[SOLVED] Device Hardening: The Cure That Worked

[Dcopymope]

Of course, this is one the main places to come to whenever someone having issues video games freezing, crashing, etc. Someone like me will then search for answers on PC websites like this, and lots of different things will be suggested you can do and software to install that will supposedly solve your issue. The first thing that's always mention is your specifications as if its something you did wrong when you built your PC, or whoever built it for you. And then when they see you have a borderline top of the line computer, and after trying all their solutions, it becomes a big mystery as to what is the cause of the problem, and then said individual will be ready to give up and smash their PC with a sledge hammer. The one possible solution that's almost always overlooked is device hardening. If you take a course in Information Technology in say Network+ or Cyber Security, this is one of the most fundamental concepts they will drill in your head. In a nutshell, device hardening simply means disabling or uninstalling any service or application you don't need running for the sake of security and performance.

This is literally the only thing that solved not only the constant micro stutters in 'Hitman 2' and 'Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice' for ne, but also stopped my 'device manager' screen from refreshing every five seconds. There was some other things I tried as well, but I'm 99% positive this is what actually fixed it. Its easy to get to the list showing the services running in the background, and they don't even show up in the task manager. One way to open it is by typing 'msconfig' in the search bar, clicking on the 'System Configuration' button that pops up, and scrolling over to the 'services' tap. The most straight forward way is to simply type 'services' in the search bar taking you directly to the app responsible for managing these services. I researched every single one before disabling them so as to not break my PC, and then I shut it down completely and rebooted it. I was going to post this in the 'Windows 10' sub forum, but I thought it would be best in 'PC Gaming', since this is the reason why my games are playable now. This needs to be asked more often first before even getting to specifications. You can also harden your PC by disabling any service you don't need through the firewall, but it shouldn't be necessary.

 

[hang-the-9]

It may be more helpful to list what services you disabled since it's pretty much impossible to know what services are needed or not needed for a normal user, and there are a lot of them always running. It's like telling people to open the hood of the car and rip out anything not needed without saying what is not needed.

 

[Dcopymope]

It may be more helpful to list what services you disabled since it's pretty much impossible to know what services are needed or not needed for a normal user, and there are a lot of them always running. It's like telling people to open the hood of the car and rip out anything not needed without saying what is not needed.

No Problem, these are the ones I particularly disabled, or are listed as disabled at least. All others I either left as 'running' under the status tab or they'll just say 'manual' under the 'startup type' tab.

Xbox Live Auth Manager

Windows Error Reporting Service

Diagnostic System Host

Diagnostic Service Host

Auto Time Zone Updater

Distributed Link Tracking Client

Telephony

Windows Image Acquisition (WIA)

OpenSSH Authentication Agent

Shared PC Account Manager

TRIGONE Remote System Monitor Server

Remote Registry

Routing and Remote Access

Origin Web Helper Service

Net.Tcp Port Sharing Service

TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper

Geolocation Service

Intel Bluetooth Service

HP Support Solutions Framework Service

HP Comm Recovery

Data Usage

Diagnostic Policy Service

Connected User Experiences and Telemetry

Capability Access Manager Service

Bluetooth Support Service

Bluetooth Audio Gateway Service

ActiveX Installer (AxInstSV)

AllJoyn Router Service

 

[hang-the-9]

A lot of those are for needed devices, you can just disable Bluetooth if you don't use it, no need to disable individual services manually. Same thing for Origin, XBOX and HP programs. Error reporting you can also disable for the most part inside Windows.

 

[TJ Hooker]

If someone is having indeterminate issues with a pre-built PC (which I assume yours is based on having HP apps), I'd typically recommend a clean install of Windows.

 

[Dcopymope]

A lot of those are for needed devices, you can just disable Bluetooth if you don't use it, no need to disable individual services manually. Same thing for Origin, XBOX and HP programs. Error reporting you can also disable for the most part inside Windows.

What kind of devices though?

If someone is having indeterminate issues with a pre-built PC (which I assume yours is based on having HP apps), I'd typically recommend a clean install of Windows.

Yeah, I originally had an HP motherboard, so the decision to disable those were easy.

 

[TJ Hooker]

Yeah, I originally had an HP motherboard, so the decision to disable those were easy.

You changed motherboards without reinstalling windows? That sounds like your problem right there.

 

[Dcopymope]

You changed motherboards without reinstalling windows? That sounds like your problem right there.

Maybe, I contemplated doing another clean install but I didn't feel like going through that aggravation again. If a service from a previous manufacture was the problem, then it would still be more straight forward to just find it and disable it the way I see it, and it worked for me.

 

[TJ Hooker]

If a service from a previous manufacture was the problem, then it would still be more straight forward to just find it and disable it the way I see it, and it worked for me.

Only if it's obvious which services they are, i.e. they all have "HP" in the name or something. That isn't always the case; if I look through my services most of them don't say who made them or make it clear what they're for. You could also end up disabling 3rd party services that are actually required by your applications.

Going through every service and figuring out what it is and if it can be safely disabled sounds way more complicated, and prone to error, than doing a clean install. Plus you could have things like driver conflicts, which I don't think your service pruning would fix.

I'm glad you were able to find a solution to your issues. But if someone else came asking for advice in a similar situation I'd recommend a clean install over your approach every time.

 

[USAFRet]

Yeah, I originally had an HP motherboard, so the decision to disable those were easy.

Motherboard change, and you had issues after?
Pain or no pain....full wipe and reinstall.

 

[hang-the-9]

Seems like we found the issue, motherboard swaps without a clean Windows setup cause problems in pretty much every case I have seen. Even if the system boots OK, it will just about every time run slower than it should or crash more often. I can't even remember the last time I changed motherboards or have seen someone do it well without a clean setup. Heck, I have had issues changing drives between exact same model laptops at times.

 

[USAFRet]

In a nutshell, device hardening simply means disabling or uninstalling any service or application you don't need running for the sake of security and performance.

This statement is incorrect.

 

[Dcopymope]

Motherboard change, and you had issues after?
Pain or no pain....full wipe and reinstall.

I had issues before really, that's why I decided to buy a brand new one to start with, same issues in fact, except it included crashes, random reboots, etc.

 

[Dcopymope]

This statement is incorrect.

Quite the contrary, once again I don't know what your courses taught, but this is what was taught in both my Network+ and Security+ courses, especially in Sec+ since it gets more into cyber security. Disabling unneeded services both in the firewall and elsewhere is one aspect of device hardening. In network+, its more about performance, in Sec+ its explained from the aspect of securing a network. Any service can be used as an attack vector by a bad guy, has happened on multiple occasions and continues to happen.

If you don't need it, then the best way to mitigate against such a threat is to disable the service. This is the very definition of what is called a 'bastion host'. Its basically a computer or server that is placed in the demilitarized zone of a network that is ideally only meant to provide one service or application to anyone outside of the network. What I've done with my PC is exactly what I was taught to do, what is in fact a common practice in the real world.

 

[USAFRet]

The word "simply" in there invalidates that statement.

Hardening a device is more than simply turning off some services.
Yes, that is part of it. But by no means all of it.

 

[Dcopymope]

The word "simply" in there invalidates that statement.

Hardening a device is more than simply turning off some services.
Yes, that is part of it. But by no means all of it.

Right, had to read the book again. It is a major aspect of hardening a device as a best practice.