I received this note from Craig. It reflects many more that have been received about this service. I originally had this listed as  "Absolutely !" for being needed, but now I have changed it to "Possibly". Thanks for sending along the info, Craig.  --  Jim / TEG

Hi. I just came across your site today, and went through your services list for Windows XP. I've messed around with shutting down services not needed, using info from the net. I was surprised when I came to the last entry, "Workstation Service", and saw that you had listed it as "Absolutely!" for needed.

I disabled this service well over a year ago and have never suffered any ill effects. I run XP Home SP2 on my computer, and use it to do all the typical home computer things - including going on the net and printing.

I searched for some more info on this, and found it at Microsoft http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS03-049.mspx

"If the Workstation service is disabled, the system cannot connect to any shared file resources or shared print resources on a network. Only use this workaround on stand-alone systems (such as many home systems) that do not connect to a network. If the Workstation service is disabled, any services that explicitly depend on the Workstation service do not start, and an error message is logged in the system event log. The following services depend on the Workstation service:

• Alerter

• Browser

• Messenger

• Net Logon

• RPC Locator

These services are required to access resources on a network and to perform domain authentication. Internet connectivity and browsing for stand-alone systems, such as users on dial-up connections, on DSL connections, or on cable modem connections, should not be affected if these services are disabled."

Thanks for the great site, I'm sure I'm going to spend plenty of time reading through it!

-Craig