Remote Registry service

OK, quick background: I have a laptop with a wireless connection to a router, and it's part of a home network with a desktop, connected by ethernet cable to the same router. Both share a printer, with the desktop running the printer.

Once in a while I get poking around and I was checking the netstat -no through the command prompt. I noticed a new thing coming up on both systems since I installed Windows update KB967715 yesterday (I don't know if this has anything to do with it or not), and that is an instance of svchost.exe with a network connection, but not to an IP outside my home network. So I got looking into this and saw what I could find by typing Tasklist /SVC in 'Run', so I could see what that particular instance of svchost was actually doing. On the laptop, I saw that one of the items involved the Remote Registry service. Well, I have no use or desire to have anyone else change the registry, other than whatever happens when I install or update programs on this computer. So typed in services.msc in the run line, and ended up shutting down and disabling Remote Registry. It looks like, from perusing the properties, that nothing else I am running depends on this service, but I just wanted to confirm. I see that Remote Registry does depend on Remote Procedure Call running, however. I don't even know what that is. I'm not an expert. I can do simple fixes...probably know just enough to cause myself SERIOUS trouble, LOL!

I've rebooted since making this change, and I just ran netstat -no, and I see that there are no instances of svchost showing up there now, but then it doesn't show up all the time.

Anyway, the point I am getting to, I guess, is that I would like to make sure I'm not going to have any problems turning off this Remote Registry thing, or if it was, in fact, a good thing to do. I don't need anyone else accessing this laptop remotely. Once in a while I transfer a file between the laptop and the desktop in the shared folder, but I don't leave stuff in there. I copy and paste from one to the shared folder, and then from the shared folder cut and paste to the recipient computer.

(I make myself nervous getting into stuff like this! :-o)

Whoa, I see I am called a "senior member" now, how did THAT happen, LOL! Still feel like a newbie!

 

You should be just fine with disabling this service.
Here's an article on the service that explains the situation - LINK

 

OK, thanks! Seems like there's always something new to learn about computers.