In part 1 of this series I covered the basics of setting up Windows XP. Once completed you will have one lean, mean, fine tuned computer. In part 2 I'll get into the nitty gritty, so hold on to your hat!
The Services
These aren't something you attend on Sunday, or anything your government assures you they provide. Services in Windows refer to programs that start before you even get to the log on screen. These programs use memory and require CPU cycles just like any other program. The bad news: Many of these aren't needed, but are included because Microsoft wants to cover all the bases. The good news: Microsoft has in place a way to change how and when these programs start, if at all. I suggest you write down which services you change. If ,by chance, you have a problem it will make troubleshooting easier.
Let's open the Services Applet. Click Start>Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Services. The services window will open and it will look similar to below.
You will see several columns. You only need to be concerned about Name, Description, Status, and Startup Type. Name and description give you a lot of information about the service. Status and Startup Type tell you what the services current status is and whether it starts automatically with Windows, manually when needed, or is disabled. Your list will be slightly different than the picture above. Feel free to highlight a few service names. When you do the full description will display to the left.
Now let's find out a little more about a service and see exactly how to change it's behavior. Double click on Alerter. An Alerter Properties box will open.
The General tab is where you will make any changes. The Recovery tab is shown here so you can see that it is possible to change the way the service acts. I don't suggest you change these, unless you know what you are doing. The Dependencies tab shows what other services or processes this service depends on.
This service is currently Stopped on my computer. You can see that I have set this service to Disabled. The available choices are Automatic, Manual, and Disabled. Automatic allows the service to start each time Windows starts. Manual allows the service to start only when it is required. Disabled prevents the service from starting under any circumstance.
OK, let's see which services we can change and how we are going to do it. To change a service double click it's name. Select the drop down menu and change it to the recommended setting. Click OK. It's that easy!
Service |
Setting |
Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Alerter | Manual | Manual is the SAFE setting, but disabled should be fine. |
| Clipbook | Disabled | I have never seen a use for this service. Un-needed. |
| Computer Browser | Disabled | This service should only be needed on very large networks. |
| Distributed Link Tracking Client | Disabled | Maintains links between files on a network. May be needed for shortcuts to files across a network. |
| Error Reporting Service | Disabled | Contacts Microsoft when an error is experienced. |
| Fast User Switching | Disabled | Only needed if you frequently change users. Most owners only use one account so disable. |
| Help and Support | Manual | Only needs to run when needed. |
| IMAPI CD-Burning | Manual | This service starts and stops itself. If you have trouble burning CDs change this to automatic. |
| Indexing Service | Disabled | Microsoft's attempt at making files easier to find. A huge resource hog. Not needed. |
| Messenger | Disabled | Sends messages between clients and servers in a corporate network. Not needed. |
| Microsoft Office Diagnostics | Manual | If you have Microsoft Office installed this service does not need to always run. |
| Net Logon | Disabled | Only used if you log onto a Domain Controller. Usually in a corporate environment. |
| NetMeeting Remote Desktop | Disabled | I can't think of any reason for this. In my opinion it's an unwanted open door to your PC. |
| Network DDE | Disabled | I have found no use for this service and no adverse affects when disabled. |
| Network DDE DSDM | Disabled | I have found no use for this service and no adverse affects when disabled. |
| Network Location Awareness | Manual | May be required in certain network configurations. |
| Office Source Engine | Manual | Manages Office update and installation files. |
| Performance Logs and Alerts | Disabled | Logs performance data and triggers alarms. This is a useful tools for the very geeky type only. |
| Remote Desktop Help Session | Disabled | This is another open door, in my opinion. |
| Remote Proceedure Call Locator | Disabled | I know of no need for this service. If you find something doesn't work change it to manual. |
| Routing and Remote Access | Disabled | This should only be needed with dial-up and VPN connections. If you have Dial-up DO NOT change |
| Secondary Login | Disabled | If you only have one user account on your PC you do not need to have this service running. |
| Security Center | Disabled | If you have a firewall program and anti-virus program installed you don't need this service running. |
| SSDP Discovery Service | Disabled | This service discovers uPNP devices on your network. Change to auto if they don't work. |
| TCP/IP NetBIOS | Disabled | Most networks don't require NetBIOS anymore. If yours doesn't function change to automatic. |
| Univeral Plug and Play Device | Disabled | I have found nothing that requires this service. If an external device fails to function change to auto. |
| WebClient | Disabled | There are very few uses for this service. If some .Net applications don't work return to auto. |
| Wireless Zero Configuration | Disabled | If you do not have or use a wireless connection you should disable this. Leave as is on notebooks and other computers with wireless. |
OK, hopefully you've finished changing each service to the settings above. Now comes the hard part! Reboot. OK, it wasn't that hard.
