The Services console, as shown in the figure, allows you to manage all the services on your computer and remote computers. A service is a type of application that runs in the background to achieve a specific goal or wait for a request. To reduce security risks, only start necessary services. You can use the following settings, or states, to control a service:
- Automatic - The service starts when the computer is started. This prioritizes the most important services to start up immediately when an OS starts up.
- Automatic (delayed) - The service starts after services that are set to Automatic have started. The Automatic (delayed) setting is available only in Windows 7 and Windows Vista.
- Manual - The service must be started manually.
- Disabled - The service cannot be started until it is enabled.
- Stopped - The service is not running.
To open the Services console, use the following path:
Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services
To view the Services console for a remote computer, follow these steps:
Step 1. In the console tree, right-click Services (Local) and select Connect to another computer.
Step 2. In the Another computer box, type the name of the computer or browse to find the computer you want to manage.