Can I set every service to Manual?

[Elliot B.]

I believe a service set to Manual will only start if a program requests it.

So, is it a good idea to set every service to Manual?

That way I'll have plenty of CPU time and memory available when Window starts and no service will start unless necessary.

[Jason S. Global Moderator]

several services are required by Windows itself. setting them to manual means they wont start when you boot...

[Elliot B.]

several services are required by Windows itself. setting them to manual means they wont start when you boot...

Doesn't that defeat the purpose of the Manual setting?

[gshapiro]

Doesn't that defeat the purpose of the Manual setting?

http://www.blackviper.com/

Might help you understand things better.

[Leddy]

Doesn't that defeat the purpose of the Manual setting?

No. Manual services require a call to start before they do start. While some windows services are called this way, some don't. (Try doing it to DWM, for example.)

[Jason S. Global Moderator]

Doesn't that defeat the purpose of the Manual setting?

the service that comes to mind is DHCP. if you want an internet connection, you'd have to enable this service each time you boot... unless you have some static IP of course.

that would be insanely annoying.

[tsupersonic]

You could do this...if you wanted to kill your machine

[ViperAFK]

Bad idea lol.

[soldier1st]

maybe some can be set to manual but otherwise if you did you said it would indeed be a bad idea.

[Linkinfamous]

You have 4 gigs of RAM.

You're not going to get an ounce of benefit from this kind of service tweaking.

In fact, if it worked as you want it to (Which it doesn't), you'd likely see decreased performance, as service startups would be occurring at various points when you're using your PC.

[redvamp128]

That would not help, and for example some services that are set to auto- run briefly during boot and then stop.

That is a bad idea setting all of them to manual.

Right now the only one I have disabled (in xp) Messenger, UPS, and a few others here and there. Very few I have set to manual. And Like MioTheGreat says- 4gigs of ram... You have the memory to spare. I have on this machine 256mb. So for me setting some to manual migh have a gain, but you have more than enough memory to spare.

Though probably you may gain some benefit is by checking your start menu- startup for things like Adobe Speed reader Launch- Or there maybe one for office listed there... If you have a fast machine you don't need it to load to run Office.

Not to mention if you have a Messenger (AIM/MSN(WLM), or Yahoo. Go into their preferences and set them not to start with windows. I don't know why they think (the vendors) that you always want to sign into them when you turn your computer on is beyond me. Sometimes a slow boot time can attributed to them holding up until they connect. Not to mention slow ups for most machines is the Antivirus Scan that is set to scan at boot.

There is where I think you will have more resources available and not by disabling or setting some of the services to manual.

[bjoswald]

Are you really that desperate for performance? The boost you're looking for would be marginal at best. GET MORE RAM.

[Elliot B.]

Are you really that desperate for performance? The boost you're looking for would be marginal at best. GET MORE RAM.

It's more to do with CPU than RAM. My CPU is fast, but the less the OS has to do, the quicker the entire computer is.

[tsupersonic]

I know just the perfect OS for you. DOS. It's light on the CPU, and RAM, and best of all, you don't have to worry about services. :)

[Elliot B.]

I know just the perfect OS for you. DOS.

Was there a need for that? No.

[+allan MVC]

It's more to do with CPU than RAM. My CPU is fast, but the less the OS has to do, the quicker the entire computer is.

The number of services loaded has NO effect on the CPU

[ViperAFK]

Dude tweaking services in vista will have a negligible effect at best, it's pointless, especially looking at your specs, a couple extra services idling will not slow down a core 2 with 4 gigs of ram at all.

[thealexweb]

Don't try disabling core windows service, if you do it might break your installation and you won't be able to boot.

[zeddydotorg]

Exactly. A service starting up wont use much CPU, its about keeping the services running in memory, but thats not an issue when you have enough ram.

[mad_onion]

yeah you will get better performance by having them load on startup so that they don't have to load when you need them. wimdows is already configured for normal use.

[1759]

You'd get a bigger performance boost, by getting some 10k RPM HDs, and putting them in RAID0, then you would by tweaking some services.

[mad_onion]

You'd get a bigger performance boost, by getting some 10k RPM HDs, and putting them in RAID0, then you would by tweaking some services.

lol obviously but like many people he wants something for nothing.

[soldier1st]

and you can't exactly have something for nothing.

[Brandon Live Veteran]

The defaults are set that way for a reason. There are very few cases where it is advantageous to mess with them.