Services to Disable Windows 11


SightUp

Well-known member
Local time
7:27 AM
Posts
120
OS
Windows
I like to trim down Windows 11 where I can including services, so I was wondering if anyone here is an expert with Windows 11 services and can look at my list of services that I am planning on disabling and tell me if there are any that I am missing or ones that I have chosen that I absolutely cannot disable for one reason or another.

Diagnostic Execution Service

Diagnostic Policy Service

Diagnostic Service Host

Diagnostic System Host

Distributed Link Tracking Client

Fax

Geolocation Service

Microsoft Store Install Service

Network Connection Broker

Network List Service

Network Location Awareness

Offline Files

Print Spooler

System Event Notification Service

SysMain

TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper

Touch Keyboard and Handwriting Panel Service

Windows Event Log

Windows Search

Windows Time

Windows Update
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows
    CPU
    Intel 8086k
    Motherboard
    Asus z370-F
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA 3080 Ti FTW3 Ultra
    Sound Card
    ADI-2 DAC fs
It mostly depends on how much faster you want it to be broken.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    11 Home
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Asus TUF Gaming (2024)
    CPU
    i7 13650HX
    Memory
    16GB DDR5
    Graphics Card(s)
    GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile
    Sound Card
    Eastern Electric MiniMax DAC Supreme; Emotiva UMC-200; Astell & Kern AK240
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Sony Bravia XR-55X90J
    Screen Resolution
    3840×2160
    Hard Drives
    512GB SSD internal
    37TB external
    PSU
    Li-ion
    Cooling
    2× Arc Flow Fans, 4× exhaust vents, 5× heatpipes
    Keyboard
    Logitech K800
    Mouse
    Logitech G402
    Internet Speed
    20Mbit/s up, 250Mbit/s down
    Browser
    FF
  • Operating System
    11 Home
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Medion S15450
    CPU
    i5 1135G7
    Memory
    16GB DDR4
    Graphics card(s)
    Intel Iris Xe
    Sound Card
    Eastern Electric MiniMax DAC Supreme; Emotiva UMC-200; Astell & Kern AK240
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Sony Bravia XR-55X90J
    Screen Resolution
    3840×2160
    Hard Drives
    2TB SSD internal
    37TB external
    PSU
    Li-ion
    Mouse
    Logitech G402
    Keyboard
    Logitech K800
    Internet Speed
    20Mbit/s up, 250Mbit/s down
    Browser
    FF
Right. So I don't really want anything to break. I do not care about logs or printers or crap Windows bloatware. With that in mind, what services can I turn off without breaking anything?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows
    CPU
    Intel 8086k
    Motherboard
    Asus z370-F
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA 3080 Ti FTW3 Ultra
    Sound Card
    ADI-2 DAC fs
I like to trim down Windows 11 where I can including services, so I was wondering if anyone here is an expert with Windows 11 services and can look at my list of services that I am planning on disabling....
If you open Resource Monitor, look at Services on the CPU tab and sort by Average CPU, then you'll find that of your list SysMain has the highest CPU use - of less than 0.2%. In fact my total CPU use by all running services is just 2%.

1638077430207.png

Basically you're not going to gain anything by disabling any of them, as they don't have any significant impact on CPU use.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Home
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Acer Aspire 3 A315-23
    CPU
    AMD Athlon Silver 3050U
    Memory
    8GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Radeon Graphics
    Monitor(s) Displays
    laptop screen
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768 native resolution, up to 2560x1440 with Radeon Virtual Super Resolution
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung EVO 870 SSD
    Internet Speed
    50 Mbps
    Browser
    Edge, Firefox
    Antivirus
    Defender
    Other Info
    fully 'Windows 11 ready' laptop. Windows 10 C: partition migrated from my old unsupported 'main machine' then upgraded to 11. A test migration ran Insider builds for 2 months. When 11 was released on 5th October it was re-imaged back to 10 and was offered the upgrade in Windows Update on 20th October. Windows Update offered the 22H2 Feature Update on 20th September 2022. It got the 23H2 Feature Update on 4th November 2023 through Windows Update.

