Talk:Windows service

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[edit] LocalService / LocalSystem

Isn't it the LocalSystem account that has administrative privileges on the system? The LocalService account on the other hand, has minimum privileges much like a restricted user:

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms686005.aspx

Yeah. Does the article say otherwise? I will take a look. --soum talk 11:14, 15 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Justification

  • Windows Services equivalents in the unix operating system are well documented. There appear to be no such articles for Windows Services. A description of main Windows services (for the most recent versions of the OS) along with an explanation of their use are valuable information of encyclopedic nature. This would hopefully drag the interest of other specialists of the OS in order to improve the knowledge base on Windows services (and help a lot of Windows users...)

[edit] External Links

I see a lot of bias in the external link section... Really not much else to say, other than corporate bodies taking advantage of Wikipedia. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 70.69.127.67 (talk) 00:52, 5 January 2007 (UTC).

[edit] Update Permissions and Implementation Section?

This section seems to be somewhat out of date with respect to modern Windows operating systems. For example, LocalSystem is much more rarely used, favoring LocalService and NetworkService instead, which do not have administrative rights like LocalSystem does. Also, C:\WINNT is no longer the default path. This section looks to be circa NT or Windows 2000. Anybody have more recent sources to cite for a more up-to-date section here? -- Thx1200 14:43, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Running on startup

"A Windows service is an application that starts when the Microsoft Windows operating system is booted and runs in the background as long as Windows is running."

Windows services do not necessarily start with the system. If the startup type is set to manual, the service will not start with all the services set to automatic but needs to be started manually. I don't really know enough to edit the article though. Just a thought I had. Geekosaurus 12:46, 28 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] What are services used for?

I think it would be nice if someone adds more information about that. What can a programmer do by writing a service, that cannot be done by other means? And what are the advantages of using services? Can I modify the way the Windows kernel works and write for example a virus scanner... Thanks in advance.--Lefter 10:33, 13 February 2008 (UTC)

There is nothing a service can do what a regular application cannot do. It just provides a better way to do certain tasks. If a task requires to be running in the background for very long times with very limited user interaction needed, it is a very good idea to implement it as a service. If it were an application, an user would have to log-in, then start up the application before it will run (in general). But with a service it can auto-start, as well as run even when no user is logged on. Also, applications run under an user account gets all the privileges the user account has (which is generally quite permissive) but service accounts are more limited. So implications of a security flaw are less severe for a service.
As for doing kernel level stuff, both apps as well as services will need a kernel mode driver, the Windows API provides different interfaces for that. However, patching the kernel is a very bad idea security wise, coz if your app is breached, the kernel is reached. And if the attackers have access to the kernel, its game over. In fact, Vista x64 onwards it is disallowed. --soum talk 15:10, 12 March 2008 (UTC)