Turn off some system services to improve Windows XP security

Improving system security involves many aspects, and an important step is to turn off unnecessary services. Although Microsoft's Windows XP is not a network operating system, by default it has a lot of services open. For a sober Microsoft user, turning off some unwanted services is an important aspect of security.

Of course, every version of Windows provides a different service, so services that are disabled in one system for security purposes may only be available for a specific version. Therefore the list of services discussed in this article may only be applicable to specific versions of XP. However, what is discussed in this article can provide guidance for users to check services on other systems.

1.IIS: Microsoft's Internet Information Service (IIS) provides the ability to turn a user's computer into a Web server. This service can be turned off by opening the "Control Panel", finding "Add or Remove Programs", clicking "Add/Remove Windows Components", and deselecting "Internet Information Services (IIS)".

2.NetMeeting Remote Desktop Sharing: Web conferencing is primarily a VoIP and video conferencing client for Windows platforms, but this service is only required for remote desktop access.

3.Remote Desktop Help Session Manager: This service allows others to access your system remotely and help you solve problems.

4. Remote Registry: This ability is quite scary from a security point of view. Because it allows remote users to edit the Windows registry.

5. Routers and Remote Access Services: This service contains a variety of capabilities that most system administrators may need to provide separately. Any of these services is necessary for a typical desktop system, such as XP, however, they need to be shut down as a separate service. Routing and remote access provide the ability to use the system as a router and NAT device, either as a dial-up access gateway or as a VPN server. If you don't want your device to do this, you can disable it.

6. Simple File Sharing: If a computer is not part of a Microsoft Windows domain, by default all file shares are accessible from anywhere. However, in the real world, we only want to provide sharing to specific, authorized users. Similarly, simple file sharing simply allows sharing to be provided to all users without exception, which is not the original intention of a shared file system. By default, this feature is active in the Professional and Home editions of Windows XP. However, it cannot be disabled in the home version. In the Professional Edition, you can turn it off this way: Open the My Computer /Tools menu /Folder Options /View tab and deselect Use Simple File Sharing under Advanced Settings (recommend)".

7.SSDP Discovery Service: Also known as the Simple Service Discovery Service, which is used to discover UpnP devices on the network, "Universal Plug and Play Device Host" is required for this service. Figure:

8.Telnet (remote login): The remote login service is a very old mechanism that provides remote access to a computer. Now, telnet is rarely used to remotely manage a system, instead it is an encryption protocol called SSH. It is therefore completely possible to disable remote login.

9.Universal Plug and Play Device Host: The "Universal Plug and Play Device Host" service mentioned above, although many users install this service in the system, it is not very practical.

10.Windows Messenger Service: This service is messenger, which provides the functions of "network sending" and "alarm". It is independent of the instant messaging client and can therefore be disabled.

On your system, these services may not all be opened or installed. Whether a particular service is installed or running depends on the choice when installing the system, whether you are running XP Home or Professional.

In addition to the simple file sharing described above, all other services can be disabled in the same way. The easiest way is to open the "Control Panel" /"Administrative Tools" /"Services" /, in order to disable a service in the list, you can double-click on it, select the "Startup Type" in the pop-up window Click "Stop" to completely shut down a service. In general, users should set a service to "disabled" for security reasons. To do this, right-click on a service and select Properties. In the pop-up window, select "Startup Type" and then click "Disabled" in the drop-down list, and then click "OK". If the user is confused about whether a service is providing services for other services, click the Dependencies tab in the window to view it.

Obviously, this list is not a complete list of users who need to disable services on their computers. The list here is only the services that users are most likely to not need, or if these services are running, they will cause some security holes in the system. Of course, there are other services that will not have adverse consequences after they are disabled. However, before you disable a service, it is best to study it first. You need to clear its functions, dependencies, and consequences after stopping. Make sure that you are really not. Need this service. Keep in mind that some important services are important to the proper functioning of the system, such as the Remote Procedure Call (RPC) service.

We can say that every service that is running but not used is a security hole on the computer. If a service is not important to authorized users and basic system functionality, you will need to turn it off.