    My SYSTEM THREE is a Dell Latitude 5410, i7-10610U, 32GB RAM, 512GB ssd, supported device running Windows 11 Pro (and all my Hyper-V VMs).

    My SYSTEM FOUR is a 2-in-1 convertible Lenovo Yoga 11e 20DA, Celeron N2930, 4GB RAM, 256GB ssd. Unsupported device: currently running Win10 Pro, plus Win11 Pro RTM and Insider Beta as native boot vhdx.

    My SYSTEM FIVE is a Dell Latitude 3190 2-in-1, Pentium Silver N5030, 4GB RAM, 512GB NVMe ssd, supported device running Windows 11 Pro, plus the Insider Beta, Dev, and Canary builds as a native boot .vhdx.
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Lattitude E4310
    CPU
    Intel® Core™ i5-520M
    Motherboard
    0T6M8G
    Memory
    8GB
    Graphics card(s)
    (integrated graphics) Intel HD Graphics
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768
    Hard Drives
    500GB Crucial MX500 SSD
    Browser
    Firefox, Edge
    Antivirus
    Defender
    Other Info
    unsupported machine: Legacy bios, MBR, TPM 1.2, upgraded from W10 to W11 using W10/W11 hybrid install media workaround. In-place upgrade to 22H2 using ISO and a workaround. Feature Update to 23H2 by manually installing the Enablement Package.

    My SYSTEM THREE is a Dell Latitude 5410, i7-10610U, 32GB RAM, 512GB ssd, supported device running Windows 11 Pro (and all my Hyper-V VMs).

    My SYSTEM FOUR is a 2-in-1 convertible Lenovo Yoga 11e 20DA, Celeron N2930, 4GB RAM, 256GB ssd. Unsupported device: currently running Win10 Pro, plus Win11 Pro RTM and Insider Beta as native boot vhdx.

    My SYSTEM FIVE is a Dell Latitude 3190 2-in-1, Pentium Silver N5030, 4GB RAM, 512GB NVMe ssd, supported device running Windows 11 Pro, plus the Insider Beta, Dev, and Canary builds as a native boot .vhdx.
Just because SysMain (former SuperFetch) uses up a little bit of your CPU resources and a lot of your memory, doesn't also mean that it steals the resources from your other processes like playing videogames. Read up on the concept of InvisiTasking, which allows background processes to use up only those system resources that would otherwise be left unused, so for example if you have Condusiv Diskeeper service running in the background, then it can optimize performance of your HDD (it works for SSDs too, but on a modern SSD the performance gain will typically be negligible) and 1/ you never need to defrag because it prevents HDD fragmentation before it happens, while 2/ it greatly reduces the total number of I/O operations on the HDD in addition to keeping enough free space near the outermost cylinders of the HDD which is where the write speed is higher in comparison to the innermost ones─yet another reason why dividing your HDD into separate partitions never was among bright ideas. SysMain touches on the same principle that preventing I/O at the only sacrifice of using the specific part of CPU and RAM that would otherwise just sit there, doing nothing besides costing a lot of money of course. You see, other processes don't have to wait until these background processes release the system resources that they use. There's no delay there, the other processes take immediate priority.