What you've just done is stopped quite a few programs from running in the background and saved yourself between 20MB and 45MB of memory. Things should be speeding up a bit already!
Let's add a few useful utilities
I'm not talking about water, electricity, gas, or cable. When I say utilities I'm talking about small programs that will make life much easier, and here are just a few that I highly recommend!
MyUninstaller - This is a much better utility to uninstall programs than Microsoft's Add/Remove programs applet.
Startup.cpl - A great program to enable and disable startup programs. Download the 59kb version.
TweakUI - A free program from Microsoft that let's us easily change several system settings.
Download all three. MyUninstaller does not have an installation program built in. After you have downloaded it double click the file. It will open a new window which will show the files that were compressed in the original file. Open My Computer and navigate to Program Files. Choose a blank area and right click. A new menu will open. Choose New>New Folder and left click. A new folder will be created called, appropriately "New Folder". You will notice that the folder name is highlighted, so let's change it to MyUninstaller. Now copy the files from the original window into the MyUninstaller folder. Open the MyUninstaller folder and right click on Myuninstaller.exe. Choose Send To>Desktop, which will put a shortcut to the program on your desktop. You can click and hold the mouse button down and drag it to Start>Programs if you wish (more on this later).
Assuming that you followed the instructions in part #1 you have already installed all of your applications and all windows updates. we should be ready to go to the next step.
Click the shortcut we made above to open MyUninstaller. It will look similar to this:
First I want you to see that MyUninstaller offers much more information about installed applications than the standard Add/Remove applet. Second by right clicking on any entry you have a variety of options. We're concerned about Delete Selected Entries. This isn't really required, but I like to keep things uncluttered, so consider this housekeeping! Look for entries labeled "update for windows", "security update for windows", and "hotfix for windows". Right click on each of these and choose "Delete Selected Entries". Don't uninstall, as that will put you back to square one with an unpatched computer! When you have finished just close the program.
Next double click the Startup.cpl file you downloaded and install it. This will add an applet named "Startup" to your control panel. Once installed click Start>Control Panel>Startup, which will open a window similar to below:
Look at each tab except for Run Once, Deleted, and About. Each entry is a program that starts automatically with Windows. The problem is that very few actually need to. To prevent an application from starting all you need to do is remove the check from the box by clicking it. I can not give specific suggestions here because I don't know what software you have installed. I can tell you that you do not want to change the settings for your Anti-virus, Anti-spyware, or firewall program. These absolutely must run each time you start your computer! Instant messaging programs do not need to run at startup. If you use instant messaging may I suggest you use Trillian, which will do MSN, Yahoo, and AIM all within one small program saving you memory, CPU cycles and headaches. Back to the subject... Specific programs that I know do not need to run are anything Office, Adobe, Nero, Roxio, Sonic, Quicktime, iTunes, and Intervideo. For all other programs look at the Path information provided. If you know what the program is and don't need it to automatically start I suggest you uncheck it. If you don't know what a program is please search google to find out what it is. Each program that you prevent from starting gives you more free memory and processor power for the applications that need it. It will also allow your computer to boot faster!
In part #3 I'll cover TweakUI and the settings that should be changed. I'll also finish up with some housecleaning so you will have a lean, mean, computing machine. Do your homework and find out exactly which programs are starting every time you boot.