What is the difference between setting a service to automatic or manual?

automatic would start with windows

manual would start when you start it, or when you start the program that assocuiates with it

i hope that helps


at least that is my understanding

I think it was so that automatic starts the service if necessay and the manual only starts if you launch it by person. then there was some third option that started it always i think. I'm not 100% sure of this thought.

Wow, I thought this was a simple question, but I guess there is a lot of confusion regarding these terms as it applies to services. I tried looking at the MS website and could not find any satisfying explanation. Any ideas where I can look or does anyone have the definitve answer to this question.

well i do it easy for you and admit i was wrong the three options were as follows:

when you go to administrative tools -> services -> properties of the service you are interested of -> select startup type and open that box and then press F1 it tells you about that
sorry, my confusion.. :/