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What Processes are Necessary for Windows XP?
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?"
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.
For example, if I kill this "System" process, nothing bad will happ
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.
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
Go somewhere random
..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
So as soon as he tells us, we at Microsoft will be able to pass this on to you, too!
"Speaking the Truth in times of universal deceit is a revolutionary act." -- George Orwell
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
The best test environment is production. - Me
chrome://browser/content/browser.xul
1. Windows Genurine Advantage
2. Windows Activation Trojan
3. Automatic Updates with added value checking
4. Minesweeper
5. SaveBargins.exe
6. Vista Notification Bonus
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.
a rticle_id=70112&cat_id=584
Useless XP SP2 Services: http://www.techtree.com/techtree/jsp/article.jsp?
(Quick way to get to list: Start->Run->services.msc)
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
Here's the link:w indows-with-no-services.html
http://www.sysinternals.com/blog/2005/07/running-
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.
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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Their support policy allows 2 no-charge support requests by phone or e-mail. There is unlimited installation support by phone. There is also free support through newsgroups and partners.
The more advanced versions of Windows XP do not have this charge.
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.
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.
BTW if you ever have this happen to you again you can drop to dos and type shutdown /a
/? obviously gives you all info needed.
This aborts the shutdown.
You can also use the shutdown command in scripting/scheduling as well. shutdown
you will get a "new" computer if you do that
#define new 386SX
Snowden and Manning are heroes.
You can get that as well using the shutdown command.
/? 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.
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
Information wants to be free.
Entertainment wants to be paid.
You just want to be cheap.
www.processlibrary.com Enter in each executable in your process list and get detailed info on each there. I use it quite a bit.
I remembered seeing this a few months back on /., but you can load WinXP without any services. Doesn't quite answer the question but it still makes for interesting reading.
http://www.sysinternals.com/blog/2005/07/running-w indows-with-no-services.html
That's an excellent way to completely screw up your machine by disabling services that might be needed later for things like printing. If you shut down the spooler and then 3 weeks later need to print something you can spend a long time trying to figure out why printing doesn't work.
Jherico
What can the average user can do to ensure his security? "Nothing, you're screwed"
Better yet, use process explorer from sysinternals.com. It can kill processeseses taskman cannot.
/wasted
//dont care
///hope this helps
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".
Setting a service to "Disabled" will usually stop it from starting even if needed. Setting it to "Manual" means that it won't start until it's needed. This will result in long "start" time for some activities, but less overhead when you aren't using the service.
When in doubt, set the service to "Manual". When it's something you never want running (Remote Registry for example) set to "Disabled".
BTW if you ever have this happen to you again you can drop to dos and type shutdown /a
This aborts the shutdown.
;)
This makes a kind of perverted Microsoft sense - to shut down your computer press the START button. To stop it from shutting down, run the SHUTDOWN command...
Or I could get BartPE which is a LEGAL stripped-down XP version (since you build it yourself from your own install disks).
Unless you happen to use certain models of Linksys wireless networking hardware. Some of their wireless devices to refuse to work even in a static configuration unless the DHCP service is enabled.