Disable unnecessary services the quick and easy way



You have probably seen numerous service disabling guides around already. However, we have organized this tutorial differently. We have sorted them into categories so you can easily disable the ones that have little or no noticeable affect on the way Vista operates, but at the same time, improving performance.

I have only listed services for you to disable that have been activated by Windows by default. While you might have spent more time looking through the services to find which ones were actually activated on your PC, the ones listed here are actually enabled services on your PC if you haven’t already disabled them.

With over 134 services running in Windows Vista, it wouldn’t hurt to disable the ones you don’t need.


Table of Contents:

Why this guide:
Unlike many other tutorials, we have only included services that are enabled by default on your computer, leaving out the unnecessary ones. The services are also sorted from lite-heavy depending on how much of an impact they will have on the system.

Intro:

As you may already know, Windows Vista is a very demanding OS with over 134 services running on the Ultimate Version. These services can really take up a lot of your resources and bog down your PC, especially if you are using Vista under minimum requirements. Regardless of which version of Vista you have, we have outlined the many services that can be safely disabled by you to greatly improve performance. How this was done was at first, I looked at my list of Services in Vista Ultimate to see which ones were activated, and listed the ones that were safe to disable below. This means that if you never activated any service on your own, you would have disabled most or all of the services that you don’t require. If you have a lower version of Vista, some of the services might not apply for you but be rest assured, that you would have disabled most of the services you don’t require. Just to recap, the services we will be disabling: - are the ones that you most likely don’t need - can be safely disabled The services are sorted into three levels:

——————————————————————————————-

BEFORE DISABLING ANY SERVICES:

Please be sure you are aware of what you are doing. Vista Rewired has tested each and every one of the services here with the exception of the ones in parenthesis. We are not responsible for what happens to your computer after tweaking with these services.
However, we have tested each service to make sure no damage will be done. To ensure complete safety for your PC please make sure:

a) You read each description so you are fully aware of what you are doing
b) You might want to add a System Restore Point so you can easily revert mistakes
c) The guide is still constantly being updated and is not yet finalized. If you know of any services we may have missed, please let us know using the comments form below.

——————————————————————————————-

How to disable a service:

  1. Click on the Start Pearl
  2. Type services.msc in the search box
  3. You might be prompted by a UAC box. Click continue, or learn how to disable it here.
  4. Right click a service, and choose Stop to stop it immediately
  5. For some services you are unable to stop it until after reboot. Simply right click and
    choose properties.properties.jpg
  6. Then select disable from the drop-down menu.disable.jpg

——————————————————————————————-

Legend:

  • Lite services being the safest to disable. Many of these services are useless and have a barely noticeable affect on the way Vista runs. There are a few exceptions that depend on your PC habits.
  • Medium services have a moderate impact on performance. These might or might not be disabled depending on your PC habits.
  • Heavy services have the greatest impact on the way your system works. Make sure you know what you’re doing before turning these off.

——————————————————————————————-

The guide is still constantly being updated and is not yet finalized. If you know of any services we may have missed, please let us know using the comments form below.

  1. Lite Services:
  2. Medium Services
  3. Heavy Services:
    • Updated soon

Lite Services:

Diagnostic Policy Service

Description:

 Notifies you if it suspects that your program was incorrectly installed.

Effects of Disabling:

You will no longer be prompted to validate your installation or re-install your program.

Why disable?

Most of the time your installation will work. As well, you can personally re-install the program if needed to. Personally, this window comes up at times other than installation, such as when I force-close my WinRar. If you are conscious of what you do on the PC, you don’t need this.

Distributed Link Tracking Client

Description

Maintains links between NTFS files within a computer or across computers in a network.

Effects of Disabling:

Unable to access files of another computer.

Why disable?

Disable this if you have only one computer on a network, or if you do not access other computers’ file systems.

IP Helper

Description:

Allows support for IPv6

Effects of Disabling:

No support for IPv6.

Why disable?

IPv6 is not widely used yet. Chances are you don’t need it. You can check by clicking here.