That being said, with a modern Intel CPU, although this greatly depends on system design, you could say that temperatures should also be seen as system resources. That's just because technologies like Turbo Boost and Speed Shift can be used to increase performance, only temporarily when needed, and in such a way that the heat energy resulting from this temporary increase in power (far above the TDP) has to be throttled back down again after a certain period of time in order not to exceed temperature constraints. These constraints are configurable and can be set by the system manufacturer. Some of the settings are accessible via the powercfg command, some aren't. But that is why I use ThrottleStop. Anyway, my point is that disabling the SysMain service isn't going to have any noticeable impact on temperatures, any more so than homeopathy is. So I'm not too worried.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    11 Home
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Asus TUF Gaming (2024)
    CPU
    i7 13650HX
    Memory
    16GB DDR5
    Graphics Card(s)
    GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile
    Sound Card
    Eastern Electric MiniMax DAC Supreme; Emotiva UMC-200; Astell & Kern AK240
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Sony Bravia XR-55X90J
    Screen Resolution
    3840×2160
    Hard Drives
    512GB SSD internal
    37TB external
    PSU
    Li-ion
    Cooling
    2× Arc Flow Fans, 4× exhaust vents, 5× heatpipes
    Keyboard
    Logitech K800
    Mouse
    Logitech G402
    Internet Speed
    20Mbit/s up, 250Mbit/s down
    Browser
    FF
  • Operating System
    11 Home
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Medion S15450
    CPU
    i5 1135G7
    Memory
    16GB DDR4
    Graphics card(s)
    Intel Iris Xe
    Sound Card
    Eastern Electric MiniMax DAC Supreme; Emotiva UMC-200; Astell & Kern AK240
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Sony Bravia XR-55X90J
    Screen Resolution
    3840×2160
    Hard Drives
    2TB SSD internal
    37TB external
    PSU
    Li-ion
    Mouse
    Logitech G402
    Keyboard
    Logitech K800
    Internet Speed
    20Mbit/s up, 250Mbit/s down
    Browser
    FF
I like to trim down Windows 11 where I can including services, so I was wondering if anyone here is an expert with Windows 11 services and can look at my list of services that I am planning on disabling and tell me if there are any that I am missing or ones that I have chosen that I absolutely cannot disable for one reason or another.
Diagnostic Execution Service - YES
Diagnostic Policy Service - YES
Diagnostic Service Host - YES
Diagnostic System Host - YES
Distributed Link Tracking Client - YES
Fax - YES
Geolocation Service - YES
Microsoft Store Install Service - YES, - YES (IF YOU DON'T MICROSOFT STORE)
Network Connection Broker - YES
Network List Service - YES
Network Location Awareness - YES
Offline Files - YES
Print Spooler - YES (IF YOU DON'T USE PRINTERS)
System Event Notification Service
SysMain - NO
TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper - NO
Touch Keyboard and Handwriting Panel Service - YES
Windows Event Log - YES
Windows Search - YES (IF YOU DON'T STOCK SEARCH) - CAN BE REPLACED WITH "AGENT RANSACK"
Windows Time - YES
Windows Update - YES
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Microsoft® Windows™ 11 Enterprise Edition 64 Bit
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo® ThinkPad™ Edge
    CPU
    Intel® Core i3 380M
    Motherboard
    Intel® 0578K6A
    Memory
    Hynix® 4GB Dual-Channel DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    OnBoard Intel® HD Graphics
    Sound Card
    OnBoard High Definition Audio Device
    Monitor(s) Displays
    ThinkPad™ LCD
    Screen Resolution
    1366 x 768
    Hard Drives
    Seagate® SATA-III 500GB
    PSU
    Lenovo® Standard PSU
    Case
    Lenovo® Standard Laptop
    Cooling
    Lenovo® OnBoard Standard
    Keyboard
    Lenovo® USB Keyboard
    Mouse
    Lenovo® Optical USB
    Internet Speed
    Home Fixed 100Mbps
    Browser
    Google® Chrome™
    Antivirus
    Microsoft® Windows Defender™
    Other Info
    Not Applicable (NA)
I like to trim down Windows 11 where I can including services, so I was wondering if anyone here is an expert with Windows 11 services and can look at my list of services that I am planning on disabling and tell me if there are any that I am missing or ones that I have chosen that I absolutely cannot disable for one reason or another.

also you can follow some of mine as per below screenshot (follow the command I have set on DELAYED START, MANUAL & DISABLED);

