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What Processes are Necessary for Windows XP?

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the minimum-processes-required dept.

Brickwall asks: "I studied electrical engineering in university (30 years ago, mind!), so I'm not completely stupid about computers. However, I have searched and searched, and been unable to find an answer to this question: if you start up Windows XP from scratch, what processes should be running? I have some P2P software running, so I know I'll have to shut that down, plus my spyware protection, anti-virus software, etc. But what should be left running? Is this documented somewhere that I've been unable to find?"

24 of 120 comments (clear)

  1. Black Viper's list by rdwald · · Score: 5, Informative

    The original site has been offline for a few years, but this copy of the Black Viper Windows XP Services List should come in very handy.

    1. Re:Black Viper's list by Bios_Hakr · · Score: 4, Informative

      Just after SP2 came out, I found BV's list. I did a clean install with a slipstreamed SP2 disc and counted the processes and memory usage. It was something like 90mb usage and 45 processes in use.

      After that, I hammered through the list disabling everything not essential to gaming. A the end, I had 22 processes and 80mb usage.

      My primary intent was to clear up unused memory to make gaming more stable and faster. In this, it was a complete failure. Quake3 and other benchmarks showed a neglegable boost; maybe a few FPS.

      I didn't do a security scan, but I'm sure OpenPorts would have showed a slightly more closed system. But I really don' think it would have been any more secure.

      Tweaking services is really not worth the time/effort when you look at the gains. If you need more performance, a faster proc and memory can be had for maybe $200~$400. If you need more security, install a Linksys router between you and your ISP's modem. Or, you can spend 4~6 hours tweaking services for a 10mb memory boost like I did. Your choice.

      --
      I'd rather you do it wrong, than for me to have to do it at all.
    2. Re:Black Viper's list by Mistlefoot · · Score: 3, Informative

      Another helpful site is Answers That Work

    3. Re:Black Viper's list by PygmySurfer · · Score: 2, Informative

      Plus, my experience with other routers leaves a lot to be desired.

      My experience with Linksys routers leaves a lot to be desired.

      At least they're not as bad as Netgear, though.

    4. Re:Black Viper's list by jZnat · · Score: 2, Informative

      Exactly. Just get OpenWrt or something simpler like DD-WRT; enable sshd; and there you go. You can log in to your router via SSH (root@192.168.1.1 probably, use the administrative password), and from there you can run iptables and all its related programs for network management. Of course, if you went with a Cisco router, you'd be able to do that much more easily, but those are kinda, well, expensive for home use...

      --
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  2. It's simple. by Poromenos1 · · Score: 1, Informative

    Here's what I do: Fire the task manager and start killing processes. When something you need closes, that one was needed. Same for when the system crashes.

    You'll find that most are unnecessary.

    --
    Send email from the afterlife! Write your e-will at Dead Man's Switch.
    1. Re:It's simple. by Drgnkght · · Score: 3, Informative

      A few of the Windows services monitor some of the other services. (I don't remember which ones off the top of my head.) If you kill one that Microsoft doesn't want you to stop another service will initiate a shutdown. IIRC, winlogon does this as well as a few others.

    2. Re:It's simple. by MindStalker · · Score: 3, Informative

      BTW if you ever have this happen to you again you can drop to dos and type shutdown /a
      This aborts the shutdown.

      You can also use the shutdown command in scripting/scheduling as well. shutdown /? obviously gives you all info needed.

    3. Re:It's simple. by FLEB · · Score: 2, Informative

      You can get that as well using the shutdown command.

      It's a handy one to know for when you want to SHUT the machine DOWN, come hell, high water (or more likely) stalling programs that won't die. If you're on a machine with no remote users, just put it on a very short delay and let 'er rip. It won't stall or ask you to End stalled tasks.

      It's also useful for shutting down remote machines. (For both cases, see the /? help.) With a wake-on-lan activator (the only part not included with XP, I forget the particular one I use), Remote Desktop, and the shutdown command, I easily control my desktop file-serving machine from power-on to power-off, from the laptop in the other room.

      --
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      Entertainment wants to be paid.
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    4. Re:It's simple. by vonsneerderhooten · · Score: 3, Informative

      Better yet, use process explorer from sysinternals.com. It can kill processeseses taskman cannot.

