Disabling Security Accounts Manager

[napoleon]

Hello, Can anyone please tell me what is the use of Security Accounts Manager? Why is it required, for what purpose? What if I disable Security Accounts Manager? Will that effect my system? I heard that disabling such services will make my computer fast? Any information would be great. Thank you.

[EINSTEIN_007]

Refer to similar topics and suggestions given on Security Accounts Manager: http://forums.techarena.in/windows-s...elp/705430.htm
Security accounts manager initialization failed
http://forums.techarena.in/small-bus...ver/334252.htm

[newtech]

Security Accounts Manager stores security information for local user accounts. In general, if you dont use DHCP you can Disable this service. It is one of the base services that should not be disabled. To enable the “Security Accounts Manager” service in Windows go to Start -> Control Panel -> Administrative Tools”, the “Startup Type” setting for the “Security Accounts Manager” service will be set to “Disabled”. Modify the system registry settings to enable “Automatic” startup for the “Security Accounts Manager” service.

[Team Leader]

The Security Accounts Manager (SAM) is a database stored as a registry file in Windows NT, Windows 2000, and later versions of Windows. It stores users' passwords in a hashed format (in LM hash and NTLM hash). Since a hash function is one-way, this provides some measure of security for the storage of the passwords.

More information here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Security_Accounts_Manager