How to make Microsoft Windows services work for you

There is something mysterious about Windows services: Most users have heard of them, many have even looked at the list of services in Computer Management.

But hardly anyone knows what the services are all about or dares to start, stop, or delete individual services. And that’s a good thing. Because the services are one of the basic building blocks of Windows. Without them, numerous functions of the operating system won’t work.

Let’s dig into how Windows services can be useful, how to create your own services, and how to delete unimportant services.

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What services actually are

Windows services are basically nothing more than executable programs. In most cases, Windows’ own services do not have a user interface, exceptions such as task scheduling confirm the rule. The special thing about the services is that they are called up before the user logs on when Windows starts.

There are several places in Windows where you can view the installed services. The standard starting point is the list in Computer Management. The quickest way to get there is by typing services in the search field of the taskbar and clicking on “Services.” Alternatively, right-click on the Windows icon, go to “Computer Management” and then to “Services and Applications.”

Double-click on “Services” to access the list. The services can also be accessed via the Task Manager: In Windows 11, for example, click on the bottom icon in the Task Manager program window on the left-hand side.

Finally, you can also call up a list of installed services via the System configuration tool. Type msconfig in the search field of the taskbar, select “System configuration,” and switch to the “Services” tab in the program window.

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Attention: Please note that the services have a service name and a display name. In many cases, the names differ from each other.

In Computer Management and System Configuration, for example, you will find the display name in the “Name” or “Service” column, while the Task Manager sorts the list by service name in the “Name” column.

You can find out which service name belongs to a display name by double-clicking on a service in the computer administration and reading the name in the following window under “Service name.” For example, if you double-click on “Task scheduling,” you will see that the service is actually called “Schedule.”

Set up the program as a service

The services are controlled by the Service Control Manager (SCM), which gives them the commands to start, stop, pause, and restart. The Windows system services and the services installed by third-party software can interpret the SCM commands.

Other programs such as Word or a browser are not designed for this. If you therefore want to define a service yourself, you will need to use a tool.

With the small, free open source tool Daemon Master, you can set up any EXE, LNK, or BAT program as a service so that it is automatically called up when Windows starts.

Daemon Master interposes itself between the SCM and the respective application and translates the commands and returned messages.

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Instructions for Daemon Master

Start Daemon Master, click on “New” and give the new service a name in the following window. To make it easier to identify, it is advisable to choose an identical service and display name. Enter a description below this.

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The start type (“Start type”) is preset to “Automatic.” You should accept this. You can leave the “Working directory” field empty. Daemon Master will then simply accept the entry from the “Path” field.

Click on the button with the three dots on the right-hand side and enter the path to the EXE file of your program in the following Explorer window.

Click on “Open” to return to Daemon Master. You can leave all other settings as they are. Finally, click on “Save.”

The new service now appears with the icon of your program in the overview. It is initially “stopped.” Click on it with the right mouse button and select “Start service.”

As you have set “Automatic” as the start type, your program will now be loaded automatically when Windows starts.

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Please note, however, that Windows services always run in the background and are not recognizable by a window. Your program will therefore also be active after startup, but not visible.

In Daemon Master, you can right-click on a service and select “Start service on desktop” to open the program window. This cannot be set permanently. To remove a service that you have created yourself, right-click on it and select “Delete.”

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Deactivate services

Services can be started manually or automatically, started automatically with a slight delay (if other services need to run first, for example), stopped by you, paused, and resumed.

If a service is not (or no longer) required, you can also deactivate it via the system configuration. You should not touch the Microsoft services as far as possible, as they generally provide important functions of the operating system.

However, it can happen that the uninstall routine for software from another manufacturer does not work properly and leaves a service behind, even if the program itself has been deleted. To find and switch off such services, use the system configuration.

Type msconfig in the search field of the taskbar, switch to “Services” in the program window and place a tick next to “Hide all Microsoft services.”

Only the third-party services now remain. Go through the list and search for services that belong to remote programs. Delete the tick in front and confirm your entry with “OK.”

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Troubleshooting with the services

Although the services normally work invisibly in the background, many of them are essential for the smooth functioning of Windows.

In some cases, you can even use them to eliminate faults in the operating system.

For example, the print queue service can help if the printer does not respond to a printout.

Then try the following: In Computer Management, search for “Print Spooler” and double-click on the service. Click on “Stop” in the “Service status” area. Once the service has stopped, click on “Start” to reactivate it. The print job will then often go through without any problems.

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The same solution often helps with problems with the VPN software Wireguard. Search for the corresponding entry in the computer administration, stop the service and restart it.

Sometimes there are also problems with the automatic defragmentation of Windows. The display name in the computer administration is “Optimize drives,” the service name is defragsvc.

This service is a prerequisite for executing the command line command defrag.exe. On mechanical hard drives, defrag merges file fragments to speed up file retrieval. On SSDs, it executes the TRIM command. It does both during breaks when the computer is not in use. However, you can also start the defrag program manually.

If defrag.exe does not respond, try changing the startup type. Double-click on the “Optimize drives” service in Computer Management, change the “Startup type” to “Automatic” and confirm with “OK.” Then reboot Windows and see whether the defrag command now works.

Delete service

To be able to delete a service completely, you need the service name. As described above, open Windows Computer Management with the list of services and double-click on the service. Read the service name in the following window.

Now call up the command prompt with administrator rights by typing cmd in the search field of the taskbar and clicking on “Run as administrator” in the results window. The sc.exe tool included in Windows is now used. First make sure that the service is no longer running. To do this, use the command

sc stop [service name]

For example, to stop the Adobe Acrobat update service with the service name AdobeARMservice, enter

sc stop AdobeARMservice

command. You can also stop the service via the computer administration. To delete it afterwards, use the command

sc delete [service name]

If everything has worked, you will now receive a confirmation message.

Alternatively, you can also delete services using the Autoruns tool from Sysinternals. It lists all automatically started programs and other Windows modules, including the services.

Download the tool, unzip the ZIP file, and double-click on “Autoruns.exe.” Now switch to the “Services” tab.

Autoruns summarizes the Windows services there. You can deactivate a service by clearing the checkboxes in front of it; after right-clicking, you can delete it with the “Delete” command. You need administrator rights for both actions.

Another option is to delete a service directly via the registry. Type regedit in the search window of the taskbar and then open the registry editor. In the folder HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Current-Control-Set\Services folder there is a separate key for each service. Make sure that the service has already been terminated and then delete the key.

Determine services that can be cancelled

Deactivating services does not lead to an increase in Windows performance. However, some authors point out that every additional program that is started increases the number of potential gateways for hackers.

This also applies to services, many of which have the extended rights of a system or network service. Some users therefore try to minimize this attack surface by deactivating unnecessary services.

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Under no circumstances should you proceed on suspicion. Instead, use a program such as Ashampoo Winoptimizer, where you will find an overview of the installed services including ratings under “All modules > Manage services.”

The services required by Windows are labelled. You can also see from the number of stars how useful the respective service is rated by other users of the software.