What services are safe to disable?

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  1.    #21

    Simply not necessary, in the end.

    After five years in the trenches with Win7 here where most of the repair, install and Best Practice protocols were developed, we would know if there were Service trims that are worthwhile. In the earliest days of Beta we were testing this and quickly learned it's unnecessary.

    Previously in XP and Vista many of us had practiced the Black Viper edits to claw back performance. But Win7 became the Black Viper when they developed fast triggers so that almost all Services not always needed at boot can be set to Manual.

    With today's modern hardware power it's simply not necessary to trim such a featherlight OS.

    That said, on older hardware with less than 4gb RAM I still run 32 bit and edit Visual Effects of hogs like fading, sliding, dragging intact and selection rectangle even those are not noticeable. See Bloatware tutorial in my sig pic below

    Hope this helps. I've written it out probably a hundred times in past years and its never been disputed. But other views are always welcome
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 1,167
    Windows 7 Pro with SP1 32bit
       #22

    Please have a look at http://www.blackviper.com/ to decide which services to stop but take care. Not really necessary to tinker with the Swrvices.


    exitPr0gram said:
    windude99 said:
    sammy3417 said:
    Hi all,

    Can anyone give me any pointers on what services are safe to disable in Windows 7 Ultimate edition..... Would be grateful for your feed back

    Thanks

    Sam
    I am interested in doing this as well.

    I know there are slight security improvements that you can benefit from and say your running a computer at bare minimum requirements, that slight improvement in performance could make more of a difference compared to computer that most (or some) have.

    It's been quite some time since this topic was bought up but i am interested in this as well so i'm bringin' it BACK!!!



    I agree completely. Experimenting and learning on your own is the best way to learn. Hence the saying "If you want to learn to swim, jump in.)

    Honestly I may be in that category you mentioned of "No idea how the system works yet venture in to that arena" but i am on forums to learn and gain knowledge.

    I will make my own little statement about how i went about disabling services at the end... after i'm done replying to my "Quotes" that i did to try and help bring the thread back


    Then the first thing I would do with this knowledge (if it still applies... the thread is old and more than a few updates have been released) would be to shrink whatever is needed, perform whatever else, then do it disable the service.. I wont deny that this could be an inconvenience if you are constantly managing HDD's.

    For defragging i use Defraggler by Piriform.

    pparks1 said:
    Leave services alone. In lots of testing, I was almost unable to prove any benefit whatsoever to shutting down services and in most cases the system performed worse with services disabled.
    It takes trial and error sometimes. For the sake of advancing our knowledge, what type of test did you use to try and weight the benefits of shutting down services? I'd ask what services you shut down but i doubt you'd remember.

    pparks1 said:
    ^ The trouble is 2 fold.

    #1). Mostly performance won't improve...so it's a bit of work with little to no reward
    #2). You "could" disable something today that you won't discover to be a problem for a few months when installing some other software or using a function within a piece of software that you don't often use. And you may not remember that 1 off service that you previously decided to no longer run.
    There are ways to reverse this. Check out my input on the situation at the end.

    My input on this:

    I am here to learn. If i am wrong here, or any post i make, correct me and give me a good explanation of why i'm wrong.

    I type msconfig from the start menu. Go to Services. And disable the services i feel like i do not need. I have used the following sites to help me determine which ones i need and don't need. I'm sure they are not perfect but they seem likes decent guides:

    7tutorials.com

    and

    techrepublic.com

    I chose these sites because they tell you what each service does and when you should disable them. It would be nice if we could use this thread to add to the list of "consequences/benefits" of disabling services that are not needed.

    Now... As far as "Jacking things up by messing with the Services within Windows" goes... There is ALWAYS system restore and it is not hard at ALL to use.

    Just do it before you disable any services.

    If I am wrong in any of this let me know.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 2,497
    Windows 7 Pro 64 bit
       #23

    The dangers of disabling services have been well said in this thread. Unfortunately the message doesn't always get through. You are in uncharted territory when you start to disable system services. There is no guide anywhere that can tell you for certain what will happen. Microsoft has never published a complete list of what each service does. Many do more than what is documented.

    Of course you can reverse these changes with system restore, if it is not too late. But what often happens is that things are working fine, then you install some new application, device, or make a system change. Then you find things just don't work as expected. Error messages make no mention of services and there seems little reason to suspect this might be the problem. Later you make the connection, but not till after a great deal of troubleshooting. I speak from personal experience.

    There is another matter that needs to be emphasized. It is widely believed that setting a service startup to Manual is a safe alternative to disabling it. The idea being that if the service is needed it will be started. A service set to manual startup CAN be started if necessary. But there is nothing in Microsoft documentation that states this will actually happen. In fact, except for service that are set to manual startup by default, they normally will not. In most cases the Windows component or application that relies on the service will simply fail with no attempt to start the service. Most likely there will be no error message mentioning a service. Again, I speak from experience.

