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Services and pagefile tweaking worthwhile?

Discussion in 'Windows XP' started by Christer, 2005/12/29.

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  1. 2006/01/02
    charlesvar

    charlesvar Inactive Alumni

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    Hi Christer,

    Heads - security: Some settings improve security and I believe those are the important ones. If you don't need a service which can be regarded as a "security hole ", then close it.
    That's the reason I referenced that thread, the security issue is one that tends to get lost over the debate about performance.

    Regards - Charles
     
    Last edited: 2006/01/02
    charlesvar,
    #21
  2. 2006/01/02
    r.leale Lifetime Subscription

    r.leale Well-Known Member

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    Just for interest folks! Yesterday I removed Norton System Works 2003 from my machine and installed Zone Alarm Security Suite. Running services have dropped from 32 to 27 and boot-up dropped 12 seconds with no other changes made. ZA on its first scan found three examples of Netsky.P which cannot be removed and I have posted on the virus board regarding this.

    Roger
     
    r.leale,
    #22


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  4. 2006/01/02
    McTavish

    McTavish Inactive

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    McTavish,
    #23
  5. 2006/01/02
    Christer

    Christer Geek Member Staff Thread Starter

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    McTavish,
    I'll have a look when I have finished an Excel spread sheet comparing Black Viper's and the Elder Geek's take on services tweaks.

    If anyone is interested, I can attach it to a post.

    Christer
     
    Christer,
    #24
  6. 2006/01/02
    McTavish

    McTavish Inactive

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    Always interested in researching services tweaks Christer, so sure I would like to see it. I could point you to several other services guides if you are interested.


    EDIT:-
    Just had a review of all my other services links. Some are dead and gone and others are getting a bit out of date, but some are still good.

    http://www.hsc.fr/ressources/breves/min_srv_res_win.en.html
    http://www.z123.org/techsupport/xpservices.htm
    http://www.beemerworld.com/tips/servicesxp.htm
    http://www.ss64.com/ntsyntax/services.html
    http://www.techspot.com/tweaks/winxp_services/index.shtml
    http://www.overclockersclub.com/guides/windows_xp_services_2.php
    http://www.geocities.com/ziyadhosein/xpserv1.htm
     
    Last edited: 2006/01/02
    McTavish,
    #25
  7. 2006/01/03
    Christer

    Christer Geek Member Staff Thread Starter

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    Last edited: 2006/01/03
    Christer,
    #26
  8. 2006/01/03
    Christer

    Christer Geek Member Staff Thread Starter

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    McTavish (and all interested),

    as you can see from my "notes" in the margin (in the attached *pdf), I follow Black Viper closely. The few exceptions:

    Network Provisioning Service, a new service with SP2 but I have lost my notes on why BV recommended to disable. I go by the default until I find out. (He didn't recommend changing any of the other new services with SP2).

    Server, setting it to disabled has an impact on user accounts, groups or policies management (I don't remember which) so I changed back to the default.

    Windows Time, well, I'm lazy ...... ;) ...... and find it convenient to have it set to the default rather than disabled.

    In general, this comparision indicates to me that Black Viper is/was not that "agressive" with his SAFE settings. The other settings are a different matter, though but I have never looked into them.

    Now I will have a look at your links to the mysteries of the pagefile (or maybe tomorrow)!

    Christer
     
    Christer,
    #27
  9. 2006/01/04
    McTavish

    McTavish Inactive

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    That must have taken you a few hours Christer! I ain’t got time to study it now but I already see some are different to mine. Just goes to show I think that everyone’s needs are different depending on how their machine is configured and what there reasons are for wanting to stop services "“ performance or security and privacy.

    I’ll have a greater study of your chart at the weekend. The annoying matter of earning a living is getting in the way again.
     
    McTavish,
    #28
  10. 2006/01/04
    Christer

    Christer Geek Member Staff Thread Starter

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    Well, cutting an pasting into Excel is pretty quick. Proof reading and correcting errors take longer ...... ;) ...... !