      /wasted
      //dont care
      ///hope this helps

  3. Not that easy by cnettel · · Score: 4, Informative

    There are a few drivers that add their own usermode services (not just tray apps, but "real" services), for example. I'm not sure from the question if the intent is to get a lean system, or an attempt to identify unwanted - as in possible malware - processes. Googling individual process file names generally gives a pretty good picture of what it is and whether it's needed, or at least where it comes from.

  4. Saw these on Digg some time back by bheer · · Score: 4, Informative

    Guide to useless XP services ... I don't think all the ones they mention are 'useless', for example SSDP Discovery is very useful to those using UPnP DSL/Cable modems and UPnP-savvy software like uTorrent or Azureus, but it's still a good article: http://www.techtree.com/techtree/jsp/article.jsp?a rticle_id=70112&cat_id=584

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  5. I don't use windows... by zogger · · Score: 3, Informative

    ..but I recalled this site existed

    http://www.litepc.com/xplite.html

    I imagine they have determined all of those services and figured out which are really necessary or not

    1. Re:I don't use windows... by RpiMatty · · Score: 3, Informative

      http://www.nliteos.com/nlite.html

      Here is a free (as in beer) alternative to that.
      Lets you customize your windows 2k/xp install disk, and configure windows before you even install it.

  6. depends by brenddie · · Score: 3, Informative

    It all depends on what is the role of your PC. I used to have somewhere a list of services grouped by profiles like: gaming, workstation, networked etc.. Each profile had diferent services running. For example a workstation needs most of the services while a gaming PC will benefit from the least amount of background processes
    Hacking Windows XP: Speed Up Your Boot
    You can also use autoruns from systernals (is still online!!11ONE??) to check your startup services/applications

    --
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  7. Useless Services by Xian007 · · Score: 5, Informative

    This is a pretty handy site.. I just ran across it a couple days ago and was about to look through it at home today and disable most of the services listed.

    Useless XP SP2 Services: http://www.techtree.com/techtree/jsp/article.jsp?a rticle_id=70112&cat_id=584

    (Quick way to get to list: Start->Run->services.msc)

  8. minimal services/processes by erikdotla · · Score: 3, Informative

    I did a long experiment and paper about this very subject. I call it an XP "Chopper" like the bikes, as they (at least originally) had parts chopped as they broke during races, starting a minimalist bike trend called Choppers.

    http://knepfler.com/chopper/

    --
    # Erik
  9. Re: Mark Russinovich asked this question... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    Here's the link:
    http://www.sysinternals.com/blog/2005/07/running-w indows-with-no-services.html

    Note that the original poster is asking about processes, and many readers are answering with information more specifically about services, including this Sysinternals article. Still, it's relevant even if not the entire story.

    You can also google for the names of your process executables and usually find descriptions of what they are.

  10. Google is your friend by Entropy248 · · Score: 2, Informative

    I don't know what services should be running, so what I do is get a pen and paper and copy all of the processes I can see in Task Manager. Then, I just Google the filename. I've yet to find a real disagreement in the first page or two of search results about the meaning. Rarely, I can read about the file on a microsoft.com support page for Windows-related stuff. If you have a computer from a BIG manufacturer or exclusively use brand name hardware, this should work for you too.

    --
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  11. csrss.exe by The+MAZZTer · · Score: 1, Informative

    and that's all!

  12. My setup by Richard+A+Lake · · Score: 3, Informative

    My setup has these process on bootup
    csrss.exe
    winlogin.exe
    services.exe
    svchost.exe -k rpcss
    svchost.exe -k netsvcs
    lsass.exe
    explorer.exe

    and the folowing services
    COM+ Event System
    Cryptographic Services
    DHCP Client
    Network Connections
    Plug and Play
    Remote Procedure Call (RPC)
    Shell Hardware Detection
    System Event Notification
    Windows Audio
    Windows Management Instrumentation

    This does make some activites fail two that I have noted are some install programs(needs Dcom or windows installer) and windows updates.

  13. Process Library by Rurik · · Score: 2, Informative

    www.processlibrary.com Enter in each executable in your process list and get detailed info on each there. I use it quite a bit.

  14. Only 2: System and csrss.exe by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Here's an academic answer from a the infamous Russinovich: only System and csrss.exe are truely necessary to run XP! The practical answer is of course, "it depends on what you want to do with it".

  15. BartPE by The+MAZZTer · · Score: 2, Informative

    Or I could get BartPE which is a LEGAL stripped-down XP version (since you build it yourself from your own install disks).