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Gennady Vanin Геннадий Ванин
Asked: 2010-08-12 06:16:51 +0800 CST

to uninstall or to disable Windows service/component?

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Windows XP Pro SP3

  • I can disable, for ex., RIP Listener in services.msc...

Or

  • I can unistall it in ControlPanel --> Add Or Remove Programs --> Windows Components ---> Networking Services --> Rip Listener

One may think that 2) removes setup files from disk. Well, it is not. The files are still there, it is removed only from registry. Even more, I do not need to insert Windows Setup CD to install it again.

What are you doing - uninstalling or disabling?

And why?

windows windows-service installation configuration

1 Answers

  1. If it is an out of the box service I don't need for some reason, I disable it. Disk space is so very cheap these days that leaving the files behind (but still patched) is no big deal. The one difference would be if the XP station has a smaller SSD installed (i.e. 30GB) then it might be worth it. But I'd still leave the service installed but disabled until I needed space.

    If it is a 3rd party service I added but now don't need any more, I uninstall it. If it didn't come out of the box, chances are it's 3rd party. I'd rather not leave those files kicking around if I don't have to.

    If it is an optional Windows service I added but now don't need any more, I disable it. Same reason as out-of-the-box services.

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