XP Services
The default Windows XP installation contains a number of unnecessary services that are started by default. Extra running services consume CPU cycles and memory. To free up system resources and tune your operating system for optimum performance, you can stop and disable the services. The list (below) details those that may be unnecessary:
NOTE: I recommend disabling one at a time. If you notice problems in your programs, then undo what you have done.
* Alerter: Notifies selected users and computers of administrative alerts.
* Application Layer Gateway Services: Provides support for 3rd party protocol plugins for Internet Connection Sharing and the Internet Connection Firewall.
* Application Management: Provides software installation services such as Assign, Publish, and Remove.
* Automatic Updates: Enables the download and installation of critical Windows updates.
* Background Intelligent Transfer Service: Uses idle network bandwidth to transfer data.
* ClipBook: Enables ClipBook Viewer to store information and share it with remote computers. If the service is stopped, ClipBook Viewer will not be able to share information with remote computers.
* COM+ Event System: Supports SENS (System Event Notification Service), which provides automatic distribution of events to subscribing COM (Component Object Model) components.
* COM+ System Application: Manages the configuration and tracking of COM+ (Component Object Model) based components.
* Computer Browser: Maintain an updated list of computers on the network and supplies this list to computers designated as browsers.
* Cryptographic Services: Provides three management services: Catalog Database Service, which confirms the signatures of Windows files; Protected Root Service, which adds & removes Trusted Root Certification Authority certificates from this computer; and Key Service, which helps enroll this computer for certificates.
* DHCP Client: Manages network configuration by registering and updating IP addresses and DNS names.
* Diskeeper: Controls the Diskeeper service.
* Distributed Link Tracking Client: Maintains links between NTFS files within a computer or across computers in a network domain.
* Distributed Transaction Coordinator: Coordinates transactions that span multiple resource managers, such as databases, message queues, and file systems.
* DNS Client: Resolves and caches Domain Name System (DNS) names for this computer.
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Larry Miller on 12 Oct 2008 at 10:29 pm #
DO NOT DISABLE TASK SCHEDULER.
On systems prior to XP the Task Scheduler was only a convenience for users and could be safely disabled. This is no longer true. Disabling this service on XP or Vista will have serious consequences, although this will not be immediately obvious.
These systems schedule a number of system maintenance tasks to run every 3 days. Without the Task Scheduler these will not run. More importantly, Windows will be unable to add to, update, or delete files in the prefetch folder. Prefetch will be effectively crippled, leading to impaired boot and application launch times. Over time this may become severe.
Users must be very careful when disabling services. Microsoft documentation is not complete, many services do more than stated. Months after disabling service a new application or device may not work properly. A user will not likely connect this failure with a disabled service. In any event the benefits of disabling services is highly overrated.
Larry Miller
Microsoft MCSA