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Microsoft's Windows 10 operating system, just like previous versions of Windows, comes with a truckload of services preinstalled.
Some of these services are required for all Windows 10 systems regardless of type or what they are used for while others may only be required on some systems and not all.
Microsoft takes this into account to a degree by configuring services to start automatically with the system or only manually (meaning when a program requiring them is run on the device).
While that is the case, you may be able to optimize your system by changing the status of services that you don't require.
Note: Stopping services or disabling them can have unforeseen consequences. Windows components or applications running on the system may stop working, or, at worst, Windows itself may refuse to run. It is recommended that you create a backup before you make changes to services on the system.
The majority of services of Windows 10 are identical to those on Windows 8, Windows 7 and even earlier versions of the operating system.
There are however several new services that Microsoft created specifically for Windows 10.
Managing Services
The Windows Services Manager enables you to control services. You start the program in the following way:
The manager lists services, their status, a short description and other information in its interface. You can sort the table by name or status for instance, the latter can be useful to display all running services.
A double-click opens the properties of the selected service. You may use the interface to start, stop or pause services, and to change their startup type.
A good starting point is to go through all services that are a) running or b) have the startup type automatic.
The services
This is a list of services that you may want to take a closer look at. Depending on how you use your computer, you may be fine disabling those. I suggest you read the description and if you are unsure, search for the particular service on the Internet before you do so.
Connected User Experiences and Telemetry
Description: The Connected User Experiences and Telemetry service enables features that support in-application and connected user experiences. Additionally, this service manages the event driven collection and transmission of diagnostic and usage information (used to improve the experience and quality of the Windows Platform) when the diagnostics and usage privacy option settings are enabled under Feedback and Diagnostics.
Suggestion: Disable
Notes: Core tracking service of Windows 10.
Geolocation Service
Description: This service monitors the current location of the system and manages geofences (a geographical location with associated events). If you turn off this service, applications will be unable to use or receive notifications for geolocation or geofences.
Suggestion: disable
Notes: The service may be needed if you run apps on the device that require geolocation access.
Program Compatibility Assistant Service
Description: This service provides support for the Program Compatibility Assistant (PCA). PCA monitors programs installed and run by the user and detects known compatibility problems. If this service is stopped, PCA will not function properly.
Suggestion: disable
Notes: Not a new service, but one that you may not need. It checks programs for compatibility, and displays warnings if potential compatibility issues are discovered.
Security Center
Description: The WSCSVC (Windows Security Center) service monitors and reports security health settings on the computer. The health settings include firewall (on/off), antivirus (on/off/out of date), antispyware (on/off/out of date), Windows Update (automatically/manually download and install updates), User Account Control (on/off), and Internet settings (recommended/not recommended)..
Suggestion: disable
Notes: Monitors health related issues and displays them as calls to action to the user.
New 10 Windows Services (compared to Windows 8)
For information about services, their default values and suggested values, check out Black Viper's website.
Now You: Any suggestions on turning off services in Windows 10?
Ghacks is a technology news blog that was founded in 2005 by Martin Brinkmann. It has since then become one of the most popular tech news sites on the Internet with five authors and regular contributions from freelance writers.
From the above list of “new Windows 10 services”, I have the following on my Windows 8.1 Pro x64 too:
(name, set startup type)
– App Readiness (manual)
– AppX Deployment Service (manual)
– Hyper-V Guest Service Interface (manual)
– Internet Explorer ETW Collector Service (manual)
– Microsoft Storage Spaces SMP (manual)
– Network Connection Broker (manual)
– Performance Counter DLL Host (manual)
– Smart Card Device Enumeration Service (disabled)
– Windows Defender Network Inspection Service (manual)
– Windows Encryption Provider Host Service (manual)
– Work Folders (manual)
As I’ve not installed (and will not yet install) Windows 10, I cannot comment on the rest of the list.
Thanks Henk, I have adjusted the list accordingly.
After months of putting up with Windows 10, I am finally switching back to 7. It seems like every update gets installed and restarts my computer at the most inopportune times (regardless of settings to prevent it) and losing countless hours of data. So many BSOD’s….. watchdog timeout crashes, whea uncorrectable errors, it never ends. I do overclock, which is probably the reason for the BSOD’s after each update. Here is a list non-crash issues I have with Windows 10:
Too many programs…I mean “apps” that Microsoft wants to push on users that come with Windows 10 or are added after updates. Wait…I wouldn’t mind these apps if I could just uninstall them!
Cortana is probably great, or will be great one day. I do not mind the potential for, or existence of privacy issues that Windows 10 brings about. I just want to disable Cortana because I do not want or need it. I would rather use Windows 98 2nd Edition before I let Cortana use my cpu time, or take up ram, or whatever resources its using. One might say it’s negligible, I do not.
