When I go into the services tool I've noticed that there are about 5 or more services which are automatically started but I'm not able to control them because the property tabs are all greyed out.

Are you sure you are using an administrator account? If not use an administrator account and your problem should be solved. Best regards.

Yes. The account I'm using has admin privileges.

I also booted into safe mode, logged in with an account which has admin privileges and I still see some of the service (of the one's that were started) property tabs are greyed out. This has all the looks of some type of group policy change but I can't confirm. I know for sure that the only changes made to my PC in months have been only the Microsoft Updates and nothing else. Could one of the MS security updates caused this problem?

More information to add. This is a list of the started services which I'm not able to control through the property tabs because everything is greyed out. And maybe this is the way it should be. Please confirm? DCOM services process launcher, Group policy client, Plug and play, Power, Remote procedure call, RPC endpoint mapper, Security account manager, Task scheduler, and Windows driver foundation I've checked my XP PC's and the property tabs are greyed out on the like services.

It is possible that a security update caused this issue and it is for that Microsoft recommand to test updates before installing them. This is a link about to uninstall all Microsoft updates: http://www.ehow.com/how_2299461_uninstall-all-windows-updates.html So, uninstall all your installed updates, restart your computer and check if your problem is solved or not. Best regards.

Same here... I think the problem is that in Windows 7, your account isn't really an administrator. You are more like a "Power User". To do what you want, you might have to enable the "Administrator" account. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/507-built-administrator-account-enable-disable.html BTW, why do you want to mess with these services? Regards, Hank Arnold Microsoft MVP Windows Server - Directory Services http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/personal-pc-assistant/ On 8/15/2010 11:44 PM, kd_win7 wrote: More information to add. This is a list of the started services which I'm not able to control through the property tabs because everything is greyed out. And maybe this is the way it should be. Please confirm? DCOM services process launcher, Group policy client, Plug and play, Power, Remote procedure call, RPC endpoint mapper, Security account manager, Task scheduler, and Windows driver foundation I've checked my XP PC's and the property tabs are greyed out on the like services. Regards, Hank Arnold (MVP - DS)

Before he does this, he should try enabling the "Administrator" account and trying it there. I'm still curious as to why the OP needs to be able to manage these services.... Regards, Hank Arnold Microsoft MVP Windows Server - Directory Services http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/personal-pc-assistant/ On 8/16/2010 1:52 AM, MS helper wrote: It is possible that a security update caused this issue and it is for that Microsoft recommand to test updates before installing them. This is a link about to uninstall all Microsoft updates: http://www.ehow.com/how_2299461_uninstall-all-windows-updates.html So, uninstall all your installed updates, restart your computer and check if your problem is solved or not. Best regards. Regards, Hank Arnold (MVP - DS)

Actually, I don't want to modify the services. What happened was that I was modifing one of my tasks and when I opened the task scheduler I received this strange error: the selected task "{0}" no longer exists. I then figured there was a problem with the service which led me down the path of noticing many services could not be stopped, started, or restarted. I've since fixed the task scheduler issue but some the service property tabs were still greyed. I thought I had broke something when in hindsight I didn't change a thing. Whew! Everything is as it was and should be. So yes, you are correct, there is no reason for me to touch these services.