1638094230216.png


1638094292308.png
1638094307188.png
1638094327641.png
1638094340805.png
1638094357138.png
1638094372464.png
1638094385642.png
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Microsoft® Windows™ 11 Enterprise Edition 64 Bit
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo® ThinkPad™ Edge
    CPU
    Intel® Core i3 380M
    Motherboard
    Intel® 0578K6A
    Memory
    Hynix® 4GB Dual-Channel DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    OnBoard Intel® HD Graphics
    Sound Card
    OnBoard High Definition Audio Device
    Monitor(s) Displays
    ThinkPad™ LCD
    Screen Resolution
    1366 x 768
    Hard Drives
    Seagate® SATA-III 500GB
    PSU
    Lenovo® Standard PSU
    Case
    Lenovo® Standard Laptop
    Cooling
    Lenovo® OnBoard Standard
    Keyboard
    Lenovo® USB Keyboard
    Mouse
    Lenovo® Optical USB
    Internet Speed
    Home Fixed 100Mbps
    Browser
    Google® Chrome™
    Antivirus
    Microsoft® Windows Defender™
    Other Info
    Not Applicable (NA)
I like to trim down Windows 11 where I can including services, so I was wondering if anyone here is an expert with Windows 11 services and can look at my list of services that I am planning on disabling and tell me if there are any that I am missing or ones that I have chosen that I absolutely cannot disable for one reason or another.

there will be some startups hogging files, for these type of startups you can use "Chameleon Startup Manager" to remove .. the trial version works fine too .. remember not to remove Microsoft Office related startups, as these will affect execution of Microsoft Office components .. Good Luck !
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Microsoft® Windows™ 11 Enterprise Edition 64 Bit
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo® ThinkPad™ Edge
    CPU
    Intel® Core i3 380M
    Motherboard
    Intel® 0578K6A
    Memory
    Hynix® 4GB Dual-Channel DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    OnBoard Intel® HD Graphics
    Sound Card
    OnBoard High Definition Audio Device
    Monitor(s) Displays
    ThinkPad™ LCD
    Screen Resolution
    1366 x 768
    Hard Drives
    Seagate® SATA-III 500GB
    PSU
    Lenovo® Standard PSU
    Case
    Lenovo® Standard Laptop
    Cooling
    Lenovo® OnBoard Standard
    Keyboard
    Lenovo® USB Keyboard
    Mouse
    Lenovo® Optical USB
    Internet Speed
    Home Fixed 100Mbps
    Browser
    Google® Chrome™
    Antivirus
    Microsoft® Windows Defender™
    Other Info
    Not Applicable (NA)
I don't screw around with this stuff as in W7 days..., far too many Dependencies that'll bork the system.
If you do mess around with this stuff then you're probably a power user..., if you're a power user, then you probably have a machine that can handle it.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS ROG Strix
  • Operating System
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS VivoBook
my list of services that I am planning on disabling and tell me if there are any that I am missing or ones that I have chosen that I absolutely cannot disable for one reason or another.
That depends, I guess you are not using MS account, but a local one?
Because without some of them, you might not be able to log into Windows.

My Disabled services. MS account, store, onedrive and windows updates work.

