Disable Redundant Windows XP Services which are Hogging Your RAM

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1 X P Services Optimisation X 36/1 Disable Redundant Windows XP Services which are Hogging Your RAM With the information in this article you can: Configure your Windows XP Services for top performance Identify and disable Windows XP Services that you don t need Squeeze every last drop of speed from your PC Your PC has only limited resources. The more software that you run, the slower each operation will become. With most programs, you are in complete control of whether or not an application is active. This is not the case with Windows XP Services. These are small sub-components of Windows that automatically startup and then hog your PC s valuable Random Access Memory (RAM). Some Services are vital and without them, Windows will grind to a halt. Others are not essential and may safely be disabled. How will you know which ones to turn off? This article describes a structured approach to optimising your XP Services. It will leave you with a super-tuned XP configuration that will feel noticeably faster and more responsive. Dr Steve North: Many users are intimidated by XP s Services and are afraid to tinker in case they break something. As you start to understand what it is that Services are actually doing, you will become more confident about which ones you may safely disable. Configure Windows XP for improved performance... X 36/2 Windows XP Service optimisation checklist... X 36/2 Improve performance by safely disabling S e r v i c es... X 36/4 Manage the Services essential to your PC s operation.. X 36/10 1

2 X 36/2 You can press Ctrl!? + Alt + Delete and then click Processes to reveal XP Services in action. Changes made to the status of Services are reversible.!? X P Services Optimisation Configure Windows XP for Improved Performance If you start Windows XP and then launch Microsoft Word, you will be running just one application, right? Wrong. Pressing Ctrl + Alt + Delete and then clicking on P r o c e s s e s will reveal a long list of strangely named applications. Many of these are XP Services, small programs that are kept active in your PC s memory, until they are required. Some Services are integral to the correct functioning of Windows. Others may never be used, but are continually resident in your computer s valuable memory. The majority of Services are Microsoft s own components, installed at the same time as Windows XP. However, other manufacturer s applications can also add Services. These may or may not be vital to the functioning of that application. Before attempting to disable a Service not mentioned in this article, you will need to refer to the supporting documentation for the program concerned. It is also important to remember that the changes made to the status of a Service are not permanent. If you have stopped a Service, you can start it again. If you have set a Service s start status to manual, it can easily be reset to automatic. Windows XP Service Optimisation Checklist It is a good idea to get fully prepared before you start optimising your XP Services. In this section, you will learn about preparing the System Event Log, so that you can detect and analyse any problems relating to disabled Services. You will also find out how to access the Services Management Tool, which you will then use to optimise your XP setup. 2

3 X P Services Optimisation X 36/3 Emptying the System Event Log To track the impact of your Service modifications, you will need to clear out the System Event Log. This will make it much easier to spot any problems, should they occur. To get started: 1. Click Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Event Viewer. 2. In the left pane, double-click on Event Viewer (Local) to reveal System (if not already displayed). 3. Double-click on System to display the log contents in the right pane. 4. Right-click on System and click Clear all Events. 5. If you are prompted to save the log, click No. 6. Click File > Exit. Using the Services Management Tool It is important that you always modify the status of Services from the Services Management Tool. It is also possible to stop Services from the System Configuration Utility (MSCONFIG). This is not advisable, as not all running Services are displayed. It may de-stabilise Windows if you stop Services that are interdependent on others. From the Services Management Tool, you can change a Service Startup type to Automatic, Manual or Disabled. Switching a Service from Automatic to Manual makes the Service available when needed, but prevents it from running when Windows first starts up. To monitor the immediate effect of stopping a running Service, right-click on it and click Stop. Start by clearing out the System Event Log.! Don t turn Services on and off from the System Configuration Utility (MSCONFIG). 3