Calculator – I cant end the process without it coming back. I am sure it gets suspended, so the resource usage is less than negligible. Apparently I am not having this problem anymore. I wish I knew the name of the service is that I disabled to make this happen.
Programs that Windows does not recognize or have some sort of publishers signature require permission to open every time they are opened. I am sure there is some setting that would get rid of this notification. Maybe under user control account settings or something like that. The sound of that pop up drove me insane so I turned off all windows sounds. It wouldn’t be so bad if I could do some sort of permissions setting to not get the popup and sound from programs I trust. Maybe there is a setting like that, cool, I have lost the will to look it up.
Tiles – Cool, tiles. I want to disable live tiles. Awesome, just right click it and disable. Great, all live tiles disabled and are not live anymore……..what? I cant turn off the live tile service? Now I want to stab everyone.
So many more issues I will not go on. They are all probably fixable in one way or another. I will not spend anymore time finding out how.
I will leave these words of wisdom for you.
Do not upgrade adobe acrobat or adobe reader to DC or you too will want to stab everyone. EVERYONE.
If you have Windows 10 Pro, you can defer updates and then stop and disable them in services.msc and Windows will not update until you update them manually.
I know the post I am commenting on is a little over a year old but it is still a valid point in case someone else needs to know this.
Just a reminder, Skype Updater service only appears when Skype for Desktop actually installed.
Also, once set to “disabled” it reverts to “automatic” setting if Skype update was manually installed.
I disabled the Geolocation Service. Now when I use some of my mapping and other apps they aren’t happy about it so I tried to re-enable it. When I do I get this message: The system cannot find the file specified. Do you have any ideas?
(Yes, of course I should have done a full backup before I started messing with the services. :-) )
Thanks,
Tom.
Do the following: Tap on Windows, type cmd.exe, right-click on Command Prompt and select “start as administrator”. Run the command net start lfsvc.
Martin,
Thanks. I ran this and got: The service name is invalid.
Tom.
It don’t work you need to delete a reg key to be able to start it again, it’s a bug in Win 10 acknowledged by Microsoft.
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Geolocation fix to restart the service.
After disabling the Geolocation Service by changing startup type to Disabled, attempts to re-enable it will fail with an error message. As the Geolocation Service can no longer be started, Geolocation will remain disabled on the device and prevent location based functionality from working. To work around this issue, manually delete the following regkey using regedit: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\lfsvc\TriggerInfo\3.
hi guys… you can use winaero tweaker and you can do a lot of fantastic control on windows…i have so many other programs with make me full control my windows 10
Martin,
Hi! I realized you had a typo and changed the command to net start lfsvc. Now I get this message:
The service cannot be started, either because it is disabled or because it has no enabled devices associated with it.
Do you have any ideas?
Thanks,
Tom.
Unfortunately not at this point in time. I tried the exact same thing and it did re-enable the service on my system. Can you use System Restore?
Martin,
I will have to take a look and see how old my last restore point is. If not, oh well. :-)
Thanks for the help!!!
Tom.
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/dn764773.aspx …scroll down to Geolocation .. follow the instructions
[quote]
After disabling the Geolocation Service by changing startup type to Disabled, attempts to re-enable it will fail with an error message. As the Geolocation Service can no longer be started, Geolocation will remain disabled on the device and prevent location based functionality from working. To work around this issue, manually delete the following regkey using regedit: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\lfsvc\TriggerInfo\3.
[/quote]
Martin,
I don’t like giving up. I went to Google and found this site:
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-other_settings/windows-10-servicesgeolocation-service-startup/4088c54d-bf90-4847-bd82-e2eb9e4795fe?auth=1
Then I looked over your comments above and retried the command as: net start lfsvc – and it worked. It said it worked and I checked Services and it is running. THANK YOU!!
Tom.
That’s great Tom, congrats ;)
Nice article, but why is the Security Center suggested to be disabled, isn’t it quite important for system security? Perfectly agree on the other services, but this one is a bit risky – even for advanced users.
I believe is set to disable because is crap no offense, as long as you have an antivirus installed on your system you can disable it without problem of getting into a risky situation. You can also add a antispyware and malware and there you go ^^.
I agree, this seems like ridiculous advice considering most Windows 10 users are not using third-party antivirus software because there is no reason for it.
I’m led to believe that the forced updates, the crashes incurred by the system outside of designated working hours for the installation of Windows OS updates, can be curtailed by disabling the WindowsUpdate service (RUN… ‘services.msc’).
If you want to be able to use FIND MY COMPUTER(PC DEVICE) do not disable Connected User Experiences and Telemetry. Without that running, you won’t be able to track your device if it is lost or stolen. You of course could always install a 3rd party (PREY) instead.
can someone point me in the direction where i can get a detailed description of all the services that are listed? I have found i have had to change at least 2 specifically – so i would like to know what each service does to proactively check and be sure they are all set correctly.