capture_11282021_155020.jpg
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Home
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 5 3600 & No fTPM (07/19)
    Motherboard
    MSI B450 TOMAHAWK 7C02v1E & IFX TPM (07/19)
    Memory
    4x 8GB ADATA XPG GAMMIX D10 DDR4 3200MHz CL16
    Graphics Card(s)
    MSI Radeon RX 580 ARMOR 8G OC @48FPS (08/19)
    Sound Card
    Creative Sound Blaster Z (11/16)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    24" AOC G2460VQ6 (01/19)
    Screen Resolution
    1920×1080@75Hz & FreeSync (DisplayPort)
    Hard Drives
    ADATA XPG GAMMIX S11 Pro SSD 512GB (07/19)
    PSU
    Seasonic M12II-520 80 Plus Bronze (11/16)
    Case
    Lian Li PC-7NB & 3x Noctua NF-S12A FLX@700rpm (11/16)
    Cooling
    CPU Cooler Noctua NH-U12S@700rpm (07/19)
    Keyboard
    HP Wired Desktop 320K + Rabalux 76017 Parker (01/24)
    Mouse
    Logitech M330 Silent Plus (04/23)
    Internet Speed
    400/40 Mbps via RouterOS (05/21) & TCP Optimizer
    Browser
    Edge (No FB/Google) & Brave for YouTube & LibreWolf for FB
    Antivirus
    NoAV & Binisoft WFC & NextDNS
    Other Info
    Headphones: Sennheiser RS170 (09/10)
    Phone: Samsung Galaxy Xcover 7 (02/24)
I cannot see any point in disabling any services unless they are giving you problems, they are there for a reason. As @hdmi said It mostly depends on how much faster you want it to be broken. If you have a decent spaced machine it can handle them all with no problem. Disabling may led to problems in the future.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Alienware M18 R1
    CPU
    13th Gen Core i9 13900HX
    Memory
    32GB DDR5 @4800MHz 2x16GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Geforce RTX 4090HX 16GB
    Sound Card
    Nvidia HD / Realtek ALC3254
    Monitor(s) Displays
    18" QHD+
    Screen Resolution
    25660 X 1600
    Hard Drives
    C: KIOXIA (Toshiba) 2TB KXG80ZNV2T04 NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD
    D: KIOXIA (Toshiba) 2TB KXG80ZNV2T04 NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD
    Case
    Dark Metallic Moon
    Keyboard
    Alienware M Series per-key AlienFX RGB
    Mouse
    Alienware AW610M
    Browser
    Chrome and Firefox
    Antivirus
    Norton
    Other Info
    Killer E3000 Ethernet Controller
    Killer Killer AX1690 Wi-Fi Network Adaptor Wi-Fi 6E
    Bluetooth 5.2
    Alienware Z01G Graphic Amplifier
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Alienware Area 51m R2
    CPU
    10th Gen i-9 10900 K
    Memory
    32Gb Dual Channel DDR4 @ 8843MHz
    Graphics card(s)
    Nvidia RTX 2080 Super
    Sound Card
    Nvidia
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    Hard Drive C: Samsung 2TB SSD PM981a NVMe
    Hard Drive D:Samsung 2TB SSD 970 EVO Plus
    Mouse
    Alienware 610M
    Browser
    Chrome
    Antivirus
    Norton
I cannot see any point in disabling any services unless they are giving you problems, they are there for a reason. As @hdmi said It mostly depends on how much faster you want it to be broken. If you have a decent spaced machine it can handle them all with no problem. Disabling may led to problems in the future.
Hi,
Difficult to break what you don't use
All this is personal preference so saying someone is wrong is not very realistic seeing opinions are like anuses we all have one and use it as we choose crazy concept but it's fact :boom:
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win-7-10-11Pro's
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Acer 17" Nitro 7840sn/ 2x16gb 5600c40/ 4060/ stock 1tb-os/ 4tb sn850x
    CPU
    10900k & 9940x & 5930k
    Motherboard
    z490-Apex & x299-Apex & x99-Sabertooth
    Memory
    Trident-Z Royal 4000c16 2x16gb & Trident-Z 3600c16 4x8gb & 3200c14 4x8gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    Titan Xp & 1080ti FTW3 & evga 980ti gaming
    Sound Card
    Onboard Realtek x3
    Monitor(s) Displays
    1-AOC G2460PG 24"G-Sync 144Hz/ 2nd 1-ASUS VG248QE 24"/ 3rd LG 43" series
    Screen Resolution
