How to Check for Leftover Services After Uninstalling a Program

Uninstalling software doesn’t always remove everything.
Sometimes hidden services stay running — slowing down your PC.

Here’s how to find and remove leftover services safely.

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✅ 1. What are leftover services?

Services are background programs that:

• Start with Windows

• Run tasks silently (updates, syncing, logging)

When you uninstall badly, services can be left behind — using memory and CPU.

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✅ 2. How to view all services

• Press Windows + R → type services.msc → Enter

You’ll see a full list of services:

• Name

• Status (Running/Stopped)

• Startup type (Automatic, Manual, Disabled)

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✅ 3. How to spot leftover services

Look for:

• Service names matching uninstalled programs

• Strange, random names

• Services marked “Failed to start” or “Stopped”

Example:

“UpdaterService_AwesomeApp”
“XYZ_Sync_Service”

✅ If you removed AwesomeApp or XYZ, these shouldn’t be here.

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✅ 4. How to disable and remove

Step 1: Disable the service first

• Right-click → Properties → Set Startup Type to Disabled

Step 2: Delete the service (advanced)

• Open cmd as Administrator

• Type:
  sc delete [ServiceName]

✅ Careful: Only delete services you are 100% sure about.

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✅ 5. Use third-party cleaners

Tools like:

• Autoruns (by Sysinternals)

• HiBit Startup Manager

show hidden services and leftover entries safely.

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Key points to remember

• Leftover services slow down boot and use memory

• Check services.msc for old or failed entries

• Disable first, delete second (if needed)

• Use trusted tools to scan services

• A cleaner system = a faster system