Hosts file problem

[kikiferovac]

I'm using hosts file to access computers in my local network.
Everything was working fine until I stopped bunch of services in
Windows Vista Services lists. As of then I can no longer use remote
printer from Windows applications because error is reported. I
strongly suspect the reason for malfunction is me disableing one of
the services that Windows use for resolving DNS entries. Print spool
service is up and running. When I installed the printer I didn't
entered a remote IP address but I rather entered an entry that appears
in hosts file. When I try printing from Command line to that remote
printer I have no problems. But if I try to print from a Windows
application, nothing happenes.

What services need to be running in order for Windows to parse hosts
file correctly? I have a list of services that I had disabled but
pinpointing will take me a lot of time so I was hoping someone could
assist me on this one.

One unrelated question: how to close port 135? (which service to
disable?) I had closed ports 137 and 139 but I don't know which
Windows service to disable in order to close port 135.

 

[C.B.]

I'm using hosts file to access computers in my local network.
Everything was working fine until I stopped bunch of services in
Windows Vista Services lists. As of then I can no longer use remote
printer from Windows applications because error is reported. I
strongly suspect the reason for malfunction is me disableing one of
the services that Windows use for resolving DNS entries. Print spool
service is up and running. When I installed the printer I didn't
entered a remote IP address but I rather entered an entry that appears
in hosts file. When I try printing from Command line to that remote
printer I have no problems. But if I try to print from a Windows
application, nothing happenes.

What services need to be running in order for Windows to parse hosts
file correctly? I have a list of services that I had disabled but
pinpointing will take me a lot of time so I was hoping someone could
assist me on this one.

One unrelated question: how to close port 135? (which service to
disable?) I had closed ports 137 and 139 but I don't know which
Windows service to disable in order to close port 135.

See the first link below and reset all your services to their default
levels. Then, if you want to disable any particular service or change the
way it behaves right click on the service, select Properties and look at its
dependencies before changing or disabling it. The other three links are
provided for your viewing.

http://www.blackviper.com/WinVista/servicecfg.htm

http://www.vistabase.co.uk/kb/performance/which-services-can-i-disable-to-save-on-memory

http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/tr/downloads/home/windows_xp_services_that_can_be_disabled.pdf

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/vista/Vista_Services.mspx

C.B.

 

[kikiferovac]

Thank you for the provided links. I liked the first one the best.
I didn't go through resetting all the services but I rather spent some
time reading the error log and googleing. It seems that because the
network consists of the different OSes (XP and Vista), NetBIOS over
TCP/IP needs to be enabled.

One more question: how to remove the XPS printer found in Vista? Can I
just delete the printer and then delete the port? How can I reinstall
it later if I'll need it? Found some info on Google but nothing
precise and nothing trustworthy.

Thank you