Popular utilities developer Sordum has released Easy Service Optimizer 1.0, a free tool for optimizing system services on Windows XP and later.
The program works much like an automated version of Black Viper’s classic tuneup site. It has four profiles ("Default", "Safe", "Tweaked", "Extreme"), each of which disables progressively more services, and you can apply the profile you need in a couple of clicks.
If you think this type of program is likely to cause more problems than it solves, you might have a point, but Easy Service Optimizer is safer and smarter than most. It detects your Windows version (XP-10) and automatically adjusts its profiles accordingly. It only tweaks a subset of your services (the most critical are left alone), and the only change made is to each service startup type, so it’s relatively easy to undo.
Easy Service Optimizer is also very configurable. Its profiles aren’t hard-coded, and if you have your own ideas about which services should be disabled then you can set up the program to do just that.
Even if you never use its main profiles, the program could still help with troubleshooting or system repair by restoring your default Windows Services settings in a couple of clicks (Default > Apply).
As usual with Sordum products, Easy Service Optimizer is compact (a 456KB download), portable and entirely free of adware or other marketing hassles, so if you’re interested in the idea, it’s safe to take a look.