4 X 36/4 X P Services Optimisation You can use the Services Management Tool to list all started Services at the top of the list. Filtering to display Services that are started To launch the Services Management Tool and find out which Services are running: 1. Click Start > Run. 2. Type: SERVICES.MSC and press Enter. 3. Click on the Standard tab at the bottom of the Services window. 4. Keep clicking on the label for the Status column, until all of the started Services are filtered to the top (see screenshot). Note: the arrow next to the label should now be pointing downward. Disabling the Services in this section, should not adversely affect Windows. After disabling a Service, check the System Event Log. 4!? Improve Performance by Safely Disabling Services The Services listed in this section should all be safe to disable, without adversely affecting Windows XP. In fact, you should notice a significant improvement in the performance of your PC. Of course, you may have installed third party Services (this happens automatically with some software products) that are functionally dependent on one or more of these otherwise non-critical XP Services. After terminating a non-critical Service, you are advised to check the System Event Log (as described in steps of the next sub-section) to make sure that everything else is still working properly.

5 X P Services Optimisation X 36/5 Before disabling a Service, check which system components (including other Services) are dependent on it: 1. Click Start > Run. 2. Type: SERVICES.MSC and press Enter. 3. In the Name column, double-click on the Service that you are planning to disable. 4. In the Properties window, click Dependencies and note any components/services that are dependent on the selected Service. 5. Click OK. Alerter The first Service which may be disabled is called Alerter. This is most useful on a workplace network and is used to send status messages to an administrator. For the home user (even with a home network) this is not vital. 1. Click Start > Run. 2. Type: SERVICES.MSC and press Enter. 3. Click on the Standard tab at the bottom of the Services window. 4. If the Service is set to Automatic in the Startup type column, then complete the remaining steps. 5. Double-click on Alerter in the Name column. 6. In the Properties window, click General. 7. Under Service status, click Stop. 8. Select Manual from the Startup type drop-down menu. It is better not to select Disabled, as this may prevent you from easily starting the Service in the future. 9. Click Apply > OK. Check which Services or components are dependent on the Service that you are about to disable. Alerter sends messages to a network administrator. 5

6 X 36/6 X P Services Optimisation Click on Dependencies to see which other Services make use of this Service. Select Disabled from Startup type. Click OK to make the changes. Perform some routine tasks on your PC, before checking the System Event Log. If disabling a Service causes errors, reset it to automatic startup. Disabling Services in Windows XP 10. Restart Windows and perform some basic computing tasks (browsing the web, for example) for several minutes to test the impact of disabling this XP Service. 11. Click Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Event Viewer. 12. In the left pane, double-click on Event Viewer (Local) to reveal System (if not already displayed). 13. Double-click on System to display the log contents in the right pane. 14. If there are any errors, double-click each one and check that it is not related to the disabled Service. If any of the errors are related to the Service, then it is likely that another installed component is dependent on this Service and its Startup type should be reset to Automatic. 15. If required, clear the log file, as previously described. 16. Click File > Exit. 6

7 X P Services Optimisation X 36/7 Distributed Link Tracking Client This keeps track of Windows shortcuts and the files to which they point. 2. Double-click on Distributed Link Tracking Client in the Name column. Help and Support The Help and Support Service provides quick access to Windows Help and Support. When it is disabled, you can still obtain help, but there will be a slight delay while the Service starts up. 2. Double-click on Help and Support in the Name column. Indexing Service The purpose of the Indexing Service is to prepare your files for rapid searching. This can be a useful feature if you are particularly interested in speeding up file finding. For most users, the overall speed benefit from having it inactive, makes disabling it a sensible decision. 2. Double-click on Indexing Service in the Name column. This Service provides Windows Help and Support. Indexing Service speeds up searching but slows down Windows. 7

8 X 36/8 X P Services Optimisation This Service is very rarely used. Messenger has nothing to do with Windows/MSN Messenger. This Service was originally intended to protect copyright protected music files. It has not been widely adopted. IPSEC Services This is required for network connections that utilise the Internet Key Exchange (IKE) protocol. It is very unlikely that you need this capability, as it is quite a specialised Service. If you do use IKE, then you will be aware of the requirement and can decide not to turn the Service off, otherwise it is safe to disable it. 2. Double-click on IPSEC Services in the Name column. Messenger This is a separate Service with no connection to Windows/MSN Messenger. It is a little used infrastructure for exchanging network messages between clients and servers, and is usually used by system administrators in large office networks. Please note that installing Windows XP Service Pack 2 will disable the Messenger Service. 2. Double-click on Messenger in the Name column. Portable Media Serial Number This retrieves the serial number of any portable music player connected to your computer. It is used as a part of Digital Rights Management (DRM) to protect the playing of music files that are protected by copyright. However, at the time of XP s release DRM was relatively immature. Research suggests that few (if any) manufacturers make use of XP s Portable Media Serial Number Service. If you disable this Service and then experience problems transferring music files to your portable player, re-enable it. 8

