Reduce and document the NI services running after Windows logon

[Wolfgang]

Hello,

because I had installed CVI2010 on a brand new Windows 7 machine, I was curios to find out about all the service processes running on the system.

It seems that there are quite a few NI services that start after log-on. Some of  them seem superfluous, such as the Lookout Citadel service (no LabVIEW, no Lookout installed), but due to the lack of any information I did not bother trying to stop them

Suggestions:

1) NI should critically review the services and only start the services that are absolutely needed.

2) Services that are optional might be selected by a checkbox during installation or from the Options / Environment setting

3) NI should provide some documentation / explanation of each service and why it is needed.

Thanks!

[ngay528]

Agreed.  i currently have 8 things services with startup type of automatic, yet haven't even opened a single NI program or CVI yet.  Nor do I even have Device Manager running.

[MarcelK]

Seconded. We actually have developers in house that do not want to install CVI because it clutters up their systems, and I can understand them...

[layosh.b]

Agree. Even without running Labwindows or a software written in Labwindows, I have at least 8 services running and I have no clue why, what do they do.

Layosh

[D_Biel]

We have made some progress on this issue. Software released in August 2012 revised the way services appear in the Windows Service manager. You will now find that National Instruments service names begin with NI such as "NI Network Discovery". This will make it easier to identify which NI services are installed on your system. Additionally, the Description field has been expanded to provide more meaningful information and each service explains what will happen if the service is stopped.

This new information is only available if the service was installed by an August 2012 or later software release. For users that have an older version, we are working on a web page that will list similar information. The web page will also be dynamic and allow us to add additional comments as necessary. The page will be available to users even without the latest version installed. I will post back here with a link when that web page is available.

[D_Biel]

A list of services installed by NI software is available here. This list contains services installed by any NI software products. It also provides details of the service functionality and what will happen if the service is disabled.

[TheNIDragon]

Hello Wolfgang,

Thank you for your post. D_Biel had some great comments about how we've made progress in this area and the list he linked to should hopefully give you more information about each service. 

I'm going to change this to "In Development" for a couple of reasons. One, the issue of installing only critical services or software seeming "cluttered" is really an issue across most

(if not all) NI software. We are addressing this as an organization by moving to a package-based installation method. This will give users more insight into what is installed in their system and allow them to be more specific about what they want to have installed. This process of moving towards package-based installations is currently in development and each of our software packages (like CVI) will move towards this method over time. Two, the documentation that D_Biel referenced is going to continue to be updated to give users more information about each service installed. Hopefully, the combination of these two gives you confidence that we are heading in the right direction by giving users more insight into what's installed on their system. Feel free to let me know what you think!