Windows
2000 Server includes a lot of system services. In most cases, you don’t need
them all, and you could free some additional memory by disabling unneeded
services. While disabling services is easy (you just click some buttons),
disabling the wrong service could mean disaster.

To locate
services you don’t need, just open the Services console from the Administrative
Tools folder and look at the Description column. Or you can double-click a
service and look at the Description box.

Once you
find out what a service does, you can disable it. By selecting Disabled on the
Startup type drop-down list, you’re telling the operating system not to start
this service on the next reboot. If you want to stop the service now, click
Stop.

Most
administrators will still need help because the service descriptions are very
short and often unhelpful. Microsoft offers a
more extensive list of all services
, with longer descriptions, on the
Windows 2000 Web site.

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