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November 29, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Take a Bite Out of Vista Services

TAGS: Windows Vista

Vista is "top heavy." While the NT Executive (i.e. the "kernel") is relatively unchanged from previous versions, Microsoft has saddled this latest incarnation with layer upon layer of Windows Services. Some, like the DHCP Client or Windows Firewall, are vital to most users. Others, like the Windows Image Acquisition (WIA) and various Universal Plug & Play (UPnP) services, are geared mostly towards the home user and entertainment crowd.

Figuring out which services are necessary and which are more or less optional can be a daunting task. Disable the wrong combination and you can be left with an un-bootable system. However, given the potential benefits of disabling the less important services - specifically, more free memory and CPU cycles - its a quest worth pursuing.

Fortunately, there's help to be had. The kind folks over at blackviper have prepared a guide of sorts to which services can be safely disabled and what the potential consequences might be for specific runtime scenarios.

For example, it's not a good idea to disable the WLAN Autoconfig service on a notebook computer with a wireless adapter (you'll have a hard time getting online if you do). Likewise, only true power users with a good understanding of network security should be disabling the Windows Defender or Windows Firewall services.

The blackviper guides are broken-out by version, with separate recommendations for Vista Home Basic, Home Premium, Business and Ultimate, as well as "Safe," "Tweaked" and "Bare Bones" lists. And while much of the focus is on home users and/or gamers, enterprise support personnel might still find a few buried nuggets in the mix. When you consider how far behind the performance curve Vista is vs. Windows XP, every little bit helps.

Posted by Randall Kennedy on November 29, 2007 09:03 AM

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