Which "Services" are required . . . (link) (1 Viewer)

[MartinSmith]

Again, I should have posted this issue in this forum instead of here . . . https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/which_services_required-t28055.html

After my following "link" posting, I will not make this mistake again.

Thank you.

Martin

 

[MartinSmith]

TOP

MediaPortal Version: 0.2.3.0 RC2
MediaPortal Skin: Blue Two
Windows Version: Windows XP SP2 with all updates
CPU Type: Intel Pentium D, Dual Core 2.8GHz
HDD: Western Digital 320GB
Memory: 1GB DDR2 NON-ECC SDRAM 667MHz
Motherboard: Intel
Motherboard Chipset: Intel G965
Video Card: 256MB ATI X1300 PRO PCIe16
Video Card Driver: Due to several ATI flaws since Catalyst 7.4, I prefer version 8.360.0.0
Sound Card: SigmaTel High Definition Audio 7.1
Sound Card Driver: 5.10.0.4991
TV Card: ATI TV Wonder 650 PCI
TV Card Type: NTSC/ATSC
TV Card Driver: Again, due to ATI flaws since WDM 7.4, I prefer version 6.14.10.232
MPEG2 Video Codec: DScaler MPEG2 Video Decoder, version 0.0.6.0
MPEG2 Audio Codec: DScaler Audio Decoder, version 0.0.8.0
Remote: ATI Remote Wonder Plus

 

[Marcusb]

Hi Martin,

I think the lack of responses is probably because it's a very hard question to answer. There are a lot of services that can definately be disabled, but also a lot that can, but may cause issues.
Google will bring lots of pages with this info, and then the best thing is to maybe disable a service every few days. Use MP as usual and if you notice any issues then reactivate it. Repeat this with everything you think is ok and your PC will get more responsive over a number of weeks.

I went the other way and turned off a whole heap I thought were not needed. Was a pain to then work out why the MyStatus no longer worked because the alerter service was off....

 

[MartinSmith]

Hi Marcusb, and thanks for responding to my posting.

I agree with your perspective and was hoping others would find more value in responding. Regardless, I am quite aggressive regarding Windows Services and am working towards the minimum possible configuration. Of course, MP has challenged me in ways that have made me re-focus my aggression. I would share my current configuration, but, you excluded, given the general apathy towards this subject, it has no value.

Thanks again!

Martin

 

[Marcusb]

It is strange you didn't get more of a response. I know there are a lot of users that also feel as you do and have their Windows system pruned as much as possible. There were a couple of other threads about this, but from memory they were all a long time ago and may not show up easily in any searches.
Some have even gone the slipstream approach, but MP's heavy reliance on .net and dx9 make that more difficult than for other programs.

With regards to being agressive, just remember the example from my previous post. You may find a plugin in the future that doesn't work and after many nights of trying to fault find, it may be a disabled service.
By all means prune the windows fat as much as possible, but don't forget that in future...

Cheers,

Marcus,

 

[MartinSmith]

Marcusb,

I truly appreciate your perspective, experience and guidance. In the future, I will keep your words in mind at all times.

Thanks again for your replies and advice!!

Best regards,

Martin

 

[and-81]

Getting the most performance (and removing the nuisances) from your Media Center PC

Hello,

The reason you wont get many replies about services to remove is because you really need to understand what you're doing before you go playing with things like services. I'm not saying you don't know, its just that giving people simple step by step info on how to change some fairly major settings on their computer is always dangerous.

So let's do exactly that! Here's my list of top tips for PC/HTPC optimization from the install on!!! ... Use at your own risk ... of humiliation ...


1. nLite
http://www.nliteos.com/
An overly detailed guide to nLite:
http://www.msfn.org/board/Complete_Beginners_Guide_nLite_Unattend_t28005.html

Cut out all the bloat, slipstream important updates and make install-time tweaks to Windows. Learn what everything is before you use this, and be prepared to do multiple reinstalls of Windows to really learn. With nLite you can not only disable the services you don't need, you can prevent them from ever being installed. Strip out the drivers, services and components you don't need and you'll improve the install time, boot time, and runtime performance of your PC. Stuff it up and you'll be in a world of pain. Use other peoples advice as a starting point, but sooner or later you'll need to learn what you're doing to get the most out of this. Start out being careful, then get more aggressive, then scale back to something that is a balance. If you don't understand what you're doing then you'll hurt yourself ... in the brain ...