Messenger Sharing Folders USN Journal Reader Service

Description:

Used by MSN Messenger Live. Allows you to use Sharing Folders.

Effects of Disabling:

Unable to use sharing folders.

Why disable?

Disable if you’re not using MSN Messenger Live (8.0 or higher) or if you don’t use sharing folders

Network List Service

Description:

Identifies networks you are connected to and maintains a list of properties for them. The service will notify applications when these properties change.

Effects of Disabling:

The network icon in your system tray will disappear. You will no longer be notified when your connection with the internet is lost or present.

Why disable?

For most who don’t encounter Internet problems regularly, you really don’t need a service to tell you if your Internet is working.
As well, if you are not connected to a network, disable this.

Offline Files

Description:

Disable if you don’t use offline files

Effects of Disabling:

N/A

Why disable?

N/A

Print Spooler

Description:

Loads files to memory for later printing. Basically helps queue your files when you are printing multiple documents so you don’t have to wait for one document to finish to print the next one.

Effects of Disabling:

You’ll have a harsh printing experience. Don’t disable this if you own a printer, unless you hardly use a printer, or have a habit of only printing one document at a time.

Why disable?

If you don’t have a printer, there’s no need for this service.

Readyboost

Description:

Allows you to use Vista’s Readyboost feature. Readyboost allows you to use the free space on your removable memory disks such as your USB Drive to speed up your computer.

Effects of Disabling:

Inability to use ReadyBoost.

Why disable?

Many don’t have a USB fast enough to work with Vista’s Readyboost. If you don’t use this feature, disable the service.

Remote Access Connection

Description:

Maintains dial-up and VPN connections

Effects of Disabling:

N/A

Why disable?

Disable if you don’t use dial-up or VPN (Virtual Private Network)

 

Server

Description:

Allows you to share files and your printer through a LAN

Effects of Disabling:

Unable to share files or printer with other computers through LAN

Why disable?

Disable if you don’t plan on sharing your file or printer through a Local Area Network.

Tablet PC Input Service

Description:

Enables Tablet PC pen and ink functionality

Effects of Disabling:

You can’t use your tablet PC.

Why disable?

Because you don’t have one.

Windows Error Reporting Service

Description:

Allows you to send a report to Microsoft each time your PC receives an error

Effects of Disabling:

You’ll no longer be prompted to send an error report to Microsoft.

Why disable?

Sometimes, it gets really annoying.

Windows Image Acquisition (WIA)

Description:

Provides image acquisition services for scanners and cameras

Effects of Disabling:

If your camera does not have an image browser, you will not be able to acquire pictures from it without a proper driver. WIA allows immediate image acquisition. (Still needs to be tested.)

Why disable?

Disable if you don’t use a scanner or camera with your PC

Windows Time

Description:

Synchronizes time between all users

Effects of Disabling:

Services that depend on this service will fail

Why disable?

Unless you are very hardcore on time accuracy, you won’t need this service.

Medium Services:

Cryptographic Services

Description:

Allows Windows to confirm that all drivers installed are signed and certified by Microsoft.

Effects of Disabling:

Security will decrease since there will be nothing to verify that the driver you are downloading is trustworthy or safe.

Why disable?

If you know what you’re doing, you can disable this. Although Vista will automatically set it back to normal.

IKE and AuthIP IPsec Keying Modules

Description:

Required for use of IKE and IPsec.

Effects of Disabling:

Network security will be compromised for higher performance. If you are unsure with yourself and the computer, leave this enabled.

Why disable?

Home users don’t really need this feature.

IPsec Policy Agent

Description:

Some ISPs require it. Provides some form of security.

Effects of Disabling:

Again, security will be compromised for performance. Do not disable if you are not sure with yourself and the computer.
Your computer might not be able to connect to the Internet once this is disabled. Check with your ISP or call them to see if this is required. As well, you can do some experimenting of your own.

Why disable?

Less RAM usage

 

Network Location Awareness

Description:

Collects and stores configuration information for the network and notifies programs when this information is modified. If this service is stopped, configuration information might be unavailable. If this service is disabled, any services that explicitly depend on it will fail to start.

