Info What services can you safely turn off on Windows 11

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What services can you safely turn off on Windows 11​

There are a few services that you just shouldn’t touch at all. These are important to run basic functions, security features, and make the Windows experience seamless. We shall not mention these.
The only ones that you should look out for are the ones that we’ve mentioned below. However, even amongst the following, there are a few that may be required in specific cases. For a general understanding of the services, do read their basic descriptions to know when a service may be needed and which ones you can turn off without a problem.

1. FAX — As its name suggests, this is a service needed only if you want to send and receive faxes. If you’re not going to use, which may be the case for most people, disable it.
2. AllJoyn Router Service — This is a service that lets you connect Windows to the Internet of Things and communicate with devices such as smart TVs, refrigerators, light bulbs, thermostats, etc. If you’re not using these or don’t connect Windows to them, go ahead and turn it off.
3. Secondary logon — This service lets you log on to a standard account with admin privileges and run specific applications. It is triggered to start when a program is set to ‘Run as different user’ from the extended context menu. But if you are the sole user of your PC, then go ahead and disable this.
4. Connected User Experiences and Telemetry — If you’re concerned with privacy and don’t want to send usage data to Microsoft for analysis, then this service is one to go. Though some would say that such assessment of data is important to improve Windows on the whole, disabling it doesn’t affect normal usage and, frankly, one less data bundle wouldn’t bring the house down.
5. Program Compatibility Assistant Service — Unless you’re still using legacy software on your Windows 11 PC, you can easily turn off this service. This service lets you detect software incompatibility issues for old games and software. But if you’re using programs and apps built for Windows 10 or 11, go ahead and disable it.
6. Device Management Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) Push message Routing Service — This service is another service that helps to collect and send user data to Microsoft. Strengthen your privacy by disabling it, it is recommended that you do so.
7. Windows Mobile Hotspot Service — As the name suggests, this service is needed if you’re sharing your mobile’s internet connection with your PC. But if you don’t remember the last time you connected to a mobile hotspot service, you may look to disable it entirely.
8. Remote Desktop Configuration and Remote Desktop Services — These two services let you connect to other PCs in the vicinity. If you don’t need remote connectivity, disable these two services.
9. Remote Registry — This service lets any user access and modify the Windows registry. It is highly recommended that you disable this service for security purposes. Your ability to edit the registry locally (or as admin) won’t be affected.
10. Touch Keyboard and Handwriting Panel Service — As the name tells, this service facilitates touch keyboard and handwriting input for touch-enabled screens. So unless you have one of those, go ahead and disable it.
11. Windows Insider Service — Disable this service only if you’re not in the Windows Insider program. Currently, as Windows 11 is only available through it, you shouldn’t disable it. But if you’re on the final and stable version of Windows and are not testing upcoming features, disabling it shouldn’t be a problem.
12. Windows Image Acquisition — This service is important for people who connect scanners and digital cameras to their PC. But if you don’t have one of those, or are never planning on getting one, disable it by all means.
13. Windows Connect Now — This service is mainly meant for laptops and computers that need to connect to wireless networks and devices (camera, printers, and other PCs). But if you have a desktop setup without a wireless card, you won’t need this service and can disable it safely.
14. Windows Defender — This may raise some eyebrows, but we’re only recommending turning this off only and only if you have an antivirus that’s protecting your system. If that’s the case, Windows Defender would virtually be inactive anyway, as the third-party antivirus would act as your primary threat protection. Disabling Windows Defender at that point would help you free up valuable resources, without compromising the security of your device.
15. Downloaded Maps Manager — Do you use Bing Maps? Chances are that most of you rely on Google Maps built within your favorite browser and can’t care for Bing Maps. So find this unnecessary service and make sure that it’s disabled.
16. Parental Control — Again, the name says it all – this service allows parents to put restrictions on what their kids are accessing on the internet. But, as with many things brought with Vista, this is obsolete if you know how to filter content for your kids on the browser itself. Also, if you don’t have any kids around, that’s an obvious reason to keep this service disabled.
17. Xbox Services — Do you use the Xbox app to play games? If not, then you don’t need any of the Xbox services. These include the ‘Xbox Accessory Management Service’, ‘Xbox Live Auth Manager’, ‘Xbox Live Game Save’, and ‘Xbox Live Networking Service’. These won’t affect your daily use unless you do use the Xbox app on your PC. In that case, don’t touch these.
18. Security Center — This is another one of those services that only advanced users should turn off. The functionalities of this service are crucial – it scans the system for issues and keeps you posted about the system’s health, including pending updates, whether or not an antivirus is installed, UAC notifications, and other such messages you receive in the system tray. If you know how to check for these issues on your own, you can disable the service without any problems. If, however, you’re not sure how to check your system’s health, leave this one alone.
19. Print Spooler — Connected to the printer in the past few months? If not, then this service is useless to you. Go ahead and disable it if you’re not planning on using a printer anytime soon.
20. Portable Device Enumerator Service — This service is needed for making group policy changes for removable drives and to synchronize content for applications like Windows Media Player and Image Import Wizard on the removable drive. If these don’t mean anything to you, go ahead and disable it. Rest assured, it won’t affect your regular thumb drive use.
21. Retail Demo Service — Finally, this service is only meant for vendors and retailers who have to showcase the PC and Windows features for customers. Of course, a regular user would never need to use such a service, and so can disable it without any consequences.

Do note that some of these services may either be disabled or will be set to run manually by default. Nevertheless, it is good to ensure that that is actually the case in order to free up system resources and speed up your PC’s performance considerably.