To disable a service, follow these steps: Open the Control Panel. Open the Administrative Tools icon. Open the Services icon. Locate a service to disable. Use the list at the end to help you decide which services to disable. Click the Name column heading to ensure that the services are sorted alphabetically. Mar 22, 2010 Windows 7 Forums is the largest help and support community, providing friendly help and advice for Microsoft Windows 7 Computers such as Dell, HP, Acer, Asus or a custom build. In good ol' WinXP there was a menu in START menu Programs-Administrative Tools-Services Where do I find the corresponding entry in Win7?
The Task Manager window in Windows 7 and Windows Vista features a Services tab, something that the Task Manager in Windows XP lacks. Of course, it doesn’t mean that Windows XP lacks services; it means only that you need to look elsewhere to find them.
To view services running on your PC, follow these steps:
- Open the Control Panel.
- Open the Administrative Tools window.
- In Windows 7, choose System and Security and then choose Administrative Tools.
- In Windows Vista, choose System and Maintenance and then choose Administrative tools.
- In Windows XP, open the Administrative Tools icon.
- Open the Services icon.
- In Windows Vista, click the Continue button or type the administrator’s password to continue.
- Click a service to select it.A description of the highlighted service is displayed in the console window. Some services can also be started or stopped when they’re selected.
- Double-click a service to view detailed information in its Properties dialog box.The General tab in the service’s Properties dialog box has options for starting, stopping, and pausing the service. It also contains a Path to Executable entry, which references the process (program) that’s responsible for running the service.
- Close the service’s Properties dialog box.
- Close the Services window.
In Windows 7 and Windows Vista, you can quickly display the Services console by selecting the Services tab in the Task Manager window and then clicking the Services button.
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- In Windows 7 and Windows Vista, you can right-click a service shown on the Task Manager’s Services tab and choose the Go to Process command to see which process is running that particular service.
Under Linux / UNIX it is very easy to find out all running services and shutdown unwanted services. All you have to do it go through the following directories or configuration files:
=> /etc/init.d/
=> /etc/rcX.d/
=> /etc/xinetd./d
=> /etc/inetd.conf
=> /usr/local/etc/rc.d
=> /etc/init.d/
=> /etc/rcX.d/
=> /etc/xinetd./d
=> /etc/inetd.conf
=> /usr/local/etc/rc.d
You can also use tools such as CentOS / RHEL ntsysv tool / Debian / Ubuntu service configuration tool. Ultimately, netstat command always displays a list of all open ports:
# netstat -tulpn
Controlling Services under MS Windows Server
Shutting down services under Windows Vista or Server 2003 is not straightforward. Microsoft allows different ways to start an application at system startup or user login which results into a true messy system. MSConfig utility bundled with Windows Me and XP does a good job but it is not sufficient. There is a nice utility called Autorun:
This utility, which has the most comprehensive knowledge of auto-starting locations of any startup monitor, shows you what programs are configured to run during system bootup or login, and shows you the entries in the order Windows processes them. These programs include ones in your startup folder, Run, RunOnce, and other Registry keys. You can configure Autoruns to show other locations, including Explorer shell extensions, toolbars, browser helper objects, Winlogon notifications, auto-start services, and much more. Autoruns goes way beyond the MSConfig utility bundled with Windows Me and XP.
Autoruns’ Hide Signed Microsoft Entries option helps you to zoom in on third-party auto-starting images that have been added to your system and it has support for looking at the auto-starting images configured for other accounts configured on a system. Also included in the download package is a command-line equivalent that can output in CSV format, Autorunsc.
Use autoruns utility to manage all startup programs under Windows. You’ll probably be surprised at how many executables are launched automatically!
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(Fig. 01: Autoruns in Action)