Configure IT Quick: Manage XP services to improve performance

If you recently installed XP without upgrading your RAM, or if XP is running on older hardware, you have probably noticed a decrease in system performance. XP is by far the most resource-hungry operating system released by Microsoft. This demand for CPU time and memory is often caused by internal services running automatically when XP starts, but which may be unnecessary on your system. Here's how you can identify several services that can be turned off safely, and the steps involved in managing these services.

What are services?
Services are programs that are started when the operating system is booted and normally continue to run in the background as long as the system is used. A lot of the services provided by the operating system are essential. Sound, printing, and networking functions are all made available via services, and many common security applications are run as services.

The problems with services arise when unnecessary services drain system resources. To see what services are running on your XP system, click on Start | Control Panel | Administrative Tools | Services. The Services management window shown in Figure A will open.


Click on the Services in the left-hand pane to see the services available on your system. The services available on your system are displayed in the right-hand panel. Because all services that are either running or stopped are shown, this list will be extensive.

There are five columns in the Services panel that are used to provide information about the services available on your system. The five headings used are:

• Name - The name of the service
• Description - A description of the service
• Status - Used to indicates which services are started (running)
• Startup Type - Describes how a service is started. There are three options in this column: Started, Stopped, and Disabled
• Log On As - Describes whether a regular user account or a system runs the service

To gain more information about a service, or to change the properties of a service, either double-click on the service you want or right-click on it, and select Properties. You'll then see the Service Properties panel shown in Figure B.


There are four tabs under the Service Properties panel

• General - Provides the name of the service, the path to the executable or script to start the server, and the startup type for the server, being either Manual, Automatic, or Disabled; the General tab also displays the current status of the service (Service Status column): Started, Stopped or Disabled
• Log On - Describes the user account associated with a service; most services will be run by the Local System account or by the NT AUTHORITY\LocalService account (in most cases, the Log On account should not be changed)
• Recovery - Specifies what action is taken when a service fails: Take No Action, Restart The Service, Restart The Computer, or Run A Program; if the administrator chooses to run a program when a service fails, the browse button is used to select the program; any additional parameters used with the selected program must also be entered.
• Dependencies - Other services or programs that depend on the selected service to function properly; before any service is stopped, check the dependencies to see the effect of stopping or disabling a service

Which services may be safely stopped?
Sure, services can easily be stopped, started, or disabled in XP, but determining which services to stop or disable to improve system performance can be confusing. The long list of services and their associated dependencies can seem overwhelming. Disabling or stopping some services can crash your system. Disabling or stopping the running service can also cause problems with other services or programs that are dependent on it to function properly. To make things easier, the following of services may be disabled or stopped without causing problems for your system:

• Alerter - Notifies selected users and computers of administrative alerts
• Clipbook - Enables ClipBook Viewer to store information and share it with remote computers
• Computer Browser - Maintains an updated list of computers on the network and supplies this list to computers designated as browsers
• Fast User Switching - Provides management for applications that require assistance in a multiple user environment
• Indexing Service - Indexes contents and properties of files on local and remote computers
• Messenger - Transmits Net Send and Alerter service messages between clients and servers
• Net Logon - Supports pass-through authentication of account logon events for computers in a domain
• NetMeeting Remote Desktop Sharing - Enables an authorized user to access this computer remotely by using NetMeeting over a corporate intranet
• Remote Desktop Help Session Manager - Manages and controls Remote Assistance
• Remote Registry - Enables remote users to modify registry settings on this computer
• Routing and Remote Access - Offers routing services to businesses in local area and wide area network environments
• Server - Supports file, print, and named-pipe sharing over the network for this computer
• SSDP Discovery Service - Enables discovery of UPnP devices on your home network
• TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper - Enables support for NetBIOS over TCP/IP (NetBT) service and NetBIOS name resolution
• Telnet - Enables a remote user to log on to this computer and run programs, and supports various TCP/IP Telnet clients, including UNIX-based and Windows-based computers
• Upload Manager - Manages synchronous and asynchronous file transfers between clients and servers on the network
• Wireless Zero Configuration - Provides automatic configuration for the 802.11 adapters
• Workstation - Creates and maintains client network connections to remote servers

At your service
Windows XP is a great operating system, but older systems may need some tuning to reach maximum performance. By default, Windows XP loads many services that your computer may not need. If your system is running slowly, you may want to disable some of XP’s services to improve performance.