www.BlackViper.com: Windows XP Service Pack 3 Services 411 - Help and Support

Help and Support

Default Description:

Enables Help and Support Center to run on this computer. If this service is stopped, Help and Support Center will be unavailable. If this service is disabled, any services that explicitly depend on it will fail to start.

Additional Information:

This service is required for Microsoft's online (or offline) help documents. If you ever "attempt" to use Help and Support, the service places itself back into "Automatic" and starts even if you already had this service on disabled. "Program Compatability Wizard" located at Start > All Programs > Accessories and "System Information" located at Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools requires Help and Support service to be started (it will start in Manual mode). Each will fire off one process named "helpctr.exe" and System Information will also fire off one process named "helpsvc.exe". After selecting the "Help and Support" icon in the Start menu, "helpctr.exe" and "HelpHost.exe" processes are fired off. After closing each program, the new processes will exit after around 30 seconds. However, I try to avoid as much Microsoft help as I can... :)

Additional Reading:

None at this time.

Discussion Topic Link:

Windows XP Services Forum

Defaults Startup Type:

Default XP Home: Automatic (Started)
Default XP MCE 2005: Automatic (Started)
Default XP Pro: Automatic (Started)
Default XP Tablet PC 2005: Automatic (Started)

Other Settings:

Safe Setting: Manual *

Service Names:

Service Name (registry): helpsvc

Display Name: Help and Support

Default Path and Command Line Options:

C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs

Log On As:

Account: Local System Account

Dependencies:

What service Help and Support needs to function properly:

• Remote Procedure Call (RPC) (H, M, P, T)

What other service require Help and Support to function properly:

• None (H, M, P, T)