Intel Services, can they be disabled?

antares · 29 Jul 2020

I see many Intel Services that are enabled, mostly graphics related. Are they essential? Can any of those be safely disabled? I'm attaching a screenshot. Thanks

Intel Services, can they be disabled?-2020-07-29_19-29-21.jpg

ignatzatsonic · 29 Jul 2020

All I have are Content Protection, HD Graphics Control, and SGX. They are all running now and set to automatic.

The others you list I don't have at all---running or not.

Turn them off and see what the negative effects are----as a temporary test.

Good chance they have no noticeable effect on performance.

antares · 29 Jul 2020

ignatzatsonic said:

All I have are Content Protection, HD Graphics Control, and SGX. They are all running now and set to automatic.

The others you list I don't have at all---running or not.

Turn them off and see what the negative effects are----as a temporary test.

Good chance they have no noticeable effect on performance.

Thanks, from what I see in task manager (attached screenshot) the only impact is RAM (who knows, they might be triggered sometimes and affect CPU too, or Network).

Intel Services, can they be disabled?-2020-07-29_19-46-51.jpg

Faith · 29 Jul 2020

Hi! You're on a laptop?

I don't recommend stopping services unless they are causing trouble for you. All these listed are configured for your laptop, and some needed for drivers to work properly. The only service running for you that I would consider somewhat pointless - and may have an impact on performance actually - is Intel SGX because it provides real-time encryption layer from an allocated memory sector. It has been under scrutiny by researchers under Cornell University for potential malware enclaves. But since you're on a laptop then it has most likely been set up for you already in BIOS. If everything works properly and you're happy then just leave things as-is imo.

antares · 29 Jul 2020

Hi Faith, yes I have a Dell XPS laptop. I may test disabling all of these just to see what happens, thanks