Which apps and services can I disable in Windows 8?

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Good day to all.

I am in the process of getting Windows 8.1 running on my Acer H340 & H341 home server boxes. These use under-powered Intel Atom processors (N230 in the H340, D410 in the H341) running at 1.6HGz and the motherboards can accept a maximum of 2GB RAM. I’m running 32-bit Windows 8.1 at present.

Yeah – I *know* these machines are under-powered but I have them, they are small, and they are paid for.

I know that like all previous versions of Windows, there are applications, background processes and services running ind Windows that I don’t need. These machines are going to be used as simple file servers as well as streaming media to my TV. I’d also like to be able to run uTorrent on them if possible but that’s only if I can get rid of enough stuff that is sapping processor cycles and memory.

Can anyone point me to a list of what can be safely disabled? Some kind of ‘How To’ guide would be most helpful.

Many thanks!

dwayne

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I have always found good information at the Black Viper website: http://www.blackviper.com/

I know that the name sounds strange, but he has listed all the services for Windows from Win 2000 to Win 8.1 and explains what they do and if they are safe to disable or set to manual start.

I hope this helps you make some choices.

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A few more things you can do…

Uninstall all those start screen apps.
Disable automatic maintenance, that’s now your job.
Avoid top heavy AV/AM software suits, stay with MSE and free MBAM.

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Many thanks, JC & Drew. I’m going to play tonight to see what what services are currently running and what I can dispense with.

I do have a couple of other questions.

1) Given that I have only 2GB RAM, should I be running the 32-bit or 64-bit version? I initially had the machine on 64-bit and it seemed quite responsive. But I had this bee stuck in my head that 32-bit would be better because of the limited RAM, so I installed the 32-bit version as a clean install over top of the 64-bit version.

What is your best guess as to what will perform the best? I don’t have any of the file server stuff loaded up yet, so I do have the freedom to change back to 64-bit if that is a better option.

2) When I bring up the Win 8 Modern UI, I see a whole bunch of apps that are automatically updating. Can you tell me what controls that behavior? Do those apps still consume resources even if I unpin them from the desktop?

This is only my second Win 8 machine and I don’t have anywhere near the expertise with it as I do the previous versions of Windows. I really appreciate the guidance.

Thanks again!

dwayne

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Given that I have only 2GB RAM, should I be running the 32-bit or 64-bit version? I initially had the machine on 64-bit and it seemed quite responsive. But I had this bee stuck in my head that 32-bit would be better because of the limited RAM, so I installed the 32-bit version as a clean install over top of the 64-bit version.

What is your best guess as to what will perform the best? I don’t have any of the file server stuff loaded up yet, so I do have the freedom to change back to 64-bit if that is a better option.

dwayne

I run Windows 8.0 32-bit, because the maximum amount of RAM I can run in my machine is 2 GB.

If everything is working fine with 32-bit, I’d leave well enough alone. If some day you have determined that you need 64-bit, then like you said, you can easily switch to it.

But I wouldn’t make the switch if everything was working fine in 32-bit.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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With the same amount of memory installed, I don’t think you will notice a performance difference between a 32 bit or 64 bit Windows install. I have been running 32 bit windows 7 on my desktop PC because there was no 64 bit driver for my scanner at the time I installed it. I have since replaced the scanner but feel no motivation to go through the pain of a clean reinstall to run 64 bit Windows 7 at this time. If starting from scratch, I would go with 64 bit, but I wouldn’t bother to change an existing 64 bit system that is working OK.

Jerry

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Oh geeez, a big OOPS from me… Sorwy, geeesh

Yes, 64-bit needs 4GB RAM.

I’ll take my red face and go hide under my desk, now lol

I get all excited over 64 teehee.

Does have to stay 32 w/ the 2GB RAM, of course

Cheers,
Drew

PS: Surprised nobody said, Drew, aren’t you forgetting something?

That’s because Windows 8.1 will run with 2 Gbytes of Ram:
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Windows-8-Consumer-Preview-hardware-system-requirements,14847.html

Jerry

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Oh geeez, a big OOPS from me… Sorwy, geeesh

Yes, 64-bit needs 4GB RAM.

I’m not sure of that. I *did* have Windows 8 x64 installed and running on this machine. This was the initial install of Windows 8.0 installed from the USB key that I loaded when I purchased the software from MS.

Note that I had *not* done any updates of any sort at that point in time – the box was not yet connected to my router. But the box was certainly running fine, with no issues. And, I as I had mentioned in an earlier post, it actually seemed quite responsive.

I have no idea what might have happened when I tried to upgrade to 8.1.

dwayne

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