Windows 7 comes with a slew of services, which might not be that important to your computer. If you are running Windows 7 on a personal laptop, home computer, or computer where you can control the services yourself, you might want to look at stopping some of the services to improve performance. If you are a corporate network administrator, you should also look closely at the overall list of services, as some of them are not needed for your corporate network desktops.
Like always, never take settings and suggestions like these verbatim, be sure to test them in your specific environment. Although I have been able to run my personal laptop, production desktop, and even corporate desktops where I have contracted.
| Name of Service | Default Startup Mode | Possible Startup Mode |
| ActiveX Installer (AxInstSV) | Manual | Manual |
| Adaptive Brightness | Manual | Disabled |
| Application Experience | Manual | Manual |
| Application Identity | Manual | Manual |
| Application Information | Manual | Manual |
| Application Layer Gateway Service | Manual | Disabled |
| Application Management | Manual | Disabled |
| Background Intelligent Transfer Service | Manual | Manual |
| Base Filtering Engine | Automatic | Automatic |
| Bitlocker Drive Encryption Service | Manual | Disabled |
| Block Level Backup Engine Service | Manual | Disabled |
| Bluetooth Support Services | Manual | Disabled |
| BranchCache | Manual | Disabled |
| Certificate Propagation | Manual | Disabled |
| CNG Key Isolation | Manual | Manual |
| COM+ Event System | Automatic | Automatic |
| COM+ System Application | Manual | Manual |
| Computer Browser | Manual | Disabled |
| Credential Manager | Manual | Manual |
| Cryptographic Services | Automatic | Automatic |
| DCOM Server Process Launcher | Automatic | Automatic |
| Desktop Window Manager Session Manager | Automatic | Automatic |
| DHCP Client | Automatic | Automatic |
| Diagnostic Policy Service | Automatic | Automatic |
| Diagnostic Service host | Automatic | Automatic |
| Diagnostic System Host | Manual | Manual |
| Disk Defragmenter | Manual | Disabled |
| Distributed Link Tracking Client | Automatic | Automatic |
| Distributed Transaction Coordinator | Manual | Manual |
| DNS Client | Automatic | Automatic |
| Encrypting File System (EFS) | Manual | Disabled |
| Extensible Authentication Protocol | Manual | Manual |
| Fax | Manual | Disabled |
| Function Discovery Provider Host | Manual | Manual |
| Function Discovery Resource Publication | Manual | Disabled |
| Group Policy Client | Automatic | Automatic |
| Health Key and Certificate Management | Manual | Disabled |
| HomeGroup Listener | Manual | Disabled |
| HomeGroup Provider | Manual | Disabled |
| Human Interface Device Access | Manual | Manual |
| IKE and AuthIP IPsec Keying Modules | Manual | Manual |
| Interactive Services Detection | Manual | Manual |
| Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) | Disabled | Disabled |
| IP Helper | Automatic | Automatic |
| IPsec Policy Agent | Manual | Manual |
| KtmRm for Distributed Transaction Coordinator | Manual | Manual |
| Link-Layer Topology Discovery Mapper | Manual | Disabled |
| Media Center Extender Service | Disabled | Disabled |
| Microsoft .NET Framework NGEN v2.0.50727_X86 | Manual | Manual |
| Microsoft iSCSI Initiator Service | Manual | Manual |
| Microsoft Software Shadow Copy | Manual | Manual |
| Multimedia Class Scheduler | Automatic | Automatic |
| Net.Tcp Port Sharing Service | Disabled | Disabled |
| Netlogon | Manual | Manual |
| Network Access Protection Agent | Manual | Manual |
| Network Connections | Manual | Manual |
| Network List Service | Manual | Manual |
| Network Location Awareness | Automatic | Automatic |
| Network Store Interface Service | Automatic | Automatic |
| Offline Files | Automatic | Disabled |
| Parental Controls | Manual | Disabled |
| Peer Name Resolution Protocol | Manual | Manual |
| Peer Networking Grouping | Manual | Manual |
| Peer Networking Identity Manager | Manual | Manual |
| Performance Counter DLL Host | Manual | Disabled |
| Performance Logs & Alerts | Manual | Disabled |
| Plug and Play | Automatic | Automatic |
| PnP-X IP Bus Enumerator | Manual | Manual |
| PNRP Machine Name Publication Service | Manual | Manual |
| Portable Device Enumerator Service | Manual | Manual |
| Power | Automatic | Automatic |
| Print Spooler | Automatic | Automatic |
| Problem Reports and Solutions Control Panel Support | Manual | Disabled |
| Program Compatibility Assistant Service | Manual | Disabled |