2. AutoPatcher
http://www.autopatcher.com/

AutoPatcher is a collection of Windows Updates, optional components and tweaks. Sadly, Microsoft have put a stop to it, but I hear that you can still get it from mirrors and torrents. I use this as the second step in a new windows install. I use it to install ONLY the updates I need (don't install a time zone update for a region you don't live in, there's no point ... you get what I mean). If the update says "Fixes a bug in DirectX when playing back MPEG" or something like that, then it's probably worth installing on a HTPC. I also use it to disable some of the junk that is enabled in a default windows install. You need to run it a couple of times to make sure you get everything, some things wont show up until the components they depend on have been installed. I'll edit this post later and include a list of tweaks I make.

EDIT: AutoPatcher Tweaks you should make (or do them manually if you don't have AutoPatcher):
Disable Welcome Screen - Force Classic Logon (Then setup an automatic logon)
Disable AVI Previewing
Disable Language Bar
Disable Error Reporting
Change Time Server Update from 1 week to 1 day
Disable Desktop Cleanup Wizard
Disable Compression of Files During Cleanup
Disable System Beep
Disable 'Web Service' for Unknown File Extensions
Disable Windows Tour Bubble
Disable Sticky Keys
Disable Remote Registry Service
Disable SSDP and UPNP Services - Unless you need Universal Plug and Play ... which I will soon ...
Disable Shared Documents
Disable Messenger Service
Speed Up the way Zip files function in XP
Shorten Menu Delay
Speed Up Network Browsing
Speed Up Locked Programs
Speed Up Internet Explorer
Enable Boot Optimization
Lower ScanDisks Wait Time
Prevent MFT Fragmentation

You should also uncheck the following appearance options (Right-Click My Computer, Properties, Advanced, Performance Settings, Visual Effects):
Animate windows when minimizing or maximizing.
Fade or slide menus into view
Fade or slide ToolTips into view
Fade out meny items after clicking
Slide open combo boxes
Slide taskbar buttons
Smooth-scroll list boxes
And if you're using the classic theme (disabling the themes services) then uncheck these too (but the main ones are the ones listed already above):
Use a background image for each folder type
Use common tasks in folders
Use visual styles on windows and buttons

Also, while you're there you should go to the Advanced tab and under Virtual Memory set a relatively large permanent swap file, I use a 2gb swap file. It's bigger than I need, but I've got plenty of hard disk space so a few hundred more megabytes of swap file is no big deal. At least this way I can set and forget and know that windows will never waste time resizing it. Once it has been defragmented (PageDefrag) it will never need to be changed.


3. Install all your software here


4. TweakUI
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx

Disable all the fancy user interface bloat that you don't want on a HTPC. I don't think I need to say anything else about TweakUI ... If you add up all the changes it can make it probably wont make a noticeable effect on performance, but it can make what I call a "Perceived performance improvement" ...

Think about this:

If Window animations are turned on then every time I tell windows to minimize a window I have to watch it zip down into the task bar and every time I want to maximize a window I have to watch an equally ugly animation of the window resizing ... pointless crap to slow me down... like the menu popup delay and that sort of thing... it's not strictly a performance improvement, but it feels like it.


5. Autoruns
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/Utilities/AutoRuns.mspx

Mark Russinovich is a legend. Just needed to say that before I went any further. With Autoruns you can disable all the crap that starts up with windows. Every second piece of software you install these days installs a program that runs at startup which is only there to do 1 or 2 annoying things... either to download auto-updates or to make the program start faster by pre-loading into memory all it's dll's...

Use Autoruns to weed out all the crap.


5. CCleaner
http://www.ccleaner.com/

CCleaner is overrated. And it does a lot of stuff that is pretty unnecessary, but there are a couple of things it does which I like, so I run it a couple of times after an install to remove all the log files, temporary files and hotfix uninstallers (Who ever uninstalled a hotfix?). Once I'm happy with what I've trimmed I uninstall CCleaner.


