These days, a standalone, non-networked PC is just about as useful as an abacus -- maybe less so. The Network Connections service is the element responsible for making sure that your computer can communicate with other computers and with the Internet. If this service is disabled, network configuration is not possible. New network connections can't be created and services that need network information will fail.
The Plug and Play service formerly known as the "Plug and Pray" service, due to its past unreliability , is kicked off whenever new hardware is added to the computer.
This service detects the new hardware and attempts to automatically configure it for use with the computer. The Plug and Play service is often confused with the Universal Plug and Play service uPNP , which is a way that the Windows XP computer can detect new network resources as opposed to local hardware resources.
The Plug and Play service is pretty critical as, without it, your system can become unstable and will not recognize new hardware. On the other hand, uPNP is not generally necessary and can be disabled without worry.
Historical note: Way back in , uPNP was implicated in some pretty serious security breaches, as described here. If you disable Plug and Play, your computer will be unstable and incapable of detecting hardware changes. Just about every computer out there needs to print at some point. If you want your computer to be able to print, don't plan on disabling the Print Spooler service. It manages all printing activities for your system.
You may think that lack of a printer makes it safe to disable the Print Spooler service. While that's technically true, there's really no point in doing so; after all, if you ever do decide to get a printer, you'll need to remember to re-enable the service, and you might end up frustrating yourself.
When the Print Spooler service is not running, printing on the local machine is not possible. Windows is a pretty complex beast, and many of its underlying processes need to communicate with one another. RPC allows processes to communicate with one another and across the network with each other. A ton of other critical services, including the Print Spooler and the Network Connections service, depend on the RPC service to function.
If you want to see what bad things happen when you disable this service, look at the comments on this link. As is the case for many services, the Workstation service is responsible for handling connections to remote network resources.
Specifically, this service provides network connections and communications capability for resources found using Microsoft Network services. Years ago, I would have said that disabling this service was a good idea, but that was before the rise of the home network and everything that goes along with it, including shared printers, remote Windows Media devices, Windows Home Server, and much more. You may also find services on the BlackViper. Work your way through the services, disabling those enabled by default that you deem unnecessary.
You can play it safe by setting a service on Manual, which starts it only when Windows decides that your system needs it. Unfortunately, some services set to Manual won't start when they should, so you may need to reset these to Automatic. To determine which other services a particular entry requires and which other services require it , double-click its entry in the Services list to open its Properties dialog box, and click the Dependencies tab.
Along with the suggestions on the BlackViper. Other candidates for disabling are Remote Registry, Themes if you're happy with Windows' Classic appearance , and Windows Firewall only if your system is protected by a third-party firewall.
Note that changes you make here apply to all users on the system. Click the start button. Select run from the bottom of the right column. Then type services. Once the services window has loaded we are ready to turn off unneeded services. For instructional purposes we are going to turn off the Portable Media Serial Number service.
Find this service in the list and select it with the mouse.
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