Last updated:
22 October 2006;
Supplements this
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Managing Your Services/Processes In Windows
The list of default services in Windows 2000
and XP is greater than that of previous versions of Windows. There are
a number of guides available to performance-minded people, which will enable
them to understand what these services and processes are, and provide them
with some guidance of what they might be able to turn off on their systems.
Unfortunately, too many folks are
over-aggressive in their desire to wring every last bit of performance from their
systems, and as a result, they stop or disable services that eventually hurt
them. Or, as their computing needs change, they forget to re-evaluate
their list of disabled services, to ensure that they are not compromising
their system functionality. Part of this stems from the belief that
Windows 2000, XP and 2003 are bloated. While it is true that they
possess a larger footprint than previous versions of Windows, the extra code
is used for increased functionality and stability, and not at the expense of
performance. Don't make the mistake of confusion size with bloat.
Reducing your list of default services can save your about 50-70 MB of RAM,
which is very important if you're running with 128-256 MB, but far less
critical in the 384MB and above range. And networked systems will always
require more default services than those in a stand-alone capacity.
While it might all seem like such a waste of
space and memory, it is useful to note that 3rd party software vendors take
it for granted that many of these services will be running. This is
one of the key advantages of the Windows platform, in that there is a known
default environment upon which additional functionality can be layered.
If you have tweaked your system services, and are subsequently experiencing
problems trying to install software, you should take a moment to revisit
your list of stopped or disabled services.
Before You Tweak...
It is strongly recommended that you perform a
SystemState Backup prior to the altering of services, so that
recovery to a working state is possible. And don't forget to check the
Event Logs to see if there are any complaints from services that have
dependencies which have now been altered.
In a networked environment, particularly on
servers, you should consider disabling the following services after
evaluating the need for them in your environment:
On workstations, consider adding the
following to your list:
With good backups and proper attention to the
Event Logs, you will be able to tweak your systems without penalty.
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