Windows Vista Service Tweak Guide - Improve performance and decrease RAM usage Windows Vista Services Tweak Guide v1.0 This guide is only recommended for power users. Inexperienced Windows users should NOT use this. It's also recommended that you have in-depth knowledge about network security. The guide is meant to be used with Windows Vista RTM build 6000. Beware: Disabling some of the services below may have a negative impact on your system/network security. I take no responsibility what so ever of any negative consequences these tweaks may have on your system, hardware or life. Use at your own risk. Disable the following services to improve performance and decrease RAM usage: Base Filtering Engine Disable if you don't use the Windows Firewall Diagnostic Policy Service Distributed Link Tracking Client Function Discovery Provider Host Function Discovery Resource Publication Human Interface Device Access Disable if you don't use/need hotkeys on your keyboard. IKE and AuthIP IPSec Keying Modules Disable to improve network performance and decrease RAM usage. Disabling will have a negative impact on network security. Internet Connection Sharing Disable if you don't need to share your internet connection. IP Helper Disable to improve network performance and decrease RAM usage. Will also disable IPv6 connectivity over IPv4. Might be useful in the future. IPSec Policy Agent Disable to improve network performance and decrease RAM usage. Disabling will have a negative impact on network security. KtmRm for Distributed Transaction Coordinator Disable if you don't use MSDTC and/or KTM. Messenger Sharing Folders USN Journal Reader service This service is only available if Messenger Live is installed. Disable if you don't use Messenger Live's sharing folders. Microsoft Software Shadow Copy Provider Disable if you don't use MS Shadow Copy. Disabling will have a negative impact on system redundancy. Net.Tcp Port Sharing Service Disable if you don't use the Net.Tcp protocol (from .NET framework). Disabling will make .NET applications using this protocol not to function properly. Network List Service Disable if you aren't connected to a LAN with multiple computers or if you don't share files or printers through your LAN. Network Location Awareness Disable if you aren't connected to a LAN with multiple computers or if you don't share files or printers through your LAN. Offline Files Disable if you only use local profiles and aren't connected to a domain. Portable Device Enumerator Service Disable if you don't need to syncronize data with removable storage (such as mp3 players. This will not affect third party applications such as iTunes, only applications using this service, e.g. Windows Media Player). Program Compatibility Assistant Service Disable if you don't care about compatibility issues. (Running applications in compatibility mode will still function.) ReadyBoost Disable if you don't use this feature. Remote Access Connection Manager Disable if you don't use dial-up connections and/or VPN-networks. Routing and Remote Access Disable if you don't need to route network data within a LAN or WAN. Secondary Logon Disable if you don't need to login two users at once. Security Center Disable if you can take care of the system security manually. Server Disable if you don't share files and/or printers through LAN. Shell Hardware Detection Disable to remove autoplay functionality on removable media. SL UI Notification Service Disable. You can manually run this if it's needed for activation or other software licensing issues. Tablet PC Input Service Disable if you don't have a Tablet PC. TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper Disable. Totally useless if you don't use NetBIOS (NetBT). Telephony Disable if you don't use dial-up connections. Terminal Services Disable if you don't use Remote Desktop. Disabling will improve system security. UPnP Device Host Disable if you don't need to host UPnP devices. WebClient Windows Defender Disable if you don't want to use it. Though, consider using third party anti-malware application if you disable it. Windows Error Reporting Service Disable if you don't use error reporting. Windows Firewall Disable if you don't use the Windows Firewall. Though, consider using third party firewall (hardware, software or router w/ firewall). Windows Image Aquisition (WIA) Disable if you don't use a scanner and/or digital cameras. Windows Media Center Extender Service Disable if you don't use Media Center extensions. Windows Search Disable if you don't want to use the advanced windows search feature with indexing (Normal search will still function, but is alot slower). Windows Time Disable if you don't want the clock to syncronize automatically. Waste of resources. Update clock manually. WinHTTP WebProxy Auto-Discovery Service Disable if you don't use applications which use the WPAD protocol (most applications don't). Manually enable if you need it. Virtual Disk Set as manual if you don't use Disk Management in the Computer Management console. You can manually start this service at any time if you need to use Disk Management. Volume Shadow Copy Disable if you don't use MS Shadow Copy. Disabling will have a negative impact on system redundancy. If you don't use the Aero theme disable the following services: Application Experience Desktop Window Manager Session Manager If you don't use themes at all, disable the following services: Application Experience Desktop Window Manager Session Manager Windows Themes Ok, that's all so far. If you have anything to add, just post a reply! Constructive feedback and critisism is also welcome. Request to be pinned!
i don't mean to burst you bubble, but it helped only slightly cos i believe most of the bloat is in the services that are hidden in the drivers
Urgh, I have a pretty good understanding of the services in xp, now I have to relearn and discover all the new ones they put in!
Wow! What the heck are you running?! And that's with firefox using about ~50MB. And I got more processes, handles and threads running
the thing is that i have page file disabled, therefore, everything remains on ram. any one can gave pagefile and of course windows will swap, but the real challenge is to see how much ram is used without pagefile. as i said, the main trick is in the drivers and other hidden services. it wont be long until it is tweaked. and as for what i am running, the answer is absolutely nothing, not even my audio drivers are installed. Please don't get me wrong, your guide is an excellent stepping stone. you are a pioneer on guru3d for tweaking vista.
Well that explains it all. Why you'd want to disable the pagefile is out of my understanding. It will just mess things up, and generally slow your computer down in the long run. Like if you run a new game or memory intensive application and you don't have a pagefile, you will probably run out of memory. And honestly, it's not important to look at the RAM usage without a pagefile, since most people use one, and should do so. Anyway, thanks for the nice words in the end.
Open regedit, go to : HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet right click on the Services key and click Export and save the registry file.
Haha, dude you got to check your background apps. I don't use any active anti-virus/malware protection running in the background, which helps a lot. But, that's not really what I recommend for normal users. I know when something suspicious is going on with my computer, since I'm manually checking programs/services/bandwidth usage etc. so I don't really need programs that do that for me.
around 37 process. Some process start after booting then automatically ends. Also Vista seems to have an additional type i.e. Automatic (delayed Start) .... some services start a few seconds after bootup. Normally after first boot and after a few hours of using Vista u will have around 37~39 process running.
freakishly enough.... I didn't noticed any diferrence sure a less ram and processes are used/run... but the diferrence isn't really worth all the security thingies disabled
