What the heck is svchost.exe and why is it accessing the internet?

When my Windows MS calendar opens I get a notice from Norton Internet
Security that "C:\Windows\system32\svchost.exe is preparing to access
the internet"
Also when I did a search for that using Search, I got another message
saying "Explore.exe is preparing to access the internet"

Why are these programs trying to access the internet, or is this
message in fact wrong? I am not paranoid, I'm just trying to
understand why these programs would need to access the internet, if
they do.

And also what the heck is svchost.exe, anyway? Part of MS Works
Calendar?
.

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  • Re: What the heck is svchost.exe and why is it accessing the internet?
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