In this article i discuss about how to secure windows xp by closing the compromised services and also thereby increasing the speed and performance of the pc.

The following steps must be followed:

  1. Open run prompt (winkey+r).

  2. Type services.msc

  3. To disable the services right click on it then press stop button, then choose disable.

  4. You can disable the following services


  • Tcp/Ip netbios helper : It makes your system vulnerable to the most easily accomplishable netbios hack .

  • Print Spooler : It should not be disabled if you have the printer attached to your pc else it can be disabled.

  • Computer Browser : This service can be used by the attacker to browse through your computer, If it is disabled he would have to do it in a more complex way.

  • Help And Support : This is the microsoft's help and support service that you would normally not need in day to day operations so can be safely turned off.

  • Messenger: It can be turned off if you don't use the msn messenger(Most people don't).

  • Indexing : This is use to build search indexes if you do not normally search your pc a lot this should be turned off.

  • Server : This is also a vulnerability in Win-xp ,so if you normally don't share your files and etc then disable this.

  • Telnet(port 23) : Disable this service otherwise people form outside can connect to your pc and may try to harm it (Generally the pc has default admin user with no password).

  • World wide web publishing : Disable this only if you do not use the internet information server i.e IIS (most people prefer apache etc).

  • Remote Registry : Disable this as a cracker could access and change your pc's registry and then may change your password and if he is one of those with malicious intent he could prevent you from login into the system.

These services if diabled make your pc more secure and Faster and can be efficacious in preventing the most easy exploits in win-xp.