PC Stats has posted a new beginners guide about Understanding and Tweaking Windows XP Services

In Windows XP, background processes are called Services and they will be the topic of this PCSTATS Beginner's Guides. We're going to look at what the WinXP Services are, why they're necessary, which ones should be running on your system and which ones you can do without. The reason for occasional slow performance with WindowsXP is because of what's going on in the background.

Beginners Guides: Understanding and Tweaking WindowsXP Services