• 

  Guide to Useless Services (Windows XP SP2)

  Aalaap Ghag, Dec 30, 2005 1010 hrs IST

  Which default Windows XP SP2 services are not required and can be turned off for performance.

  

Page 1 - Useless Services - WinXP SP2 Page 2 - Useless Services - WinXP SP2 (Cont'd) Page 3 - Useless Services - WinXP SP2 (Cont'd) Page 4 - Useless Services - WinXP SP2 (Cont'd) Page 5 - Useless Services - WinXP SP2 (Cont'd) Page 6 - Useless Services - WinXP SP2 (Cont'd)

Error Reporting Service
"Allows error reporting for services and applictions running in non-standard environments."
I.e. "Send system information to Microsoft." No thanks. Disable it.

Help and Support
"Enables Help and Support Center to run on this computer."
This is okay to leave as-is if you hit F1 a lot, but if you almost never need to use the built-in help features (as opposed to just Googling for the problem - always a better option), then disabling this service would be a good idea. Now the problem is that the service automatically gets turned back on when required even if its disabled, so keeping it disabled is actually a better option to keeping it on automatic.

Indexing Service
"Indexes contents and properties of files on local and remote computers; provides rapid access to files through flexible querying language."
Use AvaFind (link to review) and/or Google Desktop Search instead. Just disable it - no questions asked.



Net Logon
"Supports pass-through authentication of account logon events for computers in a domain."
Useless for single machines or even most networks out here that don't actually have a domain. Disable.

NetMeeting Remote Desktop Sharing
"Enables an authorized user to access this computer remotely by using NetMeeting over a corporate intranet."
As a general rule of thumb, avoid any combination of "remote" and "internet/intranet". If you don't want people to use NetMeeting to connect to your computer and see your desktop over the Internet/Intranet, disable this please.

Network Location Awareness (NLA)
"Collects and stores network configuration and location information, and notifies applications when this information changes."
And how is that going to help you? Disable it.

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