WebClient
Enables Windows-based programs (Like the Web Publishing Wizard) to create, access, and modify Internet-based files on Internet file servers using the WebDAV protocol. The WebDAV protocol is a file access protocol described in eXtendible Markup Language (XML) that travels over the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP).

Note this service interferes when accessing remote files and can cause long delays when accessing My Network Places.

Note with SP2 the basic authentication has been disabled, one can still enable it setting this DWORD:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \SYSTEM \CurrentControlSet \Services \WebClient \Parameters]
UseBasicAuth = 1
 
Windows Audio
Manages audio devices for Windows-based programs.
 
Windows Image Acquisition (WIA)
Provides image acquisition services for scanners & cameras. It is used for transferring the pictures from a camera or scanner to the computer.

WIA is an attempt to make it easier for camera and scanner developers to write drivers, as it was rather difficult within Twain.org. WIA has its own API for extracting pictures, but it also includes a TWAIN compatibility layer.
 
Windows Installer
Installs, repairs & removes software according to instructions contained in .MSI files.

This will allow you to install / uninstall / repair programs listed in the Add/Remove Programs applet in the Control Panel.
 
Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI)
Collects and provides system management information by tracking applications and drivers.

Windows Management Instrumentation(WMI) is an implementation of Distributed Management Task Force's (DMTF) Web-Based Enterprise Management (WBEM).
WBEM is a set of open, industry-defined specifications that unify and extend the management of enterprise-computing environment.
The central part of WMI is the CIMOM (Common Interface Model Object Manager) which is an interface to the CIM(Common Information Model) which actually is a data container.
WMI makes it possible for drivers, services, applications to return information in form of data or events into the CIM.

To configure the Windows Management Instrumentation use the following snapin:
wmimgmt.msc
Related Disable WBEM logging in Win2k/WinXP

More Info WMI at MS MSDN
More Info WMI at MS Technet

If wanting to disable the service and WinMgmt.exe complains, solve it by running these commands before disabling :
 
winmgmt /clearadap
winmgmt /kill
winmgmt /unregserver
 
To see all parameters for WinMgmt.exe :
winmgmt /?
Note if this service is stopped, it will atleast have the following effects:
  • Actions that requires WMI will give errors like:
    Interface: Class not registered

    Win32: The service cannot be started, either because it is disabled or because it has no enabled devices associated with it
  • Unable to see Service Dependencies using Services.msc
  • Unable to select Properties for the Computer Management (Local) using CompMgmt.msc
  • Unable to see System Information using MsInfo32
  • (WinXP) Will experience long delays with System restore (Or not work at all)
Note to repair/reinstall the WMI execute the following commands (Note it will reset the ICS and ICF configuration):
  1. winmgmt /clearadap
  2. winmgmt /kill
  3. winmgmt /unregserver
  4. winmgmt /regserver
  5. winmgmt /resyncperf
  6. net stop winmgmt
  7. del %windir%\system32\Wbem\Repository\*.* /s
  8. net start winmgmt
  9. %windir%\system32\wbem\wbemtest.exe
 
Windows Management Instrumentation Driver Extensions
This service monitors all drivers and event trace providers that are configured to publish WMI or event trace information.
 
Windows Time
Makes it possible to synchronize the computer clock with another system using the Network Time Protocol (NPT) on TCPIP port 123 (UDP).

Note in WinXP it will automaticly try to synchronize with an Internet Time Server. To configure this synchronization double click the clock on the taskbar and select the Internet Time-tab.

To see the options for synchronizing time:
net time /?

Note NET TIME uses the IPC$ to synchronize time, thus the remote machine need to have the Server service (File and Printer Sharing) activated.
 
WinHTTP Web Proxy Auto-Discovery Service
The WinHttpAutoSvc implements proxy configuration discovery for WinHttp clients. It performs the lookup done by WinHttpGetProxyForUrl(). Applications use the service to sandbox autoproxy script execution away from the client process.
 
Wireless Zero Configuration
Provides automatic configuration for the 802.11 adapters.

The IEEE 802.11 standard specifies optional security improvements for wireless local area networking:
  • Authentication using 802.1x to avoid being vulnerable to attacks such as offline traffic analysis, bit flipping, and malicious packet injection
  • Key Management with rekeying of unicast encryption keys
  • Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP) uses Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) for encryption
The Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) is an extension to the IEEE 802.11 standard:
  • 802.1x authentication is not optional
  • Key Management provides rekeying of both unicast and global encryption keys and is not optional
  • Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP) replaces WEP with a stronger encryption algorithm and is not optional
Note many times the manufactures of wireless network adapters provides a wireless-client specifically made for their wireless adapter. Usually it is better to use the manufactures wireless-client instead this one from Microsoft. Especially since it has been reported that Microsoft wireless-client routinely drops the WIFI connection when having disabled SSID broadcasts, More Info MS KB 811427, or if having checked "Enable IEEE 802.1x authentication for this network", More Info MS KB Q814123.
 
WMDM PMSP Service / Portable Media Serial Number
The service supports the Secure Digital Music Initiative(SDMI) and enables the WMDM (Windows Media Device Manager) to retrieve the serial number from portable music devices using Pre-Message Security Protocol(PMSP), so media content can be copied securely to the device.

If not being able to extract the serial number from the device (If this service is disabled or the device doesn't support it), then copyrighted music will not be allowed to be transferred to the device.
 
WMI Performance Adapter
Provides performance library information from WMI (Windows Management Instrumentation) HiPerf providers to Performance Data Helper (PDH) clients.

Note if getting errors about WMI then it is most likely a problem with the Windows Management Instrumentation Service
 
Workstation
The workstation service is a user-mode wrapper for the Microsoft Networks redirector. Both local file system requests and remote file or print network requests are routed through the Workstation service. This service determines where the resource is located and then routes the request to the local file system or to the networking components.

Disabling this service will have following side-effects:
  • Will stop all outgoing share communication, and block access to shared resources (Files/Printers)
  • Will disable use of UNC paths.
  • Any service dependent on this service will also fail leaving errors in the Event Log.
Note if wanting the functionality of this service on the local machine, but doesn't want it to access the network, then it can be a good idea to have the network component "Client for Microsoft Networks network" installed, but not attached to the installed network-adapter.
 









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