Handler Surrogate Host, a 64-bit Windows systems component that helps manage add-ins for Windows shell, loading CLR or common language runtime and build code against another that will successfully activate the operating system of the computer. These targeted add-ins will result to a successful versioning if the 2.0 add-in gets loaded prior to 1.0, same sequence with loading .NET Framework 1.1 CLR and .NET Framework 2.0 CLR, not the other way around. This versioning problem exists in Windows Vista, since the Preview Handler Surrogate Host only runs in this operating system. Thus Microsoft advises that the shell add-ins should not be implemented in the managed code-even intended for new extensibility points in the shell, like the thumbnail providers and the property handlers that are used out of the process by Windows Vista search indexer tool, but in the in-process via the Windows Vista shell.

Most non-system processes that are running can be stopped because they are not involved in running your operating system. prevhost.exe. is used by Preview Handler Surrogate Host, If you shut down prevhost.exe, it will likely start again at a later time either after you restart your computer or after an application start. To stop prevhost.exe, permanently you need to uninstall the application that runs this process which in this case is Preview Handler Surrogate Host, from your system.

After uninstalling applications it is a good idea to scan you Windows registry for any left over traces of applications. Registry Reviver by ReviverSoft is a great tool for doing this.

The ReviverSoft experts have not yet reviewed prevhost.exe

A process usually a part of an installed application such as Preview Handler Surrogate Host, or your operating system that is responsible for running in functions of that application. Some application require that they have processes running all the time so they can do things such as check for updates or notify you when you get an instant message. Some poorly written applications have many processes that run that may not be required and take up valuable processing power within your computer.

We have not received any complaint about this process having higher than normal impact on PC performance. If you have had bad experiences with it please let us know in a comment below and we will investigate it further.

The first thing you should do if prevhost.exe. is causing errors on your computer is to run a Windows registry scan with Registry Reviver If you are still seeing errors after this you should uninstall the program that prevhost.exe, belongs to, in this case Preview Handler Surrogate Host