Disable Unwanted Services to Make Windows Faster

When windows boots up, there are a lot of services which gets turned on automatically. While some of them are useful for proper functioning of windows, remaining are unwanted and effects your computers performance. You can improve windows performance by turning them off. It is very logical. The less number of services running on your windows, the faster your computer will be. But as these services are running in background, few of them are very important and without them your computer may not function properly. So it is needed for us to understand which services are useful and which of them are useless. So I am going to provide a list of unwanted services that you can turn it off and still make your computer work properly and faster than before. I will also include the use of each service so that you get an idea which service is used for what purpose.

Warning : Turn off only those services which I list below. If you are turning off a service make sure that you know its use. If you are not sure about any service then leave it but do not try to turn it off and crash your system.

Disable Unwanted Services to Make Windows Faster :

Go to Start -> Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Services

Alternatively you can type Services.msc in Run dialog box.

Start -> Run -> Type Services.msc -> Click OK

Another method to Open Services is by right clicking My Computer icon and select Mange option. Then select Services option from Services and Applications.

Services window will open up. Below is the list of all the unwanted services along with their description. If they are not needed by you then you can disable it.

Alerter : If you are not on a network and do not wish to receive alerts, then you don’t need it.

Application Layer Gateway Service : It provides support for third party protocol plugins. You can turn it off.

Application Management : Set this option to Manual. This is required to manage installation and uninstall of applications when you are in a group.

Automatic Updates : You can turn it off if you do not want windows to automatically update patches.

Background Intelligent Transfer Service : This service is required to transfer files in background when you are in a network. This is not required, so you can turn it off.

Clipbook : Disable it if you are on a network. This service is required if you want to share files on network.

Com+ Event System : This service is required when you want to get event notifications when subscribed to a group. You can turn it off.

Com+ System Application : Turn this service off, since this is useful only when you want tracking of applications on network to be enabled.

Distributed Transaction Coordinator : You can disable this service as this is used to coordinate transactions from multiple managers.

Error Reporting Service : Turn off this useless service which sends error reports to Microsoft. Since its not going to solve your problems.

Fast User Switching Compatibility : If you are a single user on a computer, then you do not need this unwanted service.

Help and Support : If you do not use this service often then you can set this to Manual.

Human Interface Device Access : Set it to manual if you do not use hot keys and remote computers.

Indexing Service : Turn it off if your computer is slow. It uses a lot of CPU and memory.

Internet Connection Sharing(ICS) & Internet Connection Firewall(ICF) : Turn it off if you do not want to share internet connection and firewall to other networks.

IPsec Services / Logical Disk Manager : Set this to Manual.

Messenger : Disable it if you don’t use messenger on your computer.

Ms Software Shadow Copy Provider : This service manages software based volume shadow copies taken by volume shadow copy service. You do not need this unwanted service. Turn it off.

Net Logon : Disable if you are not on a network.

NetMeeting Remote Desktop Sharing : Disable it if you do not use Remote Desktop feature.

Network DDE, Network DDE DSDM, NT LM Securtiy Support Provider : Disable all these unwanted services if they exist on your computer, as they are already disabled by default.

Performance Logs and Alerts : This service collects data from remote computers. It is not required if you are on network. You can disable this service.

Portable Media Serial Number Service: Disable this service

QOS RSVP : Disable this service

Remote Registry : This service enables users to remotely change registry settings. If you are on a network, then turn it off.

Secondary Logon / Security Accounts Manager / Security Center / Smart Card / Smart Card Helper / Server :

These are useless features. You can turn them off.

SSDP Discovery : It is helpful only if SSDP protocol is used. So you can turn it off.

System Restore Service : If you do not use system restore feature, then you can disable it.

Task Scheduler : Do you schedule maintenance tasks on your computer. If not, then turn this service off.

TCP/IP NetBios Helper : Set it to manual if you are on network, otherwise disable it.

Telnet : If you use this then set it to manual, otherwise disable it.

Terminal Services : If you do not use remote desktop sharing then disable it.

Uninterrupted Power Supply : Turn off if you do not use UPS.

Universal Plug and Play Device Host / User Privilege Service: Set it to manual.

Volume Shadow Copy : Disable it if you do not use backup and restore feature of windows on network.

Wireless Zero Configuration: Disable if not on a wireless network.

WMI Performance Adapters: Disable it, useless service.

Workstation: Disable if you are not on a network.

There are many other services which are not needed. You can turn it off as per your needs. But make sure that if you know about a service completely then go ahead otherwise do not mess with the configuration.

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