All modern Windows have a tool that allows you to get help from a friend or proxy in solving some problems with your computer. It is called "Remote Assistance." Removing this service because it is a built-in system component is not possible. But disconnecting it due to uselessness is very simple.
Remote Assistance service: what is it and what is it used for?
This tool was originally developed so that a user working at a computer terminal connected to a local network or the Internet could at any time receive or assist another user in case of any problems that cannot be fixed on their own.
The technology of assistance is based on the fact that after receiving a request, a person whom the user fully trusts (friend, relative, system administrator, IT consultant of the company) could connect to the user terminal and control a remote computer from his PC or laptop. This is the so-called remote desktop connection. When using this service, there is no need to install an additional RDP client (Remote Desktop Client).
However, there are quite delicate situations when, for some reason, a person does not want to respond to requests through the Remote Assistance service. You won’t be able to delete it, but you can disable it. In general, it is immediately worth noting that the question of eliminating this component of the system is fundamentally wrong, since no component of Windows, no matter how you try, cannot be removed from the system in the usual way without interfering with the program code. But let's talk about disconnecting.
Remote Assistance: how to remove? Configure Remote Access
Since the connection between the two terminals is based on remote access technology, first you need to make sure that such permission for the connection is not installed. If you see that it is in an active state, you just need to deactivate it. To do this, at the first stage, you must enter the computer properties menu or call the section from the "System" menu in the "Control Panel".
Here on the left is a hyperlink for remote access settings. After entering the corresponding section, we use the remote access tab, where we activate the prohibition field for remote connection to this terminal from below.
Directly Disable Remote Assistance
At the next stage, in the same window, click the "Advanced" button, and then in the settings window, uncheck the line for allowing remote control of this computer and confirm the changes.
Now it remains in the previous section to deactivate the permission line for connecting the Remote Assistance service of Windows XP or any other modification of the operating system and save the changes again.
In some cases, a warning may appear stating that you need to enable the Windows Firewall exception settings. This is due to the configuration of port 3389, which is necessary for the service to work, which will be discussed below.
Using Group Policy
So, it’s like we turned off the Remote Assistance service. You can’t delete it, as you know, but the next step is to check its activity. You need to make sure that the service is not running.
To do this, use the group policies section, which can be accessed by entering the gpedit.msc command in the Run console (Win + R). Here in the computer configuration, you need to go to the administrative templates and find in the "Remote Assistance" section. Naturally, you cannot delete it. But in the right settings window, you can either configure the permissions as you wish, or even change the value of the connection permission parameter to “Disabled” or “Not Set”. If you wish, the same can be done in the settings sections of the offered or requested assistance.
To disable the remote access service, you can also use the section called by the services.msc command, where you should set the manual startup type for it. But, in principle, the first two steps described above are enough to deactivate remote assistance.
Do I need to block port 3389?
As already mentioned, the Remote Assistance program uses port 3389. If you look, some people think that you can not even turn off this service, but simply block this port in the firewall settings, which they are trying to do.
How appropriate is this? If you look at the question, so to speak, in a global sense, blocking port 3389 can sometimes lead not only to the inability to use remote assistance, but also affect other components of the system that use these settings. So, for example, connections of terminal services can be completely disconnected, and it will not lead to anything good. In addition, as indicated in the Microsoft technical documentation, the built-in Remote Assistance firewall itself does not block by default.
To deactivate it, you just need to uncheck the remote access service in the list of allowed programs. Therefore, the preference in setting the restriction of incoming or outgoing requests is best given to Group Policy settings.
Conclusion
These are the options for disabling the Remote Assistance service. It is impossible to delete it for well-known reasons, and disconnecting should not cause difficulties even for an unprepared user. It is enough to make a few simple steps discussed above. But if a person is engaged in the administration of computer terminals or local networks, you can’t do without setting up group policies, especially since there you can apply very specific settings, thanks to which the service itself will not be blocked, and all requests will be made according to strictly established rules. Plus - full control over incoming and outgoing invitations.
If third-party assistance is not provided at all for a PC user, this component can be left unattended, because it has zero load on system resources and is not involved in other processes, even related to remote access to other terminals.
It did not address issues related to the direct use of communication sessions and sending or creating invitations, since the preference was given exclusively to the topic of disabling the built-in Windows service. In the same way, additional third-party programs like TeamViewer and Ammyy were not affected.