Disabling Unnecessary Processes and Services..........

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  1. Posts : 582
    Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 7601 Multiprocessor Free Service Pack 1
       #21

    How does one find how many services are running?
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 725
    Desk 1: Win 7 Pro x32; Desk 2: Windows 10 x64
       #22

    IMO From my own experience, some tips and tools if you're going to play (or muck :) ) with services. (Given that sometimes geeks like to do those things, just because they're there and we can )

    1. Use Serviwin
    Easy user interface. Makes it easy to see all service info and settings. But MOST important: Serviwin allows you to save your current services and settings in a text delimited file so you can easily import to Excel AND remember what the original settings were before you started mucking around!

    2. Use msconfig as it was intended: Use it as a test tool if you want to play with disabling service start . Once you've decided on any new settings either use Autoruns (if you just want to keep disable temporarily) or make all your settings changes permanent using Serviwin or the native Windows services interface (remember you can save your old setting values using Serviwin). This way, you're free to reset msconfig and use it for testing again and again in the future when needed if any problems arise.

    3. Black Viper's website is an excellent source of information about services and whether you may or may not want to turn them off - and the impact.

    /* EDIT */
    Note: Services set to Automatic do increase Windows startup time since they must be loaded and started in sequential group order, as part of the Windows start process. Some service start times are worse then others. Although if you have an SSD it probably makes little difference.

    Services you NEVER Disable or switch to Manual: Plug and Play and Remote Procedure Call services. I think? everything else is recoverable
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 70
    Win 7 64 bit Home Premium
    Thread Starter
       #23

    grits said:
    How does one find how many services are running?
    Click START button, in the search box, type "services", on the hits, click on "services.exe".
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 3,724
    Windows 10x64 Build 1709
       #24

    Since I installed 7 I've left the services alone...... mostly. I agree with ComputerGeek about Black Vipers site, an excellent source of information. Though I've only been there once since 7 arrived on the scene, for older O.S.'s and extremely underpowered machines his tips are very useful.
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 1,045
    Win8/8.1,Win7-U64, Vista U64, uncounted Linux distor's
       #25

    TanyaC said:
    If I may add my two cents worth.. Just my perspective of things, and probably specific to my environment. Take away what you will. And I mean no disrespect to any one's responses before me.

    There is much to be gained from disabling unnecessary services. Even on larger machines. memory is not the only consideration.

    I once worked on a windows 7 system for a customer who was running 137 services on a 4gb laptop.

    Many of these were application services. His virus program (ZoneAlarm IIRC), was using 11 services. Adobe was using 7 services. The list goes on. Many of these services are completely useless and simply demonstrate the vendors disregard for the performance of customer hardware. By the time I'd finished with it he was running 58 services, and it was performing substantially better.

    For MS Services we disabled Indexing, search, IPv6 (yes I know it will be needed one day), Windows media player networking, and almost all application services that were just complete bloat.

    Whilst this was the worst case scenario, it is not uncommon to find systems running 70 - 80 services. And there is just no need for it.

    My PC runs 43 services after boot. At worst when I'm using Excel, encoding media, downloading and listening to music it never exceeds 60.

    I have 32gb of RAM. I use 4gb of that for a RAMDrive for temporary files and temporary space for browsers and some smaller applications. My Boot drive is SSD and my storage is a 2TB Seagate. I have a server with 24TB of storage and moving stuff back and forth all the time. I've also disabled Remote Diff Compression, Removed tablet components and other Windows components.

    Homegroup is another set of uneeded services if you know what you are doing. Networking is not all that hard, and Homegroup is simply a way of (supposedly), making it simpler for the masses (personally I think it fails).

    The difference in performance for my machine, and all the machines here, was measurable. My kids even commented on the difference (You know teenagers, they know everything, and are always right )

    We measured this in terms of time to copy large amounts of date to and from the server, encoding a video (Both DVD and Bluray), performing calculations on a large spreadsheet, opening applications like Word and Photoshop, boot time and monitoring data in performance monitor. I also used SiSoft Sandra to gather before and after information.

    That's not to say that disabling services and tweaking windows components it right for everyone. I've been in I.T for 32 years and supporting Windows since 3.0. It can certainly be a minefield, and it deserves a committed amount of research if you intend to make such changes.

    Just my 2 cents worth.
    +100

    For most users Win default setting are good enough, and depending on how the machine is used may provide near optimum performance. Users that take the time to experiment with setting and combinations of setting can create a noticeable performance increase. What ever you do have a current restore point and backup.
      My Computer


 
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