    1920-1080 not sure what the t.v is besides 43" class scales from 1920-1080 perfectly
    Hard Drives
    2-WD-sn850x 4tb/ 970evo+500gb/ 980 pro 2tb.
    PSU
    1000p2 & 1200p2 & 850p2
    Case
    D450 x2 & 1 Test bench in cherry Entertainment center
    Cooling
    Custom water loops x3 with 2x mora 360mm rads only 980ti gaming air cooled
    Keyboard
    G710+x3
    Mouse
    Redragon x3
    Internet Speed
    xfinity gigabyte
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    mbam pro
If you learn how to break something, you will also learn how it works and how to fix it.
Like when you take a radio or a car apart and then put it back together. It just takes time.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Home
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 5 3600 & No fTPM (07/19)
    Motherboard
    MSI B450 TOMAHAWK 7C02v1E & IFX TPM (07/19)
    Memory
    4x 8GB ADATA XPG GAMMIX D10 DDR4 3200MHz CL16
    Graphics Card(s)
    MSI Radeon RX 580 ARMOR 8G OC @48FPS (08/19)
    Sound Card
    Creative Sound Blaster Z (11/16)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    24" AOC G2460VQ6 (01/19)
    Screen Resolution
    1920×1080@75Hz & FreeSync (DisplayPort)
    Hard Drives
    ADATA XPG GAMMIX S11 Pro SSD 512GB (07/19)
    PSU
    Seasonic M12II-520 80 Plus Bronze (11/16)
    Case
    Lian Li PC-7NB & 3x Noctua NF-S12A FLX@700rpm (11/16)
    Cooling
    CPU Cooler Noctua NH-U12S@700rpm (07/19)
    Keyboard
    HP Wired Desktop 320K + Rabalux 76017 Parker (01/24)
    Mouse
    Logitech M330 Silent Plus (04/23)
    Internet Speed
    400/40 Mbps via RouterOS (05/21) & TCP Optimizer
    Browser
    Edge (No FB/Google) & Brave for YouTube & LibreWolf for FB
    Antivirus
    NoAV & Binisoft WFC & NextDNS
    Other Info
    Headphones: Sennheiser RS170 (09/10)
    Phone: Samsung Galaxy Xcover 7 (02/24)
@ThrashZone It may be difficult to break what you don't use but the OS may use it. who said it was wrong I wonder, but I have have seen it time and time again over the years where you disable/delete things and all is fine but then later it has caused problems further down the line, obviously that is my opinion based on years of tinkering with computers
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Alienware M18 R1
    CPU
    13th Gen Core i9 13900HX
    Memory
    32GB DDR5 @4800MHz 2x16GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Geforce RTX 4090HX 16GB
    Sound Card
    Nvidia HD / Realtek ALC3254
    Monitor(s) Displays
    18" QHD+
    Screen Resolution
    25660 X 1600
    Hard Drives
    C: KIOXIA (Toshiba) 2TB KXG80ZNV2T04 NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD
    D: KIOXIA (Toshiba) 2TB KXG80ZNV2T04 NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD
    Case
    Dark Metallic Moon
    Keyboard
    Alienware M Series per-key AlienFX RGB
    Mouse
    Alienware AW610M
    Browser
    Chrome and Firefox
    Antivirus
    Norton
    Other Info
    Killer E3000 Ethernet Controller
    Killer Killer AX1690 Wi-Fi Network Adaptor Wi-Fi 6E
    Bluetooth 5.2
    Alienware Z01G Graphic Amplifier
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Alienware Area 51m R2
    CPU
    10th Gen i-9 10900 K
    Memory
    32Gb Dual Channel DDR4 @ 8843MHz
    Graphics card(s)
    Nvidia RTX 2080 Super
    Sound Card
    Nvidia
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    Hard Drive C: Samsung 2TB SSD PM981a NVMe
    Hard Drive D:Samsung 2TB SSD 970 EVO Plus
    Mouse
    Alienware 610M
    Browser
    Chrome
    Antivirus
    Norton
...all is fine but then later it has caused problems further down the line...
I make a point of only disabling things that can be done through the normal options in Settings or the Control Panel. If Microsoft provide a switch to turn it off, then I'll use it (background apps, for example). But I draw the line at disabling services and the like. I like to think that's one reason I've never needed to do a clean install to fix anything. All my systems just run reliably.

