Disabling Unused Services

For additional performance and security, you may decide to disable certain services from running. For example, although Exchange Server 2003 requires the Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP) stack to be installed before Exchange Server 2003 is installed, if you have no requirements for NNTP access, you can shut down and disable this service after Exchange Server 2003 is installed. The same is true for POP3 and IMAP4 services.

Do not disable services that Exchange Server 2003 requires for normal operation. For example, the MTA service is required for internal operations even when working in a native mode Exchange organization. Therefore, you should never disable the MTA or stop it for any long period of time.

For detailed instructions, see How to Disable a Service in Windows.