    Since the benefits of disabling system services are so questionable why take the chance?
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 213
    Windows 7 Professional Version 6.1 Build 7601 SP1
       #24

    wanchoo said:
    Please have a look at http://www.blackviper.com/ to decide which services to stop but take care. Not really necessary to tinker with the Swrvices.


    exitPr0gram said:
    windude99 said:

    I am interested in doing this as well.

    I know there are slight security improvements that you can benefit from and say your running a computer at bare minimum requirements, that slight improvement in performance could make more of a difference compared to computer that most (or some) have.

    It's been quite some time since this topic was bought up but i am interested in this as well so i'm bringin' it BACK!!!



    I agree completely. Experimenting and learning on your own is the best way to learn. Hence the saying "If you want to learn to swim, jump in.)

    Honestly I may be in that category you mentioned of "No idea how the system works yet venture in to that arena" but i am on forums to learn and gain knowledge.

    I will make my own little statement about how i went about disabling services at the end... after i'm done replying to my "Quotes" that i did to try and help bring the thread back


    Then the first thing I would do with this knowledge (if it still applies... the thread is old and more than a few updates have been released) would be to shrink whatever is needed, perform whatever else, then do it disable the service.. I wont deny that this could be an inconvenience if you are constantly managing HDD's.

    For defragging i use Defraggler by Piriform.



    It takes trial and error sometimes. For the sake of advancing our knowledge, what type of test did you use to try and weight the benefits of shutting down services? I'd ask what services you shut down but i doubt you'd remember.

    pparks1 said:
    ^ The trouble is 2 fold.

    #1). Mostly performance won't improve...so it's a bit of work with little to no reward
    #2). You "could" disable something today that you won't discover to be a problem for a few months when installing some other software or using a function within a piece of software that you don't often use. And you may not remember that 1 off service that you previously decided to no longer run.
    There are ways to reverse this. Check out my input on the situation at the end.

    My input on this:

    I am here to learn. If i am wrong here, or any post i make, correct me and give me a good explanation of why i'm wrong.

    I type msconfig from the start menu. Go to Services. And disable the services i feel like i do not need. I have used the following sites to help me determine which ones i need and don't need. I'm sure they are not perfect but they seem likes decent guides:

    7tutorials.com

    and

    techrepublic.com

    I chose these sites because they tell you what each service does and when you should disable them. It would be nice if we could use this thread to add to the list of "consequences/benefits" of disabling services that are not needed.

    Now... As far as "Jacking things up by messing with the Services within Windows" goes... There is ALWAYS system restore and it is not hard at ALL to use.

    Just do it before you disable any services.

    If I am wrong in any of this let me know.
    I am on my way to work at the moment butwhen I get home I will list the services that I had disabled

    With the services disabled and waiting a while after installing the other things that I need to install after performing a fresh installation of Windows 7 x64 ultimate (such as Aviator browser, Antivirus, Comodo firewall, etc.) I'll keep you guys posted on whether or not I run into issues.

    I am aware that this will not apply for everybody because they will not be installing the same things that I am but it will still give us an idea of what we can and cannot do safely. A system restore is obviously the whole point of this if your trying to be safe, especially since there is no official documentation, its kind of up to us to figure this out.

    Also, a certain level of experience comes in to play when trying to modify the services which is always up to the user to determine whether or not he knows enough or at least how to fix it if something goes wrong.

    As I stated previously, this is all for the sake of learning. Not refusing to look in to, or research, things because "it might cause problems if you don't do it right" and I do not mean for that to come out in a sarcastic or condescending way.



    Thanks,

    Exit
    Last edited by exitPr0gram; 23 May 2014 at 08:59. Reason: Edited for Clarification on a couple things
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 25,847
    Windows 10 Pro. 64/ version 1709 Windows 7 Pro/64
       #25

    When it comes to Windows 7 Services where did the idea come from that Black Viper is god all know all on Windows 7 Services.
    Only Microsoft really knows what all their serves inter connect with and exactly how they do that.

    If one wants to experiment; well it's your computer. Have at it. I would suggest freshening up on clean installs by reading the tutorials on this forum.
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 213
    Windows 7 Professional Version 6.1 Build 7601 SP1
       #26

    exitPr0gram said:
    wanchoo said:
    Please have a look at http://www.blackviper.com/ to decide which services to stop but take care. Not really necessary to tinker with the Swrvices.


    exitPr0gram said:

    Then the first thing I would do with this knowledge (if it still applies... the thread is old and more than a few updates have been released) would be to shrink whatever is needed, perform whatever else, then do it disable the service.. I wont deny that this could be an inconvenience if you are constantly managing HDD's.

