Alerter
Makes it possible to automaticly sent messages to registered users, about certain system events or alerts when they happen. The registered users needs to have the Messenger service started to receive the messages.
 
Application Layer Gateway Service
Allows 3rd party software plug-ins to interface with the Internet Connection Sharing and Internet Connection Firewall. For example if having a plug-in for monitoring or logging firewall activity, or a plug-in to allow a 3rd party protocol to pass through the router functionality of ICS/ICF.
Note one of these 3rd party protocols is the MSN Messenger, and if this service is disabled the application cannot pass through the ICS/ICF.
 
Application Management
Is used to provide software installation services such as Assign, Publish and Remove. It handles deployment of software for computers joined to a domain.
 
Automatic Updates
Enables automatic monitoring, download and installation of critical Windows updates. If the service is disabled the operating system can still be updated manually.

Note if wanting to disable this service one should first turn off the Automatic Updating feature:
 
  • Win2k SP3+: Control Panel -> Automatic Updates-applet.
     
  • WinXP/Win2k3: Right click My Computer, select Properties and go to Automatic Updates-tab.
Note after WinXP SP2 one cannot use the Start-Menu shortcut (WUpdMgr.exe) without having this service running, but the direct URL windowsupdate.microsoft.com still works.

One can configure the current configuration (Applied when service is started):
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \Software \Microsoft \Windows \CurrentVersion \WindowsUpdate \Auto Update]
AUOptions = 2 (Degree of user interaction)
1 = Disables AU (Same as disabling it through the standard controls)
2 = Notify Download and Install (Requires Administrator Privileges)
3 = Notify Install (Requires Administrator Privileges)
4 = Automaticly, no notification (Uses ScheduledInstallTime and ScheduledInstallDay)
 
DetectionStartTime = "2003.09.10 12:38:10" (Local Time, when the detection process began)
LastWaitTimeout = "2003.09.10 11:43:10" (GMT Time, next time it should check for updates)
ScheduledInstallTime = 0 (0-23 hour of the day it should automaticly install the downloaded updates)
ScheduledInstallDay = 0 (1-7 day of the week it should automaticly install downloaded updates, 0 = Every day)
AUState = 2 (The state of AU for diagnostic)
 
0 = Initial 24 hour timeout after detecting Internet Connection
1 = Waiting for user to run AU wizard
2 = Detect pending (Looking for new patches)
3 = Download pending (waiting for user to accept pre-download prompt)
4 = Download in progress
5 = Install pending (Waiting for install of downloaded patches)
6 = Install complete
7 = Disabled (AUOptions will also be set to a value of 0x1)
8 = Reboot pending (Waiting for reboot required by installed patches)
 
One can configure AU through policies (Applied when service is started):
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \Software \Policies \Microsoft \Windows \WindowsUpdate \AU]
NoAutoUpdate = 0 (1 = Disables AU and any controls to configure it)
AUOptions = 2 (Degree of user interaction)
2 = Notify Download and Install (Requires Administrator Privileges)
3 = Notify Install (Requires Administrator Privileges)
4 = Automaticly, no notification (Uses ScheduledInstallTime and ScheduledInstallDay)
 
NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers = 1 (0 = allows the system to reboot the computer while users are logged on)
ScheduledInstallDay = 0 (1-7 day of the week it should automaticly install downloaded updates, 0 = Every day)
ScheduledInstallTime = 0 (0-23 hour of the day it should automaticly install the downloaded updates)
RescheduleWaitTime = 1 (1-60 minutes after it has downloaded an update then it starts installing it)
UseWUServer = 0 (1 = Use Windows Update server specified in WUServer)
DetectionFrequency = 22 (1-22 Hours between detection)
One can configure an internal Software Update Service (SUS) if UseWUServer=1 (To save bandwidth):
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \Software \Policies \Microsoft \Windows \WindowsUpdate]
WUServer = "http://intranetsus"
WUStatusServer = "http://intranetsus"
Note to avoid nagging about installing service pack 2 until April 12 2005, then apply this registry tweak:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \Software \Policies \Microsoft \Windows \WindowsUpdate]
DoNotAllowXPSP2 = 1
 
Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS)
Transfers files in the background using idle network bandwidth, uses the HTTP protocol and supports resuming of broken downloads.
The BITS can be ordered to a download file, but suspends the file transfer if the user logs off but resumes at logging on again.
The BITS starts when a file is added to its download queue, when the queue is empty the service stops again.
 
Clipbook Service
Is used to access the machine's clipboard remotely using the NetDDE service.

It is an old service from the NT 3.X days.

Note Acrobat Reader has a menu option Window -> "Show Clipboard", which starts the Clipboard Viewer in Windows (Can be installed through Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel). Windows Clipboard Viewer uses this service and will fail to operate if it is disabled.
 
Computer Browser
Enables the computer to participate in the election for maintaining the browser list
The browser list contains all computers, that have announced themselves on the network through the Server service
  • Home Network: This service only need to be activated on a single computer
  • Corporate Network: The Active Directory should be used instead
Note even if no computer is maintaining the browser list, then it is still possible to access remote shares by creating direct shortcuts or mapping network shares (\\computername\sharename).
 
COM+ Event System
Provides automatic distribution of events to COM+ components.

Note if disabling this service then at every boot there will be generated a warning in the Event Log about this service not running.

Note in WinXP the prefetching and bootvis are dependent on this service.
 
COM+ System Application Service
Manage configuration and tracking of COM+ based components.

Effects caused by disabling this service:
  • COM+ applications will fail to run
    • Note COM+ applications uses the Distributed Transaction Coordinator to maintain transaction state, so if it is disabled then COM+ applications will also fail to run.
  • COM+/OLE registration will not work
  • At every boot a warning will be in the Event Log
 
Cryptographic Services
Provides 3 types of services:
  • Catalog Database Service, which confirms the signatures of Windows files (Windows File Protection) and whether drivers are signed correctly (WHQL)
  • Protected Root Service, which adds and removes Trusted Root Certification Authority certificates from this computer
  • Key Service, which helps enroll this computer for certificates
Note that Windows Update and Windows File Protection will not work if this service is not set to Automatic, and will complain when manually installing drivers and updates/servicepacks for Windows with the error:
Setup could not verify the integrity of the file Update.inf. Make sure the Cryptographic service is running on this computer
Note the database, that contains information of what updates have been applied, can become corrupted and will cause this service to fail. To clear the database execute the following commands (If getting access denied when renaming the directory, then boot in safemode and try again):
  1. net stop cryptsvc
  2. ren %systemroot%\system32\catroot2 oldcatroot2
  3. net start cryptsvc
Note if this service haven't been start for some reason, then when trying to disable a network connection like Local Area Connection, one will get the following error:
Error Disabling Connection
It is not possible to disable the connection at this time. This connection may be using one or more protocols that do not support Plug-and-Play, or it may have been initiated by another user or the system account.
 









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