I'm with Skuzzy on this one, although I think you'll see better results by terminating processes more so than stopping services. Processes are basically "programs running in the background" and laptops in a factory configuration tend to have a LOT of them running.
The first thing I do is open up control panel, select Add/Remove Programs (or Programs and Features if Vista/7) and uninstalling everything that isn't used. Most likely all "trial" and "demo" programs can be deleted. I also like to remove the factory installed anti-virus software (it's usually only a trial anyway) and replacing it with my own. Remove anything that says "google", "yahoo", "bing", or "toolbar". Remove anything that says "troubleshooter", "Acer/HP/Dell", "assistant", "purchase", or "support". Do *NOT* uninstall anything that says "RESTORE". I understand this is the wife's computer so maybe get with her before uninstalling anything. You'll be able to clean it up about 60% of the way just by doing this. Personally I also like to uninstall anything else I can download for free... such as Adobe, Flash, Java as well just so I can start from scratch.
Next reboot the computer and do the following:
1> Open up TASK MANAGER by right clicking on a blank area of the start bar and selecting "Task Manager"
2> Open up the web browser
3> Go to google.com and type in the filename of each process running. An example of one might be csrss.exe, TBAA.exe or AdobeSpeedLauncher.exe
4> Usually you'll see the info you need in google but you might have to click on a link or two to find out about it. If it is a Windows file (like csrss.exe) you're probably better off leaving it be. If it's a program related to a driver (such as TBAA.exe which is the Control Panel for my USB headset) then it's probably optional. If you find out it's being generated by another program (such as AdobeSpeedLauncher.exe) then you need to open that program, go to its settings, and tell it not to "load at windows start-up," "load automatically," "check for updates automatically" or the like. Many of these pre-load the program so it loads faster if and when you use it, and many other of these check every so often for updates to a program, and none in my opinion are necessary. I see no need to run a background program to shave two seconds off my my loading time for software I rarely use, and I see no need to constantly check for updates when a quick check when I open the program might suffice.
5> If you don't have options to keep it from loading automatically then you might have to go in and manually remove it. First check START/PROGRAMS/STARTUP and see if it is in there. If so then remove it (it's just a shortcut). If not then you'll need to manually edit the registry or use software to remove it from the registry. Usually I'll simply uninstall and not use the program before going through that. Then reboot and make sure it doesn't show up on the list of processes again.
6> If you just want to temporarily unload it, you can right click on the process in the task manager and select "End Process," just keep in mind it will come back on once rebooted or if the program is run manually.
If you want to make sure the system is kept clean, then reboot it and write down all of the processes that are running after a fresh reboot. After that, any time you install a program (including add-ons, toolbars, and plug-ins) reboot again and now compare that list with what you wrote down. Anything new was added by whatever you installed. If you can go into that program and disable it then that is the best way to do so. If you can't then you need to consider if you might be better off without that program. If you actually DO want it to run then by all means leave it alone!
You'd be surprised by how much junk an "innocent" little program can create. Almost all of the bigshots are really bad about this. Adobe, AOL, Norton, Mcafee, Sun Microsystems, Google, Bing, Yahoo, EA GAMES.. they are all extremely bad. If you recognize the name, they probably clog up the works. The biggest offenders by far are auto-updaters, speed-loaders and tray icons. While many have options to disable this junk they do a pretty good job at hiding it.
I run Windows 7 Home Premium, 64 bit. I'm currently running 48 processes which seems high, but this includes a few for my Avast, my Audio control panel, my Logitech profiler, my Acronis (backup) services, and of course my web browser. I could trim the fat even further but I'm happy with my gaming performance so I have no need to. Most of the 'resource intensive' processes have already been taken care of.