    Christer
     
    Christer,
    #29
  11. 2006/01/04
    TonyT

    TonyT SuperGeek Staff

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    fyi re: making a spreadsheet of services:

    Fastest way is to:
    1. rt click My Comp & select manage.
    2. expand Services & Applications
    3. select Services
    4. rt Services & export list as tab delineated txt file.
    5. import into spreadsheet program.

    export as html if desired

    I follow BV's guide pretty closely, but change it to my needs:
    My Services
     
    Last edited: 2006/01/04
    TonyT,
    #30
  12. 2006/01/09
    onclejean Lifetime Subscription

    onclejean Inactive

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    I endorse the findings. There is no point tweaking the services. The only useful tweak for pagefile is to set it to 1.5 times RAM on a disk other than the system disk.
     
    onclejean,
    #31
  13. 2006/01/09
    Christer

    Christer Geek Member Staff Thread Starter

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    onclejean,
    what is your take on the "security concerns" and related tweaks of the services?

    Christer
     
    Christer,
    #32
  14. 2006/01/10
    onclejean Lifetime Subscription

    onclejean Inactive

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    Christer

    I find that in a state of the art PC with maximum RAM and fast 10K disks there is no advantage to be gained from closing serivces that Black Viper thinks are "useless ". They do not slow the system and it is always possible that they may be needed. So closing services which are apparently idle can do no good and may do harm.

    All the fuss about Services is an anachronism
     
    onclejean,
    #33
  15. 2006/01/10
    Christer

    Christer Geek Member Staff Thread Starter

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    onclejean,
    I agree that services tweaking from a performance point of view may not be worth the trouble. You mention "state of the art PC" but it is true even for a "budget" system with decent specs.

    However, my question was if you feel that services could/should be disabled from a security point of view?

    Christer
     
    Christer,
    #34
  16. 2006/01/10
    TonyT

    TonyT SuperGeek Staff

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    I agree that there are security concerns with certain unneeded services.
    1. remote registry service
    2. remote access connnection mgr & it's counterparts.
    3. messenger service
    4. universal plug & play

    For example, most all new computers come with a modem. If the user has adsl or cable he does not need the modem. If he gets a trojan dialer, and if he followed the manufacturer instructions on setting up the comp then he may have a phone line plugged into the comp, even though he does not iuse it. Or he may use a phone line for a comp fax. So if the remote access connection mgr & counterparts are at Auto and started, or at Manual and not yet started, the trojan dialer could dial away and do its dirty work.

    Error Reporting service is a "performance hit" because it causes annoying alerts to a user during certain errors. While it WAS useful to MS to obtain the error reports, it's probably moot by now because MS focus is upon Vista and not on improving XP compatability with hardware & software.
     
    TonyT,
    #35
  17. 2006/01/10
    onclejean Lifetime Subscription

    onclejean Inactive

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    I do not think any serices should be disabled. Some, like renote desktop should be set to manual.
     
    onclejean,
    #36
  18. 2006/01/10
    charlesvar

    charlesvar Inactive Alumni

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    Hello onclejean,

    I do not think any serices should be disabled.
    On what rationale shouldn't services like messenger that was/is used to deliver unwanted spam/popups not be disabled outside of a corporate setting?

    Regards - Charles
     
    charlesvar,
    #37
  19. 2006/01/10
    WhitPhil

    WhitPhil Inactive

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    And, using the exact same logic, it makes no sense to play with swapfile settings or move it to another drive.
     
    WhitPhil,
    #38
  20. 2006/01/10
    Christer

    Christer Geek Member Staff Thread Starter

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    I disagree on that one. A pagefile set to "Windows managed" is the worst case and should be avoided. It will constantly be increased and decreased in size which may/will lead to fragmentation.

    The installer on Win9X systems default to "Windows managed" but on all installations of XP-pro and XP-home that I have done, the installer has set the pagefile to 1.5xRAM - 3.0xRAM. However, I have heard that some people have ended up with a Windows managed pagefile but I'm not sure that the installer is the culprit ...... :rolleyes: ...... !

    Christer
     
    Christer,
    #39
  21. 2006/01/10
    WhitPhil

    WhitPhil Inactive

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    But my point was that if the PC has "tons" of installed ram, which is the case these days with 512 being the standard, a windows managed default file is more than adequate, since it is infrequently used.

    The pagefile really doesn't grow and shrink unless it is under pressure from having not enough ram installed. And even then the fragmentation it causes, is nothing compared to that created by the \Temp folder and IE \TIF folder.

    And, on Win95 you wanted to manage the swapfile, on early 98 you wanted to, but on larger Win98 and on XP systems, it really doesn't give a performance kick.
     
    WhitPhil,
    #40
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