01/18/2014
Better late than never - Microsoft has issued a fix for a Windows XP bug that we’ve been battling for some time now: http://windowsitpro.com/windows-xp/confirmed-microsoft-fixes-svchost-issue-windows-xp
Microsoft has now confirmed that the SVCHOST problem was, indeed, addressed during this last round of updates. The issue was fixed through a process of deprecating legacy security updates for Internet Explorer.