My System One is running an install of Windows that started life in 2011 as Windows 7, took the upgrade to 10 in 2015, then every feature update up to 21H1. Now it's been cloned to a supported machine it has upgraded to Windows 11. I have never had any problems with failed updates, like so many others have complained about. I put that down to not tinkering beyond what MS make easily available.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Home
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Acer Aspire 3 A315-23
    CPU
    AMD Athlon Silver 3050U
    Memory
    8GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Radeon Graphics
    Monitor(s) Displays
    laptop screen
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768 native resolution, up to 2560x1440 with Radeon Virtual Super Resolution
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung EVO 870 SSD
    Internet Speed
    50 Mbps
    Browser
    Edge, Firefox
    Antivirus
    Defender
    Other Info
    fully 'Windows 11 ready' laptop. Windows 10 C: partition migrated from my old unsupported 'main machine' then upgraded to 11. A test migration ran Insider builds for 2 months. When 11 was released on 5th October it was re-imaged back to 10 and was offered the upgrade in Windows Update on 20th October. Windows Update offered the 22H2 Feature Update on 20th September 2022. It got the 23H2 Feature Update on 4th November 2023 through Windows Update.

    My SYSTEM THREE is a Dell Latitude 5410, i7-10610U, 32GB RAM, 512GB ssd, supported device running Windows 11 Pro (and all my Hyper-V VMs).

    My SYSTEM FOUR is a 2-in-1 convertible Lenovo Yoga 11e 20DA, Celeron N2930, 4GB RAM, 256GB ssd. Unsupported device: currently running Win10 Pro, plus Win11 Pro RTM and Insider Beta as native boot vhdx.

    My SYSTEM FIVE is a Dell Latitude 3190 2-in-1, Pentium Silver N5030, 4GB RAM, 512GB NVMe ssd, supported device running Windows 11 Pro, plus the Insider Beta, Dev, and Canary builds as a native boot .vhdx.
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Lattitude E4310
    CPU
    Intel® Core™ i5-520M
    Motherboard
    0T6M8G
    Memory
    8GB
    Graphics card(s)
    (integrated graphics) Intel HD Graphics
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768
    Hard Drives
    500GB Crucial MX500 SSD
    Browser
    Firefox, Edge
    Antivirus
    Defender
    Other Info
    unsupported machine: Legacy bios, MBR, TPM 1.2, upgraded from W10 to W11 using W10/W11 hybrid install media workaround. In-place upgrade to 22H2 using ISO and a workaround. Feature Update to 23H2 by manually installing the Enablement Package.

    My SYSTEM THREE is a Dell Latitude 5410, i7-10610U, 32GB RAM, 512GB ssd, supported device running Windows 11 Pro (and all my Hyper-V VMs).

    My SYSTEM FOUR is a 2-in-1 convertible Lenovo Yoga 11e 20DA, Celeron N2930, 4GB RAM, 256GB ssd. Unsupported device: currently running Win10 Pro, plus Win11 Pro RTM and Insider Beta as native boot vhdx.

    My SYSTEM FIVE is a Dell Latitude 3190 2-in-1, Pentium Silver N5030, 4GB RAM, 512GB NVMe ssd, supported device running Windows 11 Pro, plus the Insider Beta, Dev, and Canary builds as a native boot .vhdx.
@Bree I totally agree 100% , same here and also never a problem but this machine has only ever been 10 and now 11
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Alienware M18 R1
    CPU
    13th Gen Core i9 13900HX
    Memory
    32GB DDR5 @4800MHz 2x16GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Geforce RTX 4090HX 16GB
    Sound Card
    Nvidia HD / Realtek ALC3254
    Monitor(s) Displays
    18" QHD+
    Screen Resolution
    25660 X 1600
    Hard Drives
    C: KIOXIA (Toshiba) 2TB KXG80ZNV2T04 NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD
    D: KIOXIA (Toshiba) 2TB KXG80ZNV2T04 NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD
    Case
    Dark Metallic Moon
    Keyboard
    Alienware M Series per-key AlienFX RGB
    Mouse
    Alienware AW610M
    Browser
    Chrome and Firefox
    Antivirus
    Norton
    Other Info
    Killer E3000 Ethernet Controller
    Killer Killer AX1690 Wi-Fi Network Adaptor Wi-Fi 6E
    Bluetooth 5.2
    Alienware Z01G Graphic Amplifier
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Alienware Area 51m R2
    CPU
    10th Gen i-9 10900 K
    Memory
    32Gb Dual Channel DDR4 @ 8843MHz
    Graphics card(s)
    Nvidia RTX 2080 Super
    Sound Card
    Nvidia
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    Hard Drive C: Samsung 2TB SSD PM981a NVMe
    Hard Drive D:Samsung 2TB SSD 970 EVO Plus
    Mouse
    Alienware 610M
    Browser
    Chrome
    Antivirus
    Norton
Windows is designed to work in multiple scenarios and hence there are services and scheduled tasks that are important in some of those scenarios, while not so much in others. Disabling the services that are not necessary might not really speed things up, but for some people may give the appearance of a tidier system.

While it's a personal choice, you might keep things as they are. However, I do disable a number of the services and scheduled tasks, since I am absolutely sure I don't need them.

