Windows 7: loads of new services - Part one

No more ready boost: no loss at all, really.

3 services have been renamed:

• SL UI Notification Service is now SPP Notification service

• Software Licensing is Software Protection

• Windows Presentation Foundation Font Cache 3.0.0.0 is now Windows Font Cache Service

20 new services

• Adaptive brightness: This service monitors ambient light sensors to detect changes in ambient light and adjust the display brightness. If this service is stopped or disabled, the display brightness will not adapt to lighting conditions.
  

What the description doesn't say is that this service will only ever be useful if your PC comes equipped with said sensor. If you do have one though, below is a screen shot (borrowed from http://www.istartedsomething.com/) of how a map would look without and with this service enabled while viewed in outdoor settings.

• AppID service: Determines identity of an application.
  

OK, that was MicroSpeak for you: each word is simple and clear, all the words together form a correct sentence and you don't know anything more about the subject than you did before you started reading that sentence.

I know what appID is, I know of several was it is used and needed (licensing – related tasks mostly), but why does it have to be a service?

I'll have to do some digging on this one.....

Digging done: Disabling this service will prevent Application Control Policies from being enforced.

Still a bit of MicroSpeak, but seems more related to Group Policy Settings, like who is allowed to run which apps and with what type of credentials

• Encrypting File System (EFS): Provides the core file encryption technology used to store encrypted files on NTFS file system volumes. If this service is stopped or disabled, applications will be unable to access encrypted files.
  

This one is started, on Automatic, and if you try to stop it the computer will just reboot. SEE COMMENT BELOW

EFS has been around since W2K, never before was it a service. It has also gained the name "delayed recycle bin" due to the frequency with which users get locked out of their encrypted files. While data encryption is arguably a necessary evil in an enterprise, it is a disaster waiting to happen on a home PC.

Investigate if the service can be rendered harmless via GPO or other methods.

It has returned to being a normal kind of service that can safely be stopped and disabled.

• HomeGroup Listener: Listener Hosting service for HomeGroup.
  

• HomeGroup Provider: Network provider service for the HomeGroup.
  

Obviously related to the new "home group" flavour of network. Will probably prove helpful to home users who have had trouble configuring shares on the home network, and more geeky users might also use the feature as it really simplifies the sharing of files.

• Credential Manager Service: Provides secure storage and retrieval of credentials to users, applications and security service packages.
  

Only useful for logins to network resources that require a password. Potential security problem and most enterprises use smart cards/key-generators/short lived passwords.

• Disk Defragmenter: Provides Disk Defragmentation
  

Why is this a service all of a sudden? Check if Defrag still works in Vista with task scheduler disabled.

• Peer Distribution: This service caches network content from peers on the local subnet.
  

Kind of live offline files: network data is automatically cached locally. Useful on slow/busy networks, most useful though in enterprise settings where the first user retrieves the data from the far-away-server, but all subsequent users on the same subnet (location) will retrieve the data from the first user which is bound to be faster and to free server resources.

It seems this service is absent from the list until such time as offline files are created

• Pong Service for Wireless USB: The PngSvc service hosts the cable based association module for Wireless USB devices. Cable association involves establishing trust between a Wireless USB device and host by exchanging a secret key over a USB cable. If this service is disabled, then a Wireless USB device will not be able to perform cable based association with the host and hence will not be able to function. If you intend to use any Wireless USB devices, it is strongly recommended that you not disable this service.

Why is this a service all of a sudden?

• RPC Endpoint Mapper: Resolves RPC interfaces identifiers to transport endpoints. If this service is stopped or disabled, programs using Remote Procedure Call (RPC) services will not function properly.
  

Obviously this service is paired with the RPC Locator service. Is this Microsoft trying to break-down services/applications that call on too many functions in smaller chunks?

No longer present in more recent builds

• Secure Socket Tunneling Protocol Service: Provides support for the Secure Socket Tunneling Protocol (SSTP) to connect to remote computers using VPN. If this service is disabled, users will not be able to use SSTP to access remote servers.
  

That's half of the new services, the other half will be described in upcoming posts…..

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