Windows Components - What are they all for?

[Synomenon]

Does anyone know of a website that explains all the different Windows components found by going to the Control Panel -> Add or Remove Programs -> Add/Remove Windows Components

I'd especially like to see explanations of:

Internet Information Services (IIS)
- Common files
- Documentation
- File Transfer Protocol (FTP) Service
- FrontPage 2000 Server Extensions
- Internet Information Services Snap-In
- SMTP Service
- World Wide Web Service


Management and Monitoring Tools
- Simple Network Management Protocol
- WMI SNMP Provider


Message Queuing
- Active Directory Integration
- Common
- MSMQ HTTP Support
- Triggers


Networking Services
- Internet Gateway Device Discovery and Control Client
- Peer-to-Peer
- RIP Listener
- Simple TCP/IP Services
- UPnP User Interface


I have WindowsXP Pro. SP2 with all available Windows Updates downloaded and installed. Thanks for any help.

 

[CplHicks]

The most important thing is that it's very unlikely that you need any of them. IIS is a web server. The other components are networking services (all 3) that you won't need unless you have programs that specifically require their functionality.

 

[oog]

Does anyone know of a website that explains all the different Windows components found by going to the Control Panel -> Add or Remove Programs -> Add/Remove Windows Components

I'd especially like to see explanations of:

Internet Information Services (IIS)
- Common files
- Documentation
- File Transfer Protocol (FTP) Service
- FrontPage 2000 Server Extensions
- Internet Information Services Snap-In
- SMTP Service
- World Wide Web Service

IIS is the service that provides a wrapper for many Internet-related services. It essentially has the ability to listen to requests and forward them to the appropriate other service. The Common Files provides this capability. The Documentation should be straightforward. The FTP service provides an implementation of File Transport Protocol and allows people to upload and download files via FTP through IIS. FrontPage 2000 Server Extensions are a set of web extensions that allow tools to update a web site using web protocols. The IIS Snap-In is a tool you find in the Control Panel to administer IIS. The SMTP Service provides the ability to send out email. The World Wide Web Service allows you to host web pages.

Management and Monitoring Tools
- Simple Network Management Protocol
- WMI SNMP Provider

SNMP is a protocol that allows different things on the network to send out messages about their status. It's mainly used to monitor the health of various systems. SNMP is not a Windows-specific protocol. In Windows, most things built by Microsoft use a different protocol called WMI, but the WMI SNMP Provider allows you to see these messages via SNMP.

Message Queuing
- Active Directory Integration
- Common
- MSMQ HTTP Support
- Triggers

Message Queuing allows server programs to send requests to each other that are reliably received and stored until they are processed. If a service goes down, the message queue will keep the messages for later recovery.

Networking Services
- Internet Gateway Device Discovery and Control Client
- Peer-to-Peer
- RIP Listener
- Simple TCP/IP Services
- UPnP User Interface

Can't help you on most of these.

I have WindowsXP Pro. SP2 with all available Windows Updates downloaded and installed. Thanks for any help.

Hopefully other people can help fill in some of the blanks. I would also do searches on Microsoft's web site for more information.

 

[Creedyou]

Originally posted by: IsLNdbOi
Networking Services
- Internet Gateway Device Discovery and Control Client
- Peer-to-Peer
- RIP Listener
- Simple TCP/IP Services
- UPnP User Interface

Peer-to-Peer is probably NetBIOS stuff, RIP (Routing Information Protocol) is an interior router protocol for them to learn each other's status, UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) is a protocol for intelligent appliances to speak over a TCP/IP network.

 

[Synomenon]

Thanks guys. So most "average" users won't need any of the items I listed in my first post?

 

[oog]

that's right, though i have had friends who set up ftp so that they could transfer files easily. ftp is generally not that secure though, and there are better (also free) implementations of an ftp server out there.

 

[Synomenon]

So the FTP item under IIS is Windows built in version of programs like CuteFTp and WS_FTP?

 

[oog]

no, it's the server part of it, not the client part. filezilla server and proftpd are a couple other variations of the same program. it's possible there is an ftp server called cuteftp or ws_ftp, but i'm only aware of the client.