Effects of Disabling:

Disable this if you are not connected to a LAN with other computers or if you don’t plan on sharing your file or printer.

Why disable?

Program Compatibility Assistant

Description:

Allows compatibility with software from previous operating systems

Effects of Disabling:

By disabling this doesn’t necessarily mean that you cannot run applications designed for XP like I am doing now. It just means that you cannot run it in compatibility mode in properties. (More testing needs to be done on this)

Why disable?

If you have no compatibility issues.

Shell Hardware Detection

Description:

That AutoPlay window that pops up each time you insert a USB Disk, CD, removable storage, etc.

Effects of Disabling:

You won’t be asked to do something before you want to do it.

Why disable?

If you don’t want that window coming up, this disables it.

Heavy Services:

Updated in the near future

 

 

Was I able to help you? If you still have a question, click here and I will get back to you with an answer.

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This entry was posted on Sunday, February 18th, 2007 at 12:10 pm and is filed under Tutorials, Windows Vista. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

56 Responses to “Disable unnecessary services the quick and easy way”

  1. Albert Says:
    February 18th, 2007 at 12:14 pm

    Hey guys. This tutorial took a lot of time to write and I’m still updating it. I uploaded it so I could get some feedback or suggestions from you guys, so please feel free to comment.

  2. disabled Says:
    February 18th, 2007 at 11:31 pm

    hey, I disabled all mine by running Ubuntu. It was super easy. My kids love playing the on-line flash games and using Open Office. The best part is, it didn’t cost a thing.

  3. Bryan Says:
    February 19th, 2007 at 2:33 pm

    Great! Can’t wait to go through it. I really like the way you laid it all out. Easy to understand and easy for me to pick and choose

  4. ertyanna Says:
    March 3rd, 2007 at 9:39 am

    thanks

  5. Sam Says:
    March 8th, 2007 at 1:35 am

    I second the Ubuntu installation. It’s nice not to hear my fan all damn day long trying to cool down a bloated Windows system.

  6. xrat3d Says:
    March 9th, 2007 at 9:24 am

    “Cryptographic Services”

    I have disabled this one and is NOT being activated again by Vista. I’m on Vista Premium and runing only 22 services.

  7. Albert Ng Says:
    March 9th, 2007 at 7:31 pm

    Wow only 22 services, that’s incredible lol. So you want to re-activate Cryptographic Services but it won’t let you?
    Don’t forget, some of the servers have dependencies. Cryptographic depends on DCOM Server Process Launcher, Remote Procedure Call (RPC) to run.

  8. Connected to Vista Bookmarks Says:
    March 19th, 2007 at 9:53 pm

    VistaRewired Bookmarked…

    I was catching up the postings at Windows Vista Magazine which led me to a nice tutorial on how to Disable…

  9. steffers Says:
    March 29th, 2007 at 3:43 pm

    thank you so much! i’ve got a new pc (HP) with vista..and needless to say, i’m not totally enamored of it. so far, with your help, i took care of all sorts of gobblygook in it. and kudos on the whole explanation, too..for an intermediate user like me, it was fairly easy to do.

  10. John Sanders Says:
    March 31st, 2007 at 11:47 am

    Excellent, my man!

    Just what the doctor ordered - Thank you.

  11. Bob Says:
    April 25th, 2007 at 2:06 am

    Great to see the “Effects” and “Why” parts of each recommendation. To many times you read that you should do something and are left to guess why. Thanks for the great effort!

  12. Find out which services are hogging your computer’s resources at Vista Rewired Says:
    April 27th, 2007 at 11:27 pm

    [...] to be careful when disabling services. Creating a Restore Point might be a good idea. You can also view the tutorial on tweaking with services here. Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and [...]

  13. Jeff Says:
    May 10th, 2007 at 1:13 pm

    Thanks for all your efforts. I also appreciated the explanations you gave. I’ll bookmark this page and come back again. Keep up the great work!!!!

