Microsoft Windows has come along way from the previous versions of Windows like Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows Me. The stability and the performance issues that the previous Windows versions had where almost impossible to work with and how could we forget the dreaded blue screen of death that we all got accustomed to.

However Windows XP Home and Windows XP Professional have its own issues and burdens. 

Microsoft Corporation wanted to cover every aspect of usability for the corporate office user to the personal home user of their operating system that they packaged all these extra’s and services that will never be used by the personal computer user.

The results of Microsoft’s decision is a computer system that obviously runs slower, none responsive or users still experience system crashes.

So how does one fix this?

To fix this, we go through the list of services you don’t need and get the extra speed and system resources back to a more reasonable level. Creating a much faster Computer that will boot up much quicker and make it more stable.

Important!

These are some suggestions and I recommend you read the description with each service first to ensure its one you don’t use or need before you disable it.

I also recommend that you do each of the services one-by-one, every time rebooting your computer, so if you run into a snag you can enable the service again to correct the issue.

To access the Services control panel go to

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

Or

Start -> Run and type in services.msc and hit Ok

You should now have the Windows XP Services Control Panel

Windows XP Services Control Panel

Double click the service you wish to disable from the right hand side and from the drop down menu select disable and then click Apply and then hit OK and reboot your computer each time.

Windows XP Services Control Panel

Windows XP Services Control Panel

Continue going through the list of services until you have disabled all the services you don’t require.

Windows XP Services List

  1. Alerter - Sends alert messages to specified users that are connected to the server computer.
  2. Application Management - Allows software to tap directly into the Add/Remove Programs feature via the Windows Installer technology.
  3. Background Intelligent Transfer Service - The Background Intelligent Transfer service is used by programs (such as Windows AutoUpdate) to download files by using spare bandwidth.
  4. Clipbook - ClipBook permits you to cut and paste text and graphics over the network.
  5. Error Reporting Service - Allows applications to send error reports to Microsoft in the event of an application fault.
  6. Fast User Switching - Windows XP allows users to switch quickly between accounts, without requiring them to log off.
  7. Help and Support - Allows the XP Built-in Help and Support Center to run.
  8. IMAPI CD-Burning COM Service - You don’t need this if you have other software to create CDs.
  9. Indexing Service - Indexes contents and properties of files on local and remote computers; provides rapid access to files through flexible querying language.
  10. IP SEC - Manages IP security policy and starts the ISAKMP/Oakley (IKE) and the IP security driver. If you are not on a domain, you likely don’t need this running.
  11. Messenger - Transmits net send and Alerter service messages between clients and servers. This is how a lot of pop-up windows start appearing on your desktop.
  12. Net Logon - Supports pass-through authentication of account logon events for computers in a domain. If you are not on a domain, you don’t need this running.
  13. Network DDE - Provides network transport and security for Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) for programs running on the same computer or on different computers.
  14. NT LM Security Support Provider - Provides security to remote procedure call (RPC) programs that use transports other than named pipes.
  15. Performance Logs and Alerts - Collects performance data from local or remote computers based on preconfigured schedule parameters, then writes the data to a log or triggers an alert. If you don’t need to monitor your performance logs, then you don’t need this service.
  16. Portable Media Serial Number - Retrieves the serial number of any portable music player connected to your computer.
  17. QOS RSVP - Provides network signaling and local traffic control setup functionality for QoS-aware programs and control applets.
  18. Remote Desktop Help Session Manager - Manages and controls Remote Assistance. If you are not using Remote Desktop you don’t need this service.
  19. Remote Registry - Enables remote users to modify registry settings on this computer.
  20. Routing & Remote Access - Offers routing services to businesses in local area and wide area network environments. Allows dial-in access.
  21. Secondary Login - Enables starting processes under alternate credentials. This is what allows you to run an application as another user.
  22. Smart Card - Manages access to smart cards read by this computer.
  23. Smart Card Helper - Enables support for legacy non-plug and play smart-card readers used by this computer.
  24. SSDP Discovery Service - Enables discovery of UPnP devices on your home network.
  25. TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper - Enables support for NetBIOS over TCP/IP (NetBT) service and NetBIOS name resolution. This should not be needed in today’s network environment.
  26. Telnet - Enables a remote user to log on to this computer and run programs, and supports various TCP/IP Telnet clients.
  27. Uninterruptible Power Supply Service - Manages an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) connected to the computer.
  28. Universal Plug and Play Device Host - Provides support to host Universal Plug and Play devices.
  29. Upload Manager - Manages synchronous and asynchronous file transfers between clients and servers on the network.
  30. Volume Shadow Copy Service - Manages and implements Volume Shadow Copies used for backup and other purposes.
  31. Web Client - Enables Windows-based programs to create, access, and modify non-local files across the Internet.
  32. Wireless Zero Configurations - Provides automatic configuration for the 802.11 adapters.
  33. WMI Performance Adapter - Provides performance library information from WMI HiPerf providers.

If you decide later to turn a service back on, simply double click the service on the right hand side and set the option in the drop down menu to “Automatic,” or “Manual”.

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