    For defragging i use Defraggler by Piriform.



    It takes trial and error sometimes. For the sake of advancing our knowledge, what type of test did you use to try and weight the benefits of shutting down services? I'd ask what services you shut down but i doubt you'd remember.



    There are ways to reverse this. Check out my input on the situation at the end.

    My input on this:

    I am here to learn. If i am wrong here, or any post i make, correct me and give me a good explanation of why i'm wrong.

    I type msconfig from the start menu. Go to Services. And disable the services i feel like i do not need. I have used the following sites to help me determine which ones i need and don't need. I'm sure they are not perfect but they seem likes decent guides:

    7tutorials.com

    and

    techrepublic.com

    I chose these sites because they tell you what each service does and when you should disable them. It would be nice if we could use this thread to add to the list of "consequences/benefits" of disabling services that are not needed.

    Now... As far as "Jacking things up by messing with the Services within Windows" goes... There is ALWAYS system restore and it is not hard at ALL to use.

    Just do it before you disable any services.

    If I am wrong in any of this let me know.
    I am on my way to work at the moment butwhen I get home I will list the services that I had disabled

    With the services disabled and waiting a while after installing the other things that I need to install after performing a fresh installation of Windows 7 x64 ultimate (such as Aviator browser, Antivirus, Comodo firewall, etc.) I'll keep you guys posted on whether or not I run into issues.

    I am aware that this will not apply for everybody because they will not be installing the same things that I am but it will still give us an idea of what we can and cannot do safely. A system restore is obviously the whole point of this if your trying to be safe, especially since there is no official documentation, its kind of up to us to figure this out.

    Also, a certain level of experience comes in to play when trying to modify the services which is always up to the user to determine whether or not he knows enough or at least how to fix it if something goes wrong.

    As I stated previously, this is all for the sake of learning. Not refusing to look in to, or research, things because "it might cause problems if you don't do it right" and I do not mean for that to come out in a sarcastic or condescending way.



    Thanks,

    Exit
    What do you mean by "freshening up" on clean installs? Just install, activate run Windows update then get your Antivirus etc. Pretty self explanatory. I've done it this way for years without issues so if missing something i am Definitely all ears.
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 10,485
    W7 Pro SP1 64bit
       #27

    In more than one place, Microsoft suggests that "Unnecessary services should be disabled".

    Doing so is such a difficult task that MS has a Security Configuration Wizard for server operating systems.

    There are many W7 users that wish to extend the concept of security hardening via disabling services to non server operating systems... but this is extremely hard to do. You could actually end up lessening your security. The W7 images deployed where I work do indeed have some services disabled via GPO, but you would not believe the time and effort that goes into testing each business related app via Virtual Machines to arrive at the service configurations.

    I'm mentioning the security angle because exitPr0gram is in the thread
      My Computer

  8.    #28

    Not MS Services. The "unnecessary" ones can be viewed and deselected after hiding all MS Services on the msconfig Services tab, all except your AV and any sync. Most are on Startup tab but some are deemed Services
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 213
    Windows 7 Professional Version 6.1 Build 7601 SP1
       #29

    gregrocker said:
    Not MS Services. The "unnecessary" ones can be viewed and deselected after hiding all MS Services on the msconfig Services tab, all except your AV and any sync. Most are on Startup tab but some are deemed Services
    I agree. Msconfig> Services Tab> High All Microsoft Services, is actually the best way to disable stuff. But still, knowledge (or common sense morel like it) of what is safe to disable and is not is still required.

    I've done this for quite some time and have experienced no issues.

    I think i did one time during a remote session or something but i just started the service and it worked. No biggie at all, whatsoever. You just have to know whats not working, and what service is disabled that will affect it.
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 25,847
    Windows 10 Pro. 64/ version 1709 Windows 7 Pro/64
       #30

    Did I not high light Windows 7 Services in my post #25?
    I did that for a reason. To let all who reads the post have no doubt Windows 7 Services is what I was referring to.

    @exitPr0gram
    Not everybody that thinkers with Windows 7 Services is as well versed as you on a Clean Install. That is why I recommend the Tutorials. Greg has probably helped thousands of people install Windows 7 which indicates that everybody don't have the knowledge to install a Windows 7. That is exactly why many come here for help and get help installing Windows 7.

    People from all over the world read our post. They all have various levels of knowledge of Windows 7.

    Trained people like many on this forum have a knowledge base to do things to their system that I wouldn't advise the masses to do.
    John and Shawn probable do adjustments and settings to the operating system for this Forum I would not suggest the average user to try.
      My Computer


 
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