9 X P Services Optimisation X 36/9 2. Double-click on Portable Media Serial Number in the Name column. Remote Registry Service This enables locally networked computers (with your permission) to modify the registry settings on your PC. Usually this is undesirable, and it is a good idea to disable this Service for security reasons. 2. Double-click on Remote Registry Service in the Name column. Secondary Logon You may have noticed that the Windows Explorer and Desktop right-click/context menu has an item called Run As when clicking on an application. This allows a Limited User to run an application as an administrative user. Turning off the Service Secondary Logon prevents this action. 2. Double-click on Secondary Logon in the Name column. SSDP Discovery Service This Service allows Windows XP to detect intelligent home appliances, such as refrigerators, using the Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) architecture. It is not a widely adopted standard and you are unlikely to need it. This is for remote access to the Windows registry. Prevents Limited Users from running software as Windows Administrators. This Service was intended for detecting networked home appliances. 9

10 X 36/10 X P Services Optimisation You are not likely to require Upload Manager. Useful if you have a wireless network. 2. Double-click on SSDP Discovery Service in the Name column. Upload Manager This manages file transfers, but File Transfer Protocol (FTP) has replaced this as the standard. 2. Double-click on Upload Manager in the Name column. Wireless Zero Configuration This Service detects wireless (WiFi) networks. If you never use a wireless connection, then it may be safely disabled. 2. Double-click on Wireless Zero Configuration in the Name column.!? Manage the Services Essential to Your PC s Operation This section provides an optimised list of the Services that you really need to leave running. There is another way to look at this. If you disable any of these services, Windows will stop working! With this streamlined setup, you should notice an improvement in XP s speed and overall performance. The Services in the following table should definitely be left set to automatic: 10

11 X P Services Optimisation X 36/11 Important XP Services Automatic Updates Background Intelligent Transfer Service COM+ Event System Cryptographic Services DCOM Server Process Launcher DHCP Client DNS Client Event Log Logical Disk Manager Network Connections Plug and Play Print Spooler Protected Storage Remote Procedure Call (RPC) Security Accounts Manager Security Center Shell Hardware Detection System Event Notification System Restore Service Required For Windows Update Windows Update Various programs that use the Component Object Model (COM) Confirming the integrity of encrypted Windows files Disk Defragmenter Broadband connections Improving Internet connection Keeping track of errors Managing hard drives Managing networking Keeping track of hardware Background printing Controlling access to your hard drive Windows components using functions available on other computers. This one is particularly important! Managing user accounts Reporting firewall and anti-virus status CD autoplay Most software to keep track of what XP is doing System Restore 11

12 X 36/12 X P Services Optimisation Important XP Services Task Scheduler Themes Windows Audio Windows Management Instrumentation Required For Windows prefetch and any software that has added entries for regular tasks XP s visual appearance XP s sound Gathering information about the system and hardware. Most software uses this This article has shown you how to configure and optimise Windows XP s Services. You now know how to change the startup status of any Service. In addition, you will understand how to use the System Event Log to verify that disabling a Service has not disturbed the reliable functioning of Windows. Using the Services Management Tool, you can now check to see if any other system components are dependent on the Service that you are planning to disable. This will make absolutely sure that you do not accidentally terminate a Service that is being used by another component. Finally, you have lists, both of Services that may be disabled and those that must be kept running. On a final note, you should remember that Windows Update might enable Services that you have previously disabled. The next time that Windows Update has completed, it is advisable to check which Services are still running. 12