Disabling Services with the Services Utility

Now that you have an understanding of the dozens of services in Windows 7, you can start disabling the services that are not needed for your computer usage and that are slowing down your computer boot process. To do this, you will use the Services utility that enables you to start, stop, and configure Windows 7 services.

Tip Before you begin changing your service setup, set a system restore point - a configuration where you can easily restore your system. However, be careful when you restore from restore points. Any applications or files that were created after the system restore point will be deleted when reverting back to an earlier restore point.

The Services utility is included in all versions of Windows 7, but is hidden away. Disabling a service with the Services utility is easy. Just complete the following steps:

1. Click the Start button, type services.msc in the Search box, and press Enter. This will start the Services utility.
2. When the Services utility has loaded, you will see a list of all the services available on your computer and the ones that are started. Before you can disable a service from starting up, it is best to stop it first. Scroll through the list of services until you find the name of the one you want to disable. Right-click the service name and select Stop.
3. When the service is stopped, right-click the service again and select Properties. On the General tab, look for the Startup Type drop-down box. Click the arrow on the drop-down box and select Disabled.
4. Click OK. From now on, the system will not start the service during boot, which should speed up your system start.

Bare-Bones Service Configuration

To get the maximum performance out of your system, you have the option of disabling all the services on your computer that are not critical to the system. This will take away a lot of the nice features and conveniences of Windows, but you would have a much faster machine. The following is a list of all services that started by default in Windows 7 and can be safely disabled:

• Application Experience
• Application Information
• Background Intelligent Transfer
• Base Filtering Engine
• Bluetooth Support
• Desktop Window Manager Session Manager
• DHCP Client
• Diagnostic Policy
• Diagnostic System Host
• Distributed Link Tracking Client
• EAPHost
• Function Discover Provider Host
• Group Policy Client
• IKE and AuthIP IPsec Keying Modules
• IP Helper (if you are not connected to an IPv6 network)
• Microsoft iSCSI Initiator Service
• Microsoft Software Shadow Copy Provider
• Multimedia Class
• Network Connections
• Network List
• Network Location Awareness
• Offline Files
• Policy Agent
• Portable Device Enumerator
• Program Compatibility Assistant
• Routing and Remote Access
• Security Center
• Server
• SSDP Discovery
• Superfetch
• Tablet PC Input (if you do not have a Tablet PC)
• TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper
• Terminal Services
• Themes
• WebClient
• Windows Audio
• Windows Audio Endpoint Builder
• Windows Defender
• Windows Error Reporting Service
• Windows Firewall
• Windows Management Instrumentation
• Windows Search
• Windows Time
• Windows Update
• WinHTTP Web Proxy Auto-Discovery
• Workstation

Recommended Service Configuration

The barebones system service setup is great for optimal performance, but you are eliminating a lot of the cool new features that make Windows 7 cool and new. Check out my list of recommended services to disable:

• Bluetooth Support
• DHCP Client (assign yourself a static IP address)
• Diagnostic Policy
• Diagnostic System Host
• Distributed Link Tracking Client
• EAPHost
• Function Discovery Provider Host
• Group Policy Client
• IKE and AuthIP IPsec Keying Modules
• IP Helper (if you are not on an IPv6 network)
• Microsoft iSCSI Initiator Service
• Offline Files
• Policy Agent
• Routing and Remote Access
• SSDP Discovery
• Tablet PC Input
• WebClient
• Windows Search
• WinHTTP Web Proxy Auto-Discovery

Disabling these least commonly used services provides a good balance between saving boot time while keeping the cool new Windows 7 features and application compatibility.