MSConfig - which services are necessary to run and which can be off

[loninappleton]

In troubleshooting a setup for slowness, I noticed that there was a lot of
seemingly random disk activity when no functions were going.


Then I examined MSCONFIG for running programs.


Is MSCONFIG the right place to look for all running programs?


Looking at the MSCONFIG Services tab I see many entries.

I turned all the MSCONFIG Services off then rebooted and the disk activity calmed down-- only an occasional blink on the indicator.


Is it possible that there is a malware in Services? I've never encountered such a thing.


Or can the Services be adjusted for minimum necessary activity?


I'm trying to find this slowdown problem on an older board -- MSI 880gm with a 3 core
Athlon.

 

[Ranger4]

When you were in the Service tab of MSCONFIG did you tick the box at the bottom that says "Hide all Microsoft Services". The remaining list shows all the other programs & some of those will be running. You can experiment by unticking them one at a time & clicking on the Apply button. Reboot & see if there is an improvement, but you need to keep in mind that you might have problems with some disabling some of them.

The reason for Hiding all Microsoft Services is that removing any MS services may result in a total failure of the computer to start or run programs.

 

[loninappleton]

Good advice. I wasn't doing much during this observation.
I'll do the suggested action and see if the disk activity stays down.

 

[Anak]

I've always found this site helpful to sort out services: Black Viper’s Windows 7 Service Pack 1 Service Configurations

To clear up some of the listings so you can concentrate on ultimate you can click on column visibility then click on all the default versions of 7 except ultimate, you'll notice as you click them the columns will disappear. You may also want to show all entries instead of only 50.

Related:
Services - Start or Disable

 

[Paul Black]

Hi Anak,

I've always found this site helpful to sort out services: Black Viper’s Windows 7 Service Pack 1 Service Configurations

Yes, that site is very useful and informative. I have used it MANY times in the past, and will continue to do so in the future.

 

[loninappleton]

Thanks for the reply. More research to do.
I've done what you said and hid the Microsoft services. Only one remains which is something about
Mozilla Maintenance for auto update. There's supposed to be a way to eliminate it with an option
in Firefox but I'd just as soon have it gone and am working on removal rather than just
unchecking a box.

 

[mrjimphelps]

Now that you have disabled all of the non-Microsoft services except for Mozilla Maintenance, has the computer performance issue been resolved? If so, then one or more of the non-Microsoft services was the culprit.

 

[Anak]

Only one remains which is something about Mozilla Maintenance for auto update. There's supposed to be a way to eliminate it with an option in Firefox but I'd just as soon have it gone and am working on removal rather than just unchecking a box.

It should be listed in programs and features just right click on it and then click on uninstall.

If this machine has thunderbird installed you'll need to find that one to, I've never used thunderbird but there may be two entries in programs and features.

 

[loninappleton]

It should be listed in programs and features just right click on it and then click on uninstall.

If this machine has thunderbird installed you'll need to find that one to, I've never used thunderbird but there may be two entries in programs and features.

Yes, it's gone now. For some reason I didn't see it with RevoUninstaller first time through.
Revo showed no leftover things to detele. A check of MSCONFIG showed that it was removed.


No T-bird on the target MSI setup but I'll check for it on the main email machine on this
home network

 

[loninappleton]

Yes, it's gone now. For some reason I didn't see it with RevoUninstaller first time through.
Revo showed no leftover things to detele. A check of MSCONFIG showed that it was removed.


No T-bird on the target MSI setup but I'll check for it on the main email machine on this
home network

When I did look for Thunderbird in Services after hiding Microsoft Services as explained above on my email machineit showed a bunch of other items installed which may have been 'assumed' at one time
or another. Example is something to do with Acronis which I do not use and do not see
any longer in Programs and Features (if it was there.) Hijack this has some entries too.
I unticked all of these non Microsoft items as a starting point to clean up all my machines

on the homenet.




Perhaps Black Viper has answers to all this. I will examine that when I can.

 

[loninappleton]

Now that you have disabled all of the non-Microsoft services except for Mozilla Maintenance, has the computer performance issue been resolved? If so, then one or more of the non-Microsoft services was the culprit.

