WinXP Services - remove what
you don't needQuote (abridged) from the newsletter Wintips&Tricks - subscribe at http://www.freelists.org/cgi-bin/webpage?webpage_id=wintips
Ok, here is an alphabetical list
of 25 Windows XP services which most users of a
single non networked computer do not need and which can
be
safely disabled. Click the
Name column heading to sort your Services list
alphabetically so you can follow along more easily.
Accessing
Services.
In your Control
Panel, go to Administrative Tools>
Services.
To stop a currently running service,
double click it to get to its Properties, and then click the STOP
button.
To disable it from running again, choose
Disabled from the dropdown list under the Startup
type section.
If you are not sure
whether you need a cerrtain service, set it to
Manual instead of Disabled.
With Manual, Windows should start
the service when needed but in my experience, some services
won't start even if they are set to Manual.
Whether they start on Manual seems to depend on ones system configuration.
Whether they start on Manual seems to depend on ones system configuration.
1. Alerter (no need
for this one unless you are on network and need to send and receive
administrative alerts)
2. Clipbook (no need
for this one unless you are on a network and do a lot of
copying and pasting to others on your
network)
3. Computer Browser
(only if you have a network you might want this one enabled - it keeps
track of the computers on the network)
4. Error Reporting
Service (only enable this if you like those error
reporting boxes that pop up whenever you have some
crash!)
5. Fast User Switching
(if you like it enable it, if not, it's not
needed)
6. Human Interface Access
Devices (disable if you don't have devices such as Internet
keyboards with volume or play controls or scanners with hot key
functions)
7. Indexing Service
(this one is a resource hog and tends to slow down system
performance).
8. Messenger (not the
same as MSN messenger - this is the bad rep one used in networking
and allowing others tonet send you messages or spam you at
will)
9. Net Logon (not needed unless you are part of a Domain)
10. NetMeeting Remote Desktop
Sharing ( security risk - it allows a remote user with
NetMeeting to access your
computer)
11. Remote Desktop Help Session
Manager ( security risk - disable this unless you are a Remote Desktop user)
12. Remote Procedure Call
Locator (wasn't sure about this one but after a year of having it
disabled, never caused a problem)
13. Remote Registry (
security risk - unless you want someone to be able to edit your registry
remotely, disable it)
14. Routing and Remote
Access ( security risk - alllows lan and wan dial in access to
your computer)
15. Server (only if
you are on a LAN, you may want this - for basic file and print sharing
services)
16. SSDP Discovery
Service ( security risk - even Microsoft says this is a security
risk)
17. Telnet(security risk - should definitely be disabled unless you yourself are using telnet)
18. Themes (if you are
using the Windows classic interface - like in Windows 98 and 2000 - then
you don't need this)
19. SSDP Discovery
Service (security risk - it leaves Port 5000 open and
accessible!)
20. TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper
(disable this for security reasons unless your network is using
the NetBios protocol)
21. Universal Plug and Play
Device Host (security risk but note that
some multiplayer games using DirectX 7 and 8 may use this, but
still a security risk)
22. Upload Manager (
not needed even if you do have a network - most use FTP for file
transfers)
23. Windows Time (optional - do you want Microsoft to run an always on service to contact time servers to synchronize the clocks on your network?)
24. Wireless Zero
Configuration (if you don't have a wireless network, why
have this running - you can always reenable it if you ever do get
into Wireless)
25. WMI Performance Adapter (provides performance library information from WMI HiPerf providers - not essential)
And that's it. Note that this list only
represents what I have tested and disabled for myself. There may be other
services you can disable as well but these
are the main ones. Use caution
disabling any other services and only do so if you know what you are
doing.