Resolving Problems with System Services

Just about every advanced facet of the operating system runs as a system service. If an essential service stops, the related functionality will not be available and your computer won't work as expected. When you are troubleshooting problems, you'll want to ensure that essential services are running as expected early in your troubleshooting process. To manage system services, you'll use the Services entry in the Computer Management console. Start Computer Management and access the Services entry by completing the following steps:

1. Click the Start button, right-click on the Computer icon, and then select Manage from the context menu provided.
2. In Computer Management, double-click the Services and Applications node and then select Services.
3. You'll now see the available services. Services are listed by:

   Name: The name of the service.
   
   Description: A short description of the service and its purpose.
   
   Status:
   The status of the service. If the entry is blank, the service is stopped.
   
   Startup Type:
   The startup setting for the service.
   
   Log On As:
   The account the service logs on as. The default in most cases is the local system account.

Once you've accessed the Service node in Computer Management, you can work with services by completing the following steps:

1. In the Services view, scroll down on the right side of the window until you see the service you want to work with. Double-click the entry to view the properties of this service.
2. If the service startup type is listed as Automatic and the service status is not listed as Started, click the Start button to start the service.
3. If the Start button is dimmed, click the Stop button and then click the Start button.
4. If a service that should have a startup type of Automatic has a different configuration, set the startup type as Automatic.
5. Click OK.

As part of the comprehensive overhaul of the Windows operating system, essential services in Windows 7 are set to restart automatically if they fail. You can review and configure the restart settings for a service by following these steps:

1. In the Services view, scroll down on the right side of the window until you see the service you want to work with. Double-click the entry to view the properties of this service.
2. On the Recovery tab, the first, second, and third restart actions are listed as shown. Restart actions you'll see include Take No Action, Restart the Service, and Restart the Computer.
3. As necessary, use the "First failure" list to set the first failure option.
4. As necessary, use the "Second failure" list to set the second failure option.
5. As necessary, use the "Subsequent failures" list to set the third failure option.
6. Use the "Reset fail count after" text box to set the expiration period for the failure count. The default value is 1 day.
7. Use the "Restart service after" text box to set how long Windows 7 waits to restart a failed service after detection.
8. Click OK to save your settings.