Need some information on Windows Shell & COM

[Ceesar]

Hi,
What is Windows Shell and Windows COM. I have some applications which are named as shell packs. Before using them I have ensure that they will not make any critical system change in my PC. The more I am aware is that this are some Windows tools which runs continuously in the background. Is it possible to disable them on starup. And if it is a necessary one will be okay for the my system to install those packages.

[SalVatore]

Shell means the set of all components allowing the user to interact with Windows. It is managed by software called explorer.exe, the Windows shell. It is programmed using its functions or COM interfaces, which together form what we call the Shell API. In fact, shell (shell) is the name given to software that acts as an interface between the user and the operating system. For example, in one mode system, the shell is simply interpreter command. For some, the shell is nothing more than software running on the system and is therefore not part of the system.

COM (Componnent Object Model) is a technology oriented objects independent of any operating system and any programming language to develop components usable from any language that supports this technology (C, C + +, Visual Basic and even Java etc..). COM is the foundation for many Microsoft technologies, including OLE (originally Object Linking and Embedding) Automation (OLE Automation) and ActiveX.

[Devasis]

COM is neither a library nor a programming language but a specification of a binary format for objects called components, so they can be used from any language that supports this format, regardless of the language in which they were written. Given that COM uses the principles of object-oriented programming, it is easier to develop components using an object-oriented language like C + + or Smalltalk, but it can also create well as using such components using a language like C or Pascal, for example.

[Solomon]

It is possible to disable COM service Windows. But this can make some applications unstable which depends on it to run. But still if you want to try then click on Start > Run. Type msconfig in the box and click on OK. Then go to Services tab and uncheck the box of COM+Applications or similar. Then reboot your system to check out that the settings take into effects. If some tools become unstable then you can run the service again.