| Protected Storage | Manual | Disabled |
| Quality Windows Audio Video Experience | Manual | Disabled |
| Remote Access Auto Connection Manager | Manual | Disabled |
| Remote Access Connection Manager | Manual | Disabled |
| Remote Procedure Call (RPC) | Automatic | Automatic |
| Remote Procedure Call (RPC) Locator | Manual | Manual |
| Remote Registry | Manual | Manual |
| Routing and Remote Access | Disabled | Disabled |
| RPC Endpoint Mapper | Automatic | Automatic |
| Secondary Logon | Manual | Manual |
| Secure Socket Tunneling Protocol Service | Manual | Disabled for desktops, enabled for laptops |
| Security Accounts Manager | Automatic | Automatic |
| Security Center | Automatic (Delayed Start) | Automatic |
| Server | Automatic | Automatic |
| Shell Hardware Detection | Automatic | Automatic |
| Smart Card | Manual | Disabled |
| Smart Card Removal Policy | Manual | Manual |
| SNMP Trap | Manual | Disabled |
| Software Protection | Automatic | Automatic |
| SPP Notification Service | Manual | Manual |
| SSDP Discovery | Manual | Manual |
| Superfetch | Automatic | Automatic |
| System Event Notification Service | Automatic | Automatic |
| Tablet PC Input Service | Automatic | Disabled |
| Task Scheduler | Automatic | Automatic |
| TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper | Automatic | Automatic |
| Telephony | Manual | Disabled |
| Themes | Automatic | Automatic |
| Thread Ordering Server | Manual | Manual |
| TP AutoConnect Service | Manual | Manual |
| TPM Base Services | Manual | Manual |
| UPnP Device Host | Manual | Manual |
| User Profile Service | Automatic | Automatic |
| Virtual Disk | Manual | Manual |
| Volume Shadow Copy | Manual | Manual |
| WebClient | Manual | Disabled |
| Windows Audio | Automatic | Automatic |
| Windows Audio Endpoint Builder | Automatic | Automatic |
| Windows Backup | Manual | Manual |
| Windows CardSpace | Manual | Disabled |
| Windows Color System | Manual | Disabled |
| Windows Connect Now - Config Registrar | Manual | Disabled |
| Windows Defender | Automatic | Automatic |
| Windows Driver Foundation - User-mode Driver Framework | Automatic | Automatic |
| Windows Error Reporting Service | Manual | Disabled |
| Windows Event Collector | Manual | Disabled |
| Windows Event Log | Automatic | Automatic |
| Windows Firewall | Automatic | Automatic |
| Windows Font Cache Service | Manual | Manual |
| Windows Image Acquisition (WIA) | Manual | Disabled |
| Windows Installer | Manual | Manual |
| Windows Management Instrumentation | Automatic | Automatic |
| Windows Media Center Receiver Service | Manual | Disabled |
| Windows Media Center Scheduler Service | Manual | Disabled |
| Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service | Manual | Disabled |
| Windows Modules Installer | Manual | Manual |
| Windows Presentation Foundation Font Cache 3.0.0.0 | Manual | Manual |
| Windows Remote Management (WS-Management) | Manual | Manual |
| Windows Search | Automatic | Automatic |
| Windows Time | Automatic | Automatic |
| Windows Update | Automatic (Delayed Start) | Automatic (Delay Start) |
| WinHTTP Web Proxy Auto-Discovery Service | Manual | Manual |
| Wired AutoConfig | Manual | Disabled |
| WLAN AutoConfig | Manual | Disabled for LAN, Enabled for Wireless |
| WMI Performance Adapter | Manual | Manual |
| Workstation | Automatic | Automatic |
How to Proceed
For your laptops and desktops for both your personal and corporate environments, be sure to setup a test computer or pilot group and make sure that all other functions on the computer work before you proceed with rolling this out to all computers on your network. In my experience, disabling the services above has given me significant performance enhancements by removing the services from running. In most cases the services were not running (set to manual and not started), but in many cases the services were running and were just taking up memory and processing time.
The other benefit to disabling services that are not needed is that it reduces your attack surface. The fewer services running means the fewer ports open, which means the fewer viruses and worms, will function on your computer.
If a feature or function fails to work after disabling services, just re-enable the service to manual or automatic. If you are uncertain which service is required, you can look at the service descriptions on your computer services list or check online for a description of your feature and which service is required.
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