Some parts of the surveillance system run as background tasks and do not require a user to be logged in for tasks to be run. These background tasks are known as services.

Although services run in the background, do not interact with users graphically, and do not require a user to be logged in, they are initiated and run and thus owned by a user account on the computer. Typically this account is one of the built-in accounts, usually a user called LocalService or sometimes as a user called NetworkService.

Services can be started or stopped by the operating system when it starts or shuts down - automatic. Alternatively services can be started or stopped by a logged in user with sufficient privileges to do so - manual.

When service based surveillance suite components are installed they are installed in a state that requires a logged in user with appropriate privileges to start the service.

The windows services list permits a logged in user with sufficient privileges to switch a manual service to start automatically, to switch an automatically starting service to manual or completely disable the service preventing it from being started.

To open the services list, from the Start menu open the Control Panel and choose the Administrative Tools option. If the control panel is in category view, choose the Performance and Maintenance category, then Administrative Tools. Open the Services application.

Right-click and choose Properties to display the Properties dialog for the service.

To request that Windows start a service when the operating system starts, change the Start-up type to Automatic. Note, the service will not actually start until Windows is re-started. It is possible to start the service from this dialog by using the Start button.

To change an automatic service back to one that requires a logged in user to start and stop the service, change the Start-up type to manual. Note, a started service will not stop until Windows is shut down. To stop the service before then, you can use the Stop button.

Click OK and close the Services application.

Remember, informational messages, warnings and error events logged by services can be viewed through the Windows Event Viewer.