| I've never stopped a service, except maybe once when a computer already
| was not working right (I forget the details but I did fix it using
| msconfig checkboxes.), but I've read things that show there could be one
| that messes people up. Any famous ones like that?
|
Here's the best place to find out about them:
http://www.blackviper.com/
It's very complicated, and it's not one-size-fits-all.
Some of it is unnecessary bloat. Some is risky. Some
is not needed by most people. The services, like
everything else in Windows, are configured by default
to make life easy for corporate IT people. For anyone
whose computer isn't networked and who doesn't enable
file sharing or other functions that involve allowing
incoming contact, there's no reason to enable any of
those services: Server, Workstation, Webclient, DCOM....
some are irrelevant and some, like DCOM, are high
security risks.
Indexing service is an example of pointless wear on
the disk and use of the CPU. It indexes everything on
the system so that Find can work faster. But Find doesn't
work very well on XP in the first place. I've used Agent
Ransack for years and never enabled Indexing.
I currently have about a dozen services enabled, out
of a default of something like 60+. But you really have to
read up on it and decide things for your own system. For
instance, I disable DHCP because I use a fixed IP address.
For many people, disabling DHCP will result in not being
able to get online.
Some services *must not* be disabled. Rpcss is one
notable one. It shouldn't be necessary. It's remote
procedure call, which is only relevant to networked
computers. But MS has intertwined RPC with system
functionality and the whole thing will break if RPC is
disabled.
On the bright side, XP seems to have about 20 or
so less default services than Win7.
I can't think of anything offhand that's likely to mess
up your system just by being enabled, but I suppose it's
possible there could be incompatibilities as various
software/hardware adds services that aren't actually
necessary.
| > I wonder why you don't use Autoruns rather than
| >msconfig.
|
| Because I never heard of Autoruns! I'm going to get it now.
|
It was designed by Mark Russinovich, who now
works for MS. But MS has kept his utilities available.
The listing is grouped by Registry section. It includes
all sorts of things that you might not want to load.
For instance, I've never used Windows Messenger or
Media Player and never will, so I don't need those
loading. You can also see things like browser extensions
and BHOs that you might not want. Then there's
the list of startup software. It provides the file path
and an icon, to make the job easier. I find the biggest
bloat problem there is typically junkware (like ISP
"customer care enter" stuff) and unnecessary software
connected with hardware such as printers. (I disable
startup junk for my printer, sound card and graphics
driver. Not the drivers themselves, of course, but the
GUI utilities that I only use perhaps once per year and
don't need loaded with every boot.
But more recently the startup list is also becoming a
dump for "cloud" software that wants to run all the time,
like Skype. Apple's iTunes is one of the worst. I find friends
who had to go to iTunes for something that wasn't available
elsewhere. They've forgotten about it and have no plans
to ever use iTunes again, yet they've ended up with *four*
entries loading Apple crap at startup. (Some of which I
assume is Apple spyware. Apple seems to be far more
disrespectful of their customers than MS is.)
I think the startup list is like services, though. It's
best to understand what each thing is. Another guideline:
If it's in the systray and far lower right and it's not AV,
firewall, network icon or sound icon, it's probably bloat
loading at startup.
| > The latter is primitive and limited. The former
|
| I don't like it because it's in a limited size window (but maybe there
| are bigger reasons not to.) . IN win98, you could maximize the window.
| Why does MS make some windows small when they should be big?
|
Yes, I've noticed that too. They also tend to
overuse modal windows. So you get into your
network settings, 3 windows down, and you need
to go back a window or two in order to check
something, but it won't let you look at that window
until you close the one you're in! It's a cheap trick
to make programming the windows easier.
It seems that the more basic and techie the applet
is, the less conveniences there are in the windows.
I was just reading in the NYT this AM that Ford
is dumping MS for their car computer interfaces
(tackily named "MyFord Touch") in favor of Blackberry.
They decided the MS GUI was just too mixed up and
complicated.