6. PageDefrag
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/utilities/pagedefrag.mspx

Defragments the files defrag wont. After setting a large permanent swap file, this will make sure that it and all your other operating system files are defragmented.


7. Defrag
Start Menu->Programs->Accessories->System Tools->Disk Defragmenter

Nuff said.


8. Microsoft BootVis
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Tweak/System-Tweak/BootVis.shtml

Microsoft say that BootVis won't improve boot/resume performance because it is just using routines that are built into windows and run periodically anyway... Well, in my experience, after completing an install of windows I can get a significant boot-up performance increase by running Bootvis. Maybe it's just forcing windows to do something it would have eventually gotten around to anyway ... but so what! It works and it gives an immediate improvement, so why wouldn't I run it? I've probably disabled whatever component would otherwise have run in all my optimizing

I run it as the very last step in a windows install, after all the software and bit's and pieces are in and running. Once the PC is 100% up and running and I've done all my other optimizations and tweaks I do a defrag and then I run BootVis twice. If Microsoft want to argue about the effect it has they can call me at home, they know where I live ...


Other miscellaneous tweaks/optimizations you should consider:

1. Disable the NTFS last accessed file date stamp to speed up file system operations.
I have not found any negative side-effects on my htpc...
From the command line run:
fsutil behavior set disablelastaccess 1

2. Optimize network/internet operations by running SG TCP Optimizer.
http://www.speedguide.net/downloads.php

3. If you do a lot of downloading on the PC then install the Event ID 4226 Patcher to speed up internet access through multiple simultaneous connections.
http://www.lvllord.de/?lang=en&url=downloads#4226patch

If anyone has a good speed/performance tweak they want to add to this list let me know, I'm considering re-writing this into a sticky thread (and perhaps into the MediaPortal wiki).


But what you really wanted was a list of services ... EDIT: Refer to later post for service rundown.

This is a decent guide to services:
http://www.theeldergeek.com/services_guide.htm

This one's ok, but has been critisized for being a bit over the top:
http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm

I don't agree 100% with either of them, but that's probably more of a everyday PC vs HTPC thing.

There is another one that is very good and more conservative, but I've lost the link ... I'll post it when I find it.

I personally think that for a HTPC all most people really should be disabling are the obvious ones ...

Automatic Updates
I don't use it, I always got my updates through AutoPatcher and by slipstreaming the install CD.
I have a good hardware firewall and the HTPC is only a HTPC, nothing else. I don't consider it a hacking target, I don't surf the web on it and it has no credit card numbers or pron for people to steal so I think it will be cool.

Error Reporting Service
It's a HTPC, I don't want to get error dialogs! That's what log files are for!

Fast User Switching Capability
It's a HTPC, I don't want to switch users ... fast.

Remote Registry
God no!

SSDP Discovery Service and Universal Plug and Play Device Host Service
I don't use UPnP ... yet ...

Themes
If you can see a window frame on my HTPC then I'm not doing my job! I like the old-school Windows 2000 look anyway.

Notes:

I also have Security Center, System Restore, Help and Support, Human Interface Device Access, Wireless Zero Configuration, Secondary Logon and UPS either disabled or not even installed (thank you nLite). But be careful because your situation might be different and you might need, for example, Human Interface Device Access. When I remember more I'll list them ... Some are never even installed, so I don't remember them off the top of my head and they're not in the list on my HTPC.

The reason it's dangerous for people to say "oh yes, my word, of course you can disable that service, are you suffering a mild brain hemorrhage?" Is because it's one of those "It depends" situations.

For example... Both of the guides to services I listed above either recommend to everyone or say that "Power Users" don't need the Windows Time service... I can't understand that. How is my PC meant to keep accurate time? And this is my point. Any guide to what services you can and can't disable is biased towards the views and usage scenarios of the person who writes it... Even this one!

Basically, there is no easy answer to what services you need and what you don't ... "It depends".

Which is why I say that you need to understand what you're doing.

I have my HTPC set to synchronize it's time every day. I don't want to miss the first five minutes of a tv recording because the clock was wrong, the tv stations can't read a clock as it is. My HTPC loses time at a terrible rate and I believe this is due to the UPS that's hooked up. Apparently UPS's can distort the clean sine wave of the AC power going to the computer and this can reduce the accuracy of your realtime clock, or so I've read. Apparently you also need to have Task Scheduler enabled for time synchronization to work ... so be aware of that.

