Services to disable

[Jeff]

Hi

I am trying to setup a new notebook PC (Intel duo, XP MCE, 2 G ram) and am
looking at services I can safely disable. I know there are articles on the
web about this and I have reviewed them. This is a laptop connected to a
home wireless LAN in which I also use a flash drive from time to time and
print to LAN printers. I think these are services I can safely disable.
Could the experts here please:

1. advise how best to disable them
2. comment on advisability.

Distributed Link Tracking Client (Is this the same as Distributed
Transaction Coordinator?)

Error Reporting Service

Fast User Switching Compatibility (I never log a different user without
shutdown)

?? Help and Support (I use XP Help, but do not normally allow it to go to
the internet for updates - which I think this is about)

HTTP SSL (My notebook does not host a website directly. Hopefully this
will not disable my secure connection to websites that need it).

Indexing Service

?? IPSEC Services Provides IP security for certain secure connections over
IP. (Will disabling this prevent my connecting securely to websites that
require secure connection for financial transactions? )

Machine Debug Manager (I never allow it to send messages to Windows anyway)

Messenger (How is this different from Windows messenger)

Portable Media Serial Number Service (Any downside?)

Remote Registry (Not included in XP Home)

Terminal Services

WebClient (Any downside?)

Jeff

 

[DatabaseBen]

Eventhough there are services enabled, some of them are called only when the
system needs them.

If you disable them or set them to manual, you have no idea when the system
will need them and you may suffer undesireable consequences. But the
options are there to disable them or set them to manual. If you get into
any trouble, just go into safe mode and turn them on again. Notwithstanding,
be sure to have backups of your registry and or restore points as you fine
tune your system....

You "can" safely cycle the indexing and wia for file explorer performance

 

[R. McCarty]

Export the "Original State" of the Services to a text file. From the
Services console, Click Action, then "Export List". Name the file
Services.Txt. To make the output more readable, before doing
the export temporarily turn off the column for Description, so
the columns will more closely line up.

 

[Jeff]

I hear you both. OK I'll leave things the way they are.

Out of curiosity: does disabling some of these services (or changing them to
manual) really make the system run faster or better?

Jeff

 

[Jeff]

Eventhough there are services enabled, some of them are called only
when the system needs them.

If you disable them or set them to manual, you have no idea when the
system will need them and you may suffer undesireable consequences. But
the options are there to disable them or set them to manual. If
you get into any trouble, just go into safe mode and turn them on
again. Notwithstanding, be sure to have backups of your registry and
or restore points as you fine tune your system....

You "can" safely cycle the indexing and wia for file explorer
performance

What is "wia"?

Jeff

 

[R. McCarty]

Windows Image Acquisition

What is "wia"?

Jeff

 

[Ken Blake]

I hear you both. OK I'll leave things the way they are.

Out of curiosity: does disabling some of these services (or changing
them to manual) really make the system run faster or better?

That depends entirely on which services you're talking about. Your question
is akin to asking whether unplugging electrical devices really saves power.
Yes, if it's a refrigerator, but an insignificant amount if it's one of the
cool blue glowing nightlights.

 

[Jeff]

That depends entirely on which services you're talking about. Your
question is akin to asking whether unplugging electrical devices
really saves power. Yes, if it's a refrigerator, but an insignificant
amount if it's one of the cool blue glowing nightlights.

That makes sense. How about the specific list I included. Are any of these
some that would make a difference:

Distributed Link Tracking Client (Is this the same as Distributed
Transaction Coordinator?)

Error Reporting Service

Fast User Switching Compatibility (I never log a different user without
shutdown)

?? Help and Support (I use XP Help, but do not normally allow it to go to
the internet for updates - which I think this is about)

HTTP SSL (My notebook does not host a website directly. Hopefully this
will not disable my secure connection to websites that need it).

