Using MSConfig one can disable system services... which one can I safely disable...?
The 'services' MMC snap-in would be a better choice of config tool, but anyway. There's a million articles out there about service config, what's used for what, etc.
For newbies, I'd recommend the following method of service tweaking:
- stop the service. Continue using Windows without restarting, and see if anything unusual screws up. If it does, start that service and leave it alone.
- set the service to manual. Restart. 99% of the time, if the system needs that service, it'll start it when it needs it. Otherwise the system will start normally, but pop an error. Many services have dependencies on other services. These are usually listed in the 'dependency' tab of the service properties.
- Occasionally, your system will act completely normally with the service set to stopped/manual, but then on restart it'll start it again. Set the service to stopped/disabled, and test your machine more thoroughly. If you experience no issues as a result of the service you're playing with, leave the service disabled and restart the machine.
I don't think there are any services that can be stopped that your system won't manage to boot at all without them.
Another tactic is to install the Recovery Console. Search the MS support site (
URL - IE only) for that and it'll give you instructions of how to install it. Then search for what commands are available, there are a useful few which allow you to configure service startup options from the recovery console.