I certainly disable Windows Search (as well as turn off Cortana in Group Policy) - I don't need any indexing and the corresponding SSD writes.

I also disable everything Xbox related - I don't play games and I don't have an Xbox, so why should I keep those things running?

I also disable everything location-related - I cannot prevent websites to guess my location based on my IP (other than using a VPN) but I absolutely hate the idea of location-tuned search results or services provided. Information is not any different regardless of where I am currently located. If I am paying for a service, I see no reason for it to stop working just because I flew on a plane for a few hours.

I also disable telemetry - you might make a case for it if you're on an insider build, but otherwise I have a right to control which bits of information are leaving my computer.

NetBIOS was flagged as a security risk years ago - so I disable it both in the TCP/IP settings and in the services. Maybe it's no longer considered a risk, I haven't checked, but I am doing so for years and have never had a problem.

There are several services that are geared towards corporate environment: offline files, smart cards, connected devices, sync, alljoyn etc. I don't need them because I have a single computer at home and I don't want it talking to anything else on my home network (such as the TV).

Finally, there are features that I simply don't have on my desktop - bluetooth, wi-fi, etc. Again, disabling these does not bring any visible advantage, but what's the point of running a wi-fi service on a computer without wi-fi?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    i5-10600K
    Motherboard
    Asus Rog Strix Z490-A Gaming
    Memory
    16 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    GeForce GTX 1650
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung U32J59x 32" 4K
    Screen Resolution
    3840x2160
I should also mention that the concept of computer being "idle" is not always interpreted correctly. Very often, I see that Windows thinks the computer is idle if I don't touch the mouse and keyboard for some time. However, all that time the computer may either be doing some calculation or simply showing me something on the screen. To me, that's not idle. On the contrary, that's what the computer is for. And in these circumstances I don't want sudden activity by tasks and services that work "when the computer is idle". Actually, my computer is never idle. When it's idle, it's off.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    i5-10600K
    Motherboard
    Asus Rog Strix Z490-A Gaming
    Memory
    16 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    GeForce GTX 1650
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung U32J59x 32" 4K
    Screen Resolution
    3840x2160

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP
    CPU
    Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4800MQ CPU @ 2.70GHz
    Motherboard
    Product : 190A Version : KBC Version 94.56
    Memory
    16 GB Total: Manufacturer : Samsung MemoryType : DDR3 FormFactor : SODIMM Capacity : 8GB Speed : 1600
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA Quadro K3100M; Intel(R) HD Graphics 4600
    Sound Card
    IDT High Definition Audio CODEC; PNP Device ID HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_111D&DEV_76E0
    Hard Drives
    Model Hitachi HTS727575A9E364
    Antivirus
    Microsoft Defender
    Other Info
    Mobile Workstation
People just do not get it - disabling services is so XP.

I only disable 3rd party services that give annoying check for update messages all the time.

Windows 10 has been well optimised, and my laptop idles at less than 1%, with virtual no network activity, and no excess memory use.

sure you can tweak things to squeeze a teensy extra bit ou of system, but the services have a lot of interdependencies and sooner or later, you will break something and your performance will plummet.


In the end, if you have to ask for opinions, you probably do not have the knowledge. Of course, the one thing everybody neglects to tell you is to make image backups as you go along. This is where incrementals are good to enable you to wind back in a considered manner.

However, in the end the best plan is to leave services disabling well alone unless you can find any real evidence that disabling them actually helps.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Pro + others in VHDs
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS Vivobook 14
    CPU
    I7
    Motherboard
    Yep, Laptop has one.
    Memory
    16 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Integrated Intel Iris XE
    Sound Card
    Realtek built in
    Monitor(s) Displays
    N/A
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    1 TB Optane NVME SSD, 1 TB NVME SSD
    PSU
    Yep, got one
    Case
    Yep, got one
    Cooling
    Stella Artois
    Keyboard
    Built in
    Mouse
    Bluetooth , wired
    Internet Speed
    72 Mb/s :-(
    Browser
    Edge mostly
    Antivirus
    Defender
    Other Info
    TPM 2.0

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