I use remote desktop to log into my HTPC, so I need Terminal Services enabled, you might not.

When in doubt I set services to Manual instead of Disabled... And see what happens.

My basic advice for services is ... be careful, but experiment. Get your HTPC running 100% BEFORE you start stripping out services. That way you'll know that the bug that just started is not a bug in MediaPortal, but is because you removed something you shouldn't. But how can I do that and use nLite? Well ... you need to figure out what you're going to disable in nLite before you use it ... so yeah, you've got some reinstalling ahead of you if you're serious ...

Some people would say that doing a clean install of windows just to improve performance is silly. I agree. But after you've used windows for a while you'll have installed and uninstalled so many things that leave junk behind on your pc sometimes the only way to get things 100% is to start again. And it's not just improving performance, some of the whackiest bugs you can find in Windows are caused by left over dll's and codecs.

I don't like doing it, and it's not always neccessary, but for HTPC's it is more so. But hey, if you can navigate dll and codec hell on a windows xp install that was originally SP1 and has had every update and every shareware app installed and uninstalled over the last X years, then enjoy yourself ... I'll be over here running my clean install, you can tell which one I am because my eye balls aren't bloodshot and I still have a full head of hair ...

Sometimes when you remove a required service you will just get a strange bug show up, and you'll think "That can't be related to that service I just removed" ... Well it probably is. And as Marcus said, you might remove a service that you don't need now but that you do need later ... so try to understand what you're doing. Also consider that everyone who writes software for windows is assuming you have a default install with all the "usual" services running... so it's very easy for something to simply not work with no intelligible error message given.

At the end of the day disabling services is fairly overrated. There is a performance gain, but it's not much. My HTPC is an AMD AthlonXP 2600+ with 512mb of RAM. Your PC is much better, so you wont notice the difference as much as I would on mine, so don't go overboard. The main things I've found are that once my HTPC is set up properly it rarely crashes and when it does, or when I need it to reboot, it reboots really fast.

Having said that. You can make a significant impact on the amount of hard disk space windows uses by removing unused components. And you can make a noticeable impact on system performance if you're serious and willing to make mistakes and try again. I guess it's like overclocking (which I don't do), if you're gunna do it then you should know what you're getting in to.

Good luck,

 

[Spragleknas]

Somebody stick this!

 

[rekenaar]

Now THAT was good reading!!

 

[MartinSmith]

Thanks for your comprehensive reply, Aaron.

Funny you should mention it . . . as an introductory guide, I find the Service Guides at www.theeldergeek.com VERY useful and often recommend this site to anyone who wants to begin developing an understanding of what Windows XP Services are all about.

What I truly want to discover and understand is EXACTLY WHAT SERVICES DOES MediaPortal REQUIRE TO RUN EFFICIENTLY and what these SERVICES should be set to (i.e. Automatic, Manual or Disabled). I have a small list of services that, for Windows XP on my PC, may interfere with it. However, I am equally confident that interference can be caused by multiple issues and or combinations of issues including services.

That being said, perhaps TEAM MediaPortal could chime in and share their collective expertise on this issue - I would be among the first in line of the obliged.

Several non-Windows XP services, programs that, when initially installed get loaded as a Service, interfere with MediaPortal on my PC include Symantec AppCore Service, Symantec Core LC, Symantec Event Manager, Symantec Lic NetConnect service and Symantec Settings Manager.

To AVOID problems with my ATI TV Wonder 650 running with MediaPortal 0.2.3 RC2, I have the above Symantec services set to MANUAL and they do NOT start on their own.

In addition, (Symantec) LiveUpdate, LiveUpdate Notice Service and LiveUpdate Notice Service Ex services are installed, but are all set to MANUAL, and like the above services they do NOT start on their own.

After updating these services via the Symantec website, I ALWAYS have to RE-DISABLE the (Symantec) Automatic LiveUpdate Scheduler service.

On my PC, the two remaining Symantec services, Norton UnErase Protection and Speed Disk service remain DISABLED at all times.