  14. Sumo Says:
    May 18th, 2007 at 3:16 pm

    Thanks for the nice tutorial.

    I was having some problems with my Trust Wireless 1200 tablet, the built in Pen function of Vista was interfering with the product drivers. After i disabled “Tablet PC Input Service” the tablet works just as good as previous versions of Windows.

    Thanks again. Sumo

  15. eileen Says:
    May 24th, 2007 at 4:31 pm

    many thanks. I was in Vista overload!! until I found this.

  16. Johnny Says:
    May 30th, 2007 at 7:38 pm

    Great work and I have noticed an improvement! However, I am still at 65 services currently running! I will have to go through the list again and see what else I can safely stop and disable.

    Perhaps it’s the “Ultimate” part of Windows Vista.

    Also, Network Location Awareness stopped Network List Service, which in return killed my internet connection.

  17. daniel Says:
    June 1st, 2007 at 9:03 am

    10x to u vista is now 5 time faster…lol

  18. habin Says:
    June 2nd, 2007 at 12:33 am

    THANK YOU VERY MUCH for your time & effort. I sure many, many folks are grateful, though not responding. I wasn’t able to use disable as much as I wanted, as my new Vista machine is a work laptop, but just dropping Ready Boost, Error Reporting, and oh yes, that damn Shell Hardware Detection (USB autoplay popup) is very satifying. I found additional possibilities at this website, similarly with good explanations of the consequences.
    http://www.jasonn.com/turning_off_unnecessary_services_on_windows_xp

  19. Basil Says:
    June 8th, 2007 at 7:43 pm

    Thanx a lot. I tried to experment with disabeling services but it was a tough job so I just dumped it. Now i can disable some services safely. THANX

  20. CADD Says:
    June 16th, 2007 at 8:36 am

    Thanks very much taking the time to put this together. Lovely layout with the description and effects of disabling each service.

  21. Tom Says:
    June 23rd, 2007 at 3:03 am

    Excellent work with the explanations

  22. Bjorn Roesbeke Says:
    July 3rd, 2007 at 2:26 am

    Let there be a lot more services (and processes !) to be blocked and banned.
    I’ve been looking for this “Shell Hardware Detection” for a while now, thank you for explaining !

  23. Paul Says:
    July 3rd, 2007 at 12:30 pm

    Hi,
    I agree with the above comments - very useful, helpful and well laid out! Look forward to seeing the ‘Heavy Services’ section when you get round to it.
    Regards,
    Paul

  24. dorbot Says:
    July 29th, 2007 at 11:23 am

    that’s really good. its nice to know what shit you can turn off and what it does.

    BRING ON THE HEAVY STUFF!
    Muahahaha…

    d.

  25. Marcus Cake » OQO Model 02 Ultramobile Personal Computer (Vista version) - from dog to star? Says:
    August 11th, 2007 at 6:10 am

    [...] disable unnecessary Windows Vista services: see Disable unnecessary services the quick and easy way [...]

  26. Chris Says:
    August 15th, 2007 at 12:57 pm

    I have a vista equipped laptop on the way and I’m already looking at this xD

    I’m a big fan of disabling windows XP services (I’m running on bare bones with this thing =D) and I can’t wait to do the same with Vista. Out of curiosity, does anyone know if Vista has all the same crap as XP in terms of remote desktop and such? Completely useless and big memory hogs.

    Great work, keep it up. Can’t wait to see more of these useless services I can disable. Cheers.

  27. idoubtit Says:
    August 17th, 2007 at 9:33 pm

    Just wanted to say big THANKS!
    Obviously a lot of effort and dedication on your part to the readers of this site.
    You should take a bow and we should all give you a standing ovation!
    THANKS again!

