Last
Month….
Barry
Gilchrist introduced us to the mysteries of Windows Services.
So what are these services and where can we access them and
of course, what will they do for us? All these questions Barry
hoped to explain during his presentation.
Barry
issued a health warning right away – “You may look
– but be very careful about touching !!!!!!” So
what are these so called services? Barry explained that they
are – Windows Services are executable files that run in
the background and are designed not to have any user intervention.
They will be loaded on to a machine when a specific software
package is installed. If all runs well, then the user will have
no knowledge of them at all. They will run in the background
servicing specific needs of the parent software. Usually they
are loaded when the machine boots up and as long as Windows
is running they will carry on working in the background.
Accessing
these services is by going into the Control Panel folder and
then opening the Administrative Tools or alternatively typing
Services.msc in the Run Command on the Start Menu. Once in there,
the Windows Services console allows the user a brief description
of the service functions and shows the path to the services
executable program.
Now
here is the dangerous bit – the console also allows the
user to:-
Start, Stop, Pause or Restart a service.
Specify the services parameters.
Change its start up type such as automatic, manual or even disabled.
Change the account under which the service will log on.
Configure recovery options upon a service failure,
On Windows Vista systems there is also an Automatic Delayed
which allows a service to start a short while after the system
has booted up – allowing faster system boot up times.
So
now we know what they do what can we do? Well not a lot unless
you really know what you are about. Stopping a service could
be extremely unpredictable and removing it may even be catastrophic
– Barry’s advice of Leave Well Alone is very sound
thinking unless you know what you are doing. That said they
can be a very useful tool in diagnosing a problem in a system.
Does the computer boot up like a snail, have you time for a
3 course meal while you wait. It could be down to a service
not functioning correctly.
Some
time ago Barry had experience of this and one of his Laptops
was starting like a one legged snail. On investigating he founds
that one of the services was starting up but not correctly.
As the service was failing he felt able to disable it to see
what would happen. The machine started up quite happily and
much faster than previously. Unfortunately he was unable to
find out what software package had originally installed the
service but it was still useful to be able to identify and safely
disable it. Finding it was a little tricky and needed the use
of the event log and when the time delay occurred and then figuring
out which service was the culprit.
The
web is a useful to search for the name of a service and very
often there will be information about it – but not always!
A good starting point however. If you are interested in exploring
further, Barry offered us some sites to check out.
http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/10things/?p=960&tag=nl.e101
http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/security/?p=354
http://beemerworld.com/tips/servicesxp.htm
http://www.theeldergeek.com/services
guide.htm
http://www.ss64/nt/syntax-services.html
Barry
advised that these days most operating systems offer a restore
point facility so that you can effectively go back to a point
prior to the issue. This however, may not always work.
Sometimes
you may like to know exactly what files were delivered by and
where. A useful piece of software called INCTRL5 will identify
what changed on your machine when a piece of software has been
installed. You need to run the programme twice, once prior and
once after the software is installed. It will then report the
changes on the machine.
http://ziff-davis-media-inc.software.informer.com/
He had something else up his sleeve to conclude the evening.
It turns out that under his shy exterior, Barry is a budding
campanologist and regularly rings the changes. However, it turns
out that not everybody is quite so keen on hearing the bell
ringers practicing and even more importantly many of these church
bells are very old and cannot be rung at all.
So
Barry has a bell ringing simulator which can be used on a PC.
The package is called Abel Ringing Simulator and offers all
manner of ring call-changes which can be practiced in the home.
He demonstrated the package and showed how many difficult ring
call-changes could be mastered with practice.
The
programme features many options for controlling aspects of ringing
with a screen display to see what is going on. Sound options
include the pitch and character of a bell. Methods can be printed
out in the style of bell ringing Diagram books.
The
package can also be used as a tower simulator for real hands
on practice. Each bell has a sensor which is fed back to the
computer and with the bell silenced the PC will make the relevant
bell sounds – all very clever.
The
programme cost £20 and comes on a CD which also includes
.mp3 tracks of Abel bell ringing that can be played on any .mp3
player. It will run on pretty well any Windows system including
Vista and even Windows 95.
Check
it out at http://www.abelsim.co.uk
Our thanks to Barry for another excellent evening.
Dave
Robb
2009 Photographic Competition
Next month brings us to this years Photographic competition.
Below is a list of this years topics, lets have lots of entries
so we can give the judges plenty of choice. We would like to
wish you all good luck.
Recreation
People
Landscape/Seascape
Street
Life
Melton
Buildings
6.
Flora & Fauna
Following a few problems we had with emails going astray when
we organised the 25 year dinner we would like to confirm we
have the correct details. We would like to confirm your address,
email and telephone number. You can either jot them down and
give them to Dave or Derek at the meeting. If you are not attending
you email them to derek.taylor@ntlworld.com
Windows
7
Have
you had any experience with the new version of Windows yet?
If so why not do us a short article giving us an insight into
how you are getting on with it.
Christmas
Meal
We
have booked for a Christmas meal at the Bowls club on Wednesday
16th December. If you would like to attend please let us know
as soon as possible along with your deposit. We need a £
5.00 per person deposit so we can confirm numbers.
Christmas
Menu
1. Tomato and Basil Soup
2. Prawn Cocktail
3. Brie Wedges
4. Smoked Mackerel
5. Garlic & Wine Mushrooms
****************************************
1. Chicken in Tomato & Basil
2. Roast Beef
3. Roast Turkey
4. Smoked Haddock Hollandaise
5. Penne Pasta Italian
****************************************
1. Selection of Cold Sweets
2. Xmas Pudding
Coffee and Mince Pies
Cost
of the meal is £12.95
(includes a £1.00 tip per person)
