Skuzzy,
Good Idea to have a hints and tips permanent post that answers these FAQ's ! Lots of good info here.
In an article and subsequent discussion on Extreme Tech, the author originally suggested to disable the Task Scheduler service if you don't automatically run tasks. One of the board readers replied back it wasn't a good idea, and the author agreed that you should not disable Task Scheduler in Win XP:
"For pure performance, you can stop a number of services and/or set them on manual. Don't disable a service unless you're absolutely sure that no other services or hardware needs it.
For example, if you've disabled System Restore, you can stop its service and set it on manual. If you don't record CD-Rs, you can do the same to the IMAPI CD-Burning COM service. The Portable Media Serial Number service is pretty much useless, so feel free to set it on manual (or disable it if you don't have a portable music player). If you don't do any printing, shut down the Print Spooler service. Most users can set the Help and Support service on manual (advanced users may want to disable it). If you don't use themes, turn off the service.
Experiment with stopping other services cautiously. You may never need services like Telnet, Error Reporting, Task Scheduler (which is different than the core operating system process scheduler, and operates at the user application level), Indexing Service, Fast User Switching, ClipBook, Distributed Transaction Coordinator, Internet Connection Firewall/Sharing (ICF/ICS), and others. If you're unsure about a particular service, leave it alone.
Point of clarification - forum member MURDOCDV reminded us that the Task Scheduler is used in auto-tuning operations - it assists in the creation of prefetch information for prefetching disk-resident code and data (as we alluded earlier), so it's NOT a good idea to disable the Task Scheduler. Thanks MURDOCDV!"
Here's MURDOCDV's post:
"Never turn off the Task Scheduler in WinXP. It is what controls the OSes built-in Auto-Tuning features related to layout.ini and defragmentation for app and boot time. Check the latest issue of MSDN Magazine and look at the Windows XP Kernal Improvement article by Mark R. of Sysinternals fame. "
To see the entire How to Optimize Win XP, go to:
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,10918,00.aspThanks again, I hope you Hints and Tricks grows longer and longer. I have some of those same type tricks for Win 95-98 if anyone would like to see them posted here as well.