  28. Rod young Says:
    September 14th, 2007 at 1:07 am

    The shell hardware detection also runs with WIA so if you use a scanner or a camera you wouldnt want to turn this feature off

  29. daniel Says:
    September 16th, 2007 at 9:00 pm

    need some help I went threw the list and disabeled what i didnt need and now i got no sound lol.
    I tried reinstalling the sound driver and still nothing and when i try to run media player it pops up an error saying Windows Media Player encountered a problem while playing the file. For additional assistance, click Web Help.
    wen i check my sound driver it says its working fine. if any 1 has any ideas post them here if its ok or email me at hummer_rc@hotmail.com

    Daniel

  30. lee Says:
    September 19th, 2007 at 6:38 am

    Your screenshots are not aligned. You need a between two of them. Nice site but that’s looks bad.

  31. Chargleberry Says:
    October 17th, 2007 at 8:18 pm

    20MB free from my Ram. That’s pretty cool dude, wonder what else is in here we don’t need. :)

  32. Stephen Says:
    October 23rd, 2007 at 5:27 pm

    Nice list. Thanks a bunch. You may want to add Terminal Services to the “light” list. It allows remote terminal service connections, which most people don’t use.

  33. Rolf N Says:
    December 14th, 2007 at 5:12 am

    I will be back soon!!! Finally a usefull site that I didn’t have to cough for!!

  34. Nordin Says:
    December 14th, 2007 at 11:38 pm

    Thanks, its so easy to follow. Keep up the good work !

  35. Ron Says:
    January 12th, 2008 at 10:23 pm

    Well I have to say you Rock my friend! thank u very much for this….

    I have a question for you…

    I am running Vista Corp on a DELL XPS, 3.5 dual processor, 2gigs of ram… I have a presonus external audio card, with Cubase vst, and finally guitar rig… sorry for the rant!, I was wondering, what services can i shut off? I don’t connect to the internet or any networks, it is strictly to record my music… I would love to shut all services off but then I start running into problems as I’m sure you understand… perhaps you may know what i can and cannot turn off considering that i need some services to record my music….BTW I only use the XPS for music thats it… any help would be appreciated…

    PS- if you can help my email is heavyfunker@hotmail.com

  36. Shemy Says:
    January 16th, 2008 at 12:19 pm

    Thank You Very Much..

  37. Daaz Says:
    January 17th, 2008 at 10:25 pm

    Thanx mate

    Great Great Great Work

  38. Adam Says:
    January 19th, 2008 at 3:34 pm

    Rock on!

  39. bill Says:
    January 20th, 2008 at 7:26 am

    well ive bookmarked your site. this is the best ive seen yet. i get alot of questions about tweaking the registry and now i have a place to send em. your layout is intuitive and easy to follow. the explanations are well written and not bloated. ill be looking though your site for more usefull info and more. thanks for the hard work. A++++

  40. Bob Says:
    March 21st, 2008 at 7:04 pm

    Which one of these tweaks would have caused my Sprint EX720 card (plugged into a Fujitsu u810 through an express card to usb adapter) to stop being recognized? the usb port still works for other things like mice…

  41. Albert (admin) Says:
    March 21st, 2008 at 9:23 pm

    Try the Windows Image Aquisition service

  42. Bob Says:
    March 22nd, 2008 at 8:13 am

    Thanks for the reply. Turns out it was the Remote Access Connection. I guess the Sprint card looks like a modem to Windows.

  43. Chris Says:
    March 24th, 2008 at 12:42 pm

    What service is remote procedure call (RPC).
    Not been able to disable that.

  44. Chris Says:
    March 24th, 2008 at 1:05 pm

    I am running Windows Vista Home Premium, Genuine Intel(R) CPU, T2080 @ 1.73GHz, 2GB RAM (Used to be 1GB when 1st bought). I am working on Ulead Video Studio 11.5 Plus (video editing software). I have been working on this program for a long time now. Never had any problems. Then suddenly i started facing problems about 2 weeks ago. The video would not synchronise with audio/sound tracks/narration. Tried everything. Including Virus Scans from various makes of antivirus programs. Couldnt find anything. Realised my CPU was very high (90%), memory runing too High etc. Extended to 2GB and i see the memory running up to 1,08GB, where it should have been running at about 585MB. I have made my reaserch on the matter and i though there must be a lot of junk in my pc. So i started my format. Finished and saw that i had the same exact problem. I did all i could do. Appearance more simple, uninstalled all unwanted programs (Including game consoles etc), disabled services including the windows search index, remote access, internet connection sharing, bla bla bla, all those that i didnt want. I check it out again and i see that i have the same problem again with memory, although my CPU has improved alot, my memory is still on the same level. WHY? what can i do to it? It is currently running at 1.08GB. It should have been less. 72 Processes are running, CPU Usage about 7-10%, Physical memory 54%. I have 84 services running. My program is still unable to synchronise. Please i would appriciate to get some help.