Indexing Service

?? IPSEC Services Provides IP security for certain secure connections over
IP. (Will disabling this prevent my connecting securely to websites that
require secure connection for financial transactions? )

Machine Debug Manager (I never allow it to send messages to Windows anyway)

Messenger (How is this different from Windows messenger)

Portable Media Serial Number Service (Any downside?)

Remote Registry (Not included in XP Home)

Terminal Services

WebClient (Any downside?)

Jeff

 

[DatabaseBen]

for what is worth, wia and indexing can be time savers or time wasters. The
affects are seen in file manager. When you open it up do all your drives,
folders and files zip right up on the display or are there waiting times for
them to appear. Cycling these services won't hurt your system, and
depending on how you use your system, you may find them helpful or not....

 

[Jeff]

Thanks for elaborating. When I click on a folder there is a tiny delay (0.5
sec). Would not mind having it snap open <grin> I've turned off indexing.
I need WIA because I occasionally use scanners and attach digital cameras.

Jeff

 

[Ian Merrithew]

FYI, a website named blackviper.com used to have a great writeup of
Windows services, what they did, whether it was safe to disable them or
not, that sort of thing. The site's offline but mirrors of the list can
be found easily enough via Google.

Distributed Link Tracking Client (Is this the same as Distributed
Transaction Coordinator?)

Nah, it's got to do with tracking file links across NTFS filesystems in
networks. Useless for a standalone system.

Error Reporting Service

Do you ever actually click on the "Send Error Report" option when an
application crashes? If not -- useless.

Fast User Switching Compatibility (I never log a different user without
shutdown)

Then it's of no use to you.

?? Help and Support (I use XP Help, but do not normally allow it to go to
the internet for updates - which I think this is about)

As soon as you fire up Help and Support, it will "helpfully" put this
service back into Automatic for you.

HTTP SSL (My notebook does not host a website directly. Hopefully this
will not disable my secure connection to websites that need it).

Not sure about this one. May want to keep it on.

Indexing Service

First thing I turn off on every Windows install I make. Google Desktop's
a far better option.

?? IPSEC Services Provides IP security for certain secure connections
over IP. (Will disabling this prevent my connecting securely to websites
that require secure connection for financial transactions? )

The answer to your question is no. IPSEC isn't the same as SSL. On a
standalone, you won't need it.

Machine Debug Manager (I never allow it to send messages to Windows
anyway)

You run Visual Studio? I think that's the only way it gets in there.

Messenger (How is this different from Windows messenger)

Messenger has very little use on a standalone system, and can be
considered a security risk.

Portable Media Serial Number Service (Any downside?)
Useless.

Terminal Services

No use on a standalone.

WebClient (Any downside?)

It has nothing to do with browsing the web. Reading a couple different
websites, it seems nobody's quite sure exactly what it does.

 

[Ken Blake]

That makes sense. How about the specific list I included. Are any of
these some that would make a difference:

Disabling Indexing Service should improve performance. I don't know enough
about the others to answer. Perhaps someone else here can help.

 

[Jeff]

Thank you very much.

Jeff

FYI, a website named blackviper.com used to have a great writeup of
Windows services, what they did, whether it was safe to disable them
or not, that sort of thing. The site's offline but mirrors of the
list can be found easily enough via Google.



Nah, it's got to do with tracking file links across NTFS filesystems
in networks. Useless for a standalone system.


Do you ever actually click on the "Send Error Report" option when an
application crashes? If not -- useless.


Then it's of no use to you.


As soon as you fire up Help and Support, it will "helpfully" put this
service back into Automatic for you.


Not sure about this one. May want to keep it on.


First thing I turn off on every Windows install I make. Google
Desktop's a far better option.


The answer to your question is no. IPSEC isn't the same as SSL. On a
standalone, you won't need it.


You run Visual Studio? I think that's the only way it gets in there.


Messenger has very little use on a standalone system, and can be
considered a security risk.


No use on a standalone.


It has nothing to do with browsing the web. Reading a couple
different websites, it seems nobody's quite sure exactly what it does.