I'll consult the Black Viper material. As of now, Microsoft Service services are on and that's
all.



As to performance, I'm sort of shooting in the dark on it and trying to eliminate possibilities or perceived
slow spots.


It could be old/slow memory or the onboard video or something not passing data very well.
A three core should be handling the small load on this experimental rig. It's a machine I intend to keep in reserve for any failures of my email PC etc.

 

[mrjimphelps]

Does the computer seem to be faster now that you have disabled the non-Microsoft services?

 

[file3456]

You should use services under the Administrative Tools in the control panel. MSCONFIG is meant for diagnosing issues. So Autoruns is what you should use. Autoruns for Windows - Windows Sysinternals | Microsoft Docs

 

[mrjimphelps]

MSCONFIG is meant for diagnosing issues.

He is diagnosing an issue -- the computer is slow.

MSCONFIG is the easy way to disable services. It is very straightforward. And it works on every modern version of Windows. There is no problem using MSCONFIG for this purpose.

 

[loninappleton]

Not marked solved yet since using Black Viper to manually change services is a slow process.


To that point, once done is there a way to store the profile or folder where the
changes are made if a fresh Win7 install is needed?


I have pretty good backup, but is there a way to drag and drop the new Services adjustments?


BTW I am not doing these by rote but reading the descriptions. I don't want to turn off my
workgroup/homenet for instance.

 

[Anak]

I know from experience it can be tedious so work at your own pace. It can make it harder if you've taken my advice and hid some of the columns, sometimes looking at the other versions of windows start-states can help in understanding how they work.

I found some links that can do what you want, but not drag and drop; It'd be easier and quicker to let the system fetch 'em.

• One is from microsoft: How to use the backup feature to back up and restore data in Windows Server 2003 it's for servers but should work for your system, when there click on To Back Up the System State (Including Registry Settings) near the top of the blue box. That's a good idea, as the registry and services work hand in hand.

• This one has two scripts that you can run: How to Backup Services Configuration (Startup Type) in Windows one is a .bat file, the other a .vbs script.

• I think this tutorial by Shawn will do what you need see step #8: Backup User and System Files and if you need to return to defaults but don't remember what they were see: Services - Restore Default Services in Windows 7

Go take a break an rest your eyes do something different, man doesn't survive by bytes alone....

 

[file3456]

You should just get in the habit of cloning your current Comp. to an external hard drive. That way if things really foul up you just clone back. I use AOMEI Backupper to accomplish this. Malware or hardware failure can take me down, but I'll just clone back.

Of course, if you wanted to do a clean install then Windows scripts are gonna be your best bet.

 

[loninappleton]

Thanks for all the tips. I had to let this go for a bit since messing with services apparently took down
my video and froze my mouse.


To explain:


Doing the Black Viper method is done in three groups-- at least that's the way they print out--
and alphabetically.


I had one HD (of two) with a usable config at maybe the first page-- 60 or so of the 165
entries. I stopped there since I have no clue as to what took down the video.


But-- and I don't know how these things fit together-- I ran system repair and got usability back.
And on the other HD backup I had to go as far as rebuilding with fixboot. ( have another thread entry on thatand how it solves.)


But I do want to go and see how the services get backed up. It's a good tool to know. Thanks



As to where the error occurred, ( excuse if I'm putting in too many variables talking about
an HD and a back up) ; Is the only solution to reboot after each Black Raven change to see if
that is the error?

 

[loninappleton]

I think I answered one of my own questions: Any lockups should be fixed by reverting to Black Raven safe settings. Everything comes slow to me.

 

[Anak]

Is the only solution to reboot after each Black Raven change to see if
that is the error?

It is slower, but it's also the prudent way to go.

If you've been changing 10, 20, 30 settings at a time it makes it more difficult to home in on the culprit, I'd say stick with no more than 5. If those 5 are okay, good but if something bad happens start them all back up but one. if that one's okay go to the next and stop it, it becomes a process of elimination but it can get tricky because of dependencies. They need to be running for the one you're testing, the first paragraph explains it here.

• How to find the Dependencies of a Windows Service

• How to identify the dependencies of Windows services and change how they start

As a general rule you never want to disable a local system service.

Black Raven??