  45. Albert (admin) Says:
    March 25th, 2008 at 6:57 pm

    That is a really strange problem. First I would advise you to update your video card driver. Second, make sure that you have installed SP1 because it contains a lot of fixes.

    The additional RAM usage is normal because Vista believes non-used RAM is wasted RAM, so it makes an effort to use what you have so your programs can load faster, respond faster, etc.

  46. Chris Says:
    March 26th, 2008 at 8:03 am

    Thanks for the reply Albert. Respect.

    In my post i forgot to mention that SP1 was included in my procedure of fixing the problem.

    Thank you for the RAM info. I never knew Vista does that. I quess that explains why RAM usage is always at a high level, no matter what changes you do.

    As for the Video Card Driver, sounds very hopeful to fix the problem. I Didn’t think about that. Could you give me some info on how to update? Cos i am a bit new in computers. :P

    Again Thanks for the reply.
    This is a cool webside, i learned a lot through it. Interesting.

  47. Chris Says:
    March 26th, 2008 at 9:18 am

    SOrry i forgot to tell you guys what i am using.

    It’s a Toshiba Notebook. Satellite U305.

  48. William Says:
    April 2nd, 2008 at 2:41 am

    Glad I found You. I really appreciate the simple english definitions of the services. I apologize if someone else already brought this up (i only read part of the responses), but i did want to mention that WIA, being dependant on Shell Hardware Detection, will fail when the latter is set to disabled, so if you have a camera or scanner, you cannot disable either. Looking forward to updates to this guide.

  49. Sam Says:
    April 13th, 2008 at 5:44 am

    Thanks for the great list, would be great if you could update it a bit so the heavy services are in it too and maybe some new services from SP1

  50. Muh Says:
    April 15th, 2008 at 8:28 pm

    the tablet pc bit!! IS FRIGGGGN HILARIOUS thx man for sharin

  51. casvdry Says:
    April 24th, 2008 at 5:04 pm

    If you disable Network List you’re going to be unable to add an Extender in your Media Center.

  52. vista disabling services « creative heaven Says:
    May 13th, 2008 at 12:03 pm

    [...] it from sites like http://www.tweakvista.com/ http://www.blackviper.com/WinVista/servicecfg.htm http://vistarewired.com/2007/02/18/services http://techbold.com/2007/11/disabling-service-to-improve-system.html [...]

  53. Josheua Says:
    May 21st, 2008 at 7:48 pm

    You’re the best!

  54. BobH Says:
    May 31st, 2008 at 9:57 pm

    Actually, there are those of us out here who really work their machines hard. I was surprised at how many services I needed to keep running and how few of them I was able to disable. My Fuji U810 is a miniature tablet pc that I use heavily as a level 3 systems and network administrator while on the road. This otherwise magnificent article reminded me that the average Joe Sixpack doesn’t use a computer for anything except the most mundane functions (games, browser and email).

  55. tjphillips Says:
    June 17th, 2008 at 6:06 pm

    @BobH there also people who use them for audio as well.These days you can run a full multitrack studio on a laptop.A lot of these services can affect overall performance and it’s important to disable all the resource hogging background services as we need as much of the computers processing power available as possible for running vsti plugins,particuarly fx.Anyway thanks for this Albert!

  56. John Says:
    July 5th, 2008 at 3:28 pm

    Awesome… thanks! You should start an e-mail list to notify us of updates in this information.

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