 Custom Search Guy recommends: A free desktop tool that monitors, or restarts, your VMware virtual machines. Download your free VM Console Guy’s Best Practice & Litmus Tests Ezine #18Contents for Ezine #18Services Startup typeLast weekend I went around to see ‘Mad’ Mick. I may have mentioned in previous ezines, ‘Mad’ Mick is obsessed with getting the last 0.1% out of his computers. (An obsession that goes back to tuning Mini engines in the 1960s). We soon got onto Mick’s hobby horse of machines having as much free memory and as little clutter as possible. The discussion turned to Windows Services that you should change from Startup type = Automatic, to Startup type = Manual. In fact ‘Mad’ Mick was of the opinion that you should set the Startup type = Disable, whereas my point of view was that if set the service to manual then the user or the application could start the service on an ‘as needed’ basis. (If Startup type is set to Disabled then that service would be unavailable until you change the Startup type.) If you accept my challenge to tune your XP or Windows 2000 machine, then here is a list of Windows Services to check. My ‘hidden agenda’ is that as you change the settings, so you learn more about each service. Computer Browser – Provides a list of machines with shares. You do not need the Browser service if either of these are true: a) You have DNS, b) That machine does not share out any folders or printers. Error Reporting Service – Do you really need to tell Microsoft about Office problems? Fax – Do you use the fax in this day and age? IPSEC – are you really encrypting IP traffic? Remote Registry – Who is hacking your machine? SNMP – This is for Simple Network Protocol traps, unlikely to need this. Telnet – Dangerous to enable. Hacker’s paradise WWW Publishing? Do you use PWS? Now I do not know your machine, so my greatest joy will be if you decide for your self which services to change, rather than just following my ‘recipe’ above. Guy Recommends: The Free IP Address Tracker (IPAT) |