I have not tested Norton UnErase Protection or Speed Disk service in any setting but DISABLED, and therefore do not know if they cause problems with MediaPortal 0.2.3.0 RC2.

However, if Symantec AppCore Service, Symantec Core LC, Symantec Event Manager, Symantec Lic NetConnect service and Symantec Settings Manager are set to automatic, which (without delay) allow me to execute Symantec programs like Norton WinDoctor (which I use, with a couple other non-Symantec software programs, as a Registry scrubber), these Symantec services have a negative effect on MediaPortal 0.2.3.0 RC2 with my TV Wonder 650.

I do NOT allow any Service like or similar to Symantec LiveUpdate (anything) to be set to AUTOMATIC and I check or verify their status (i.e. AUTOMATIC, MANUAL or DISABLED) on a daily basis.

I also do NOT run any programs or tasks automatically in the Task Scheduler because they also appear to effect this product negatively, particulary when recording.

Thank you, Aaron, for sharing the programs you enjoy like nLite and AutoPatcher. Unfortunately, I am not familiar with either program, and given my experiences with Symantec's services, at this time, I am inclined not to run "auto" anything.

I think TweakUI is an EXCELLENT program, but prefer to change the Registry settings manually and therefore to not use it.

I do use Autoruns as a tool to verify that each AutoRun Entry has a valid Image Path. However, i do not use it in any automatic mode.

Regarding CCleaner, I feel the same, but use its "Cleaner" function daily - with all Internet Explorer boxes checked except Autocomplete Form History (and I only use IE to access the MS Windows Update website, otherwise I use the Firefox 2 browser); all Windows Explorer boxes checked, all System boxes checked except Windows Log Files; and Advanced remains uncheck along with all boxes in its category. I occassionally use its "Issues" function, but find it exceedingly aggressive, sometimes to aggressive. For example, it consistently finds Unused File Extentions for .ax and .tmp at HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts, and if either are removed, I lose use of AC3Filter version 1.3.1.0 audio CODEC and have to reinstall the software.

Regarding, Defrag, I prefer Diskeeper Lite and have its service set to automatic, but do not use any of its automated features (it does not have any, its the Lite version). At one time, I set its Service to manual and simply started it and exectued the Defragment option whenever I wanted to defrag, then allowed it to stop (automatically) when I shutdown my PC. Since I have no problems with MediaPortal 0.2.3.0 RC2 running with my TV Wonder 650, I elected to set its Service to AUTOMATIC. I should mention that my initial post focused ONLY on Windows XP standard Services, not peripheral software services like Symantec or Diskeeper. In that regard, I remain SOLEY interested in what Windows XP Services are required by MediaPortal to run efficiently and what they should be set to (i.e. Automatic, Manual or Disabled).

As you said, nuff said.

I have used BootVis and feel the same.

Regarding http://www.theeldergeek.com/services_guide.htm, I truly LOVE this guy's website and recommend it to EVERYONE.

Regarding BlackViper's site, I am on the criticize list and believe his site also has several errors.

> I personally think that for a HTPC all you really should be disabling are the obvious ones ...

> Automatic Updates

AGREED

> Error Reporting Service

AGREED

> Fast User Switching Capability

AGREED

> Remote Registry

AGREED

> SSDP Discovery Service and Universal Plug and Play Device Host Service

AGREED

> Themes

AGREED

> Security Center, System Restore, Help and Support, Human Interface Device Access, Wireless Zero Configuration, Secondary Logon and UPS either disabled or not even installed . . .

AGREED, with the exception of System Restore, for all the reasons you state.

Presently, to your abbreviated list, at a minimum, I disable the followining Services . . .

Alerter
Background Intelligent Transfer
ClipBook
Computer Browser
Distributed Link Tracking Client
DNS Client
Indexing
Messenger
NetMeeting Remote Desktop Sharing
Network DDE
Network DDE DSDM
QoS RSVP
Routing and Remote Access
SSDP Discovery
Terminal Services
Themes
Universal Plug and Play Device Host

Hey, thanks again for your EXCELLENT response, Aaron. I sincerely appreciate the time and effort required to compose such a comprehensive and informative reply.

Best regards,

Martin