Remove Optional and Probably Unnecessary Windows Vista Components

In the never-ending quest to rid your computer of unnecessary bloat, Windows Vista has a lot less options than prior versions, but you can still get rid of some of the extra Windows components that you don't need.
Open up Control Panel and go to the Programs and Features section. Find the link for "Turn Windows features on or off" (or you could just search for it)

  This dialog is quite self-explanatory… uncheck the things you don't want, and hit the OK button. Depending on the version of Vista you are running you might not see everything in the list.

  Guidelines, Not Set In Stone
Just to get you started, here's a few tips on what an average user might want to enable or disable. The rules will be different for everybody, depending on your applications and needs, so don't take these as absolute.

ActiveX Installer Service	No	Do you really want anything to do with ActiveX?
Games	Why Not	Your productivity can only increase with Spider Solitaire on your computer.
Indexing Service	No	This is the old indexing service that is no longer needed in Vista.
Internet Information Service	No	Used for hosting websites on your computer.
Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0	No	Used for the new .NET 3.0 components, but only really needed for programmers.
Microsoft Message Queue (MSMQ) Server	No	Used by programmers as a way to reliably queue messages.
Print Services	No	You only need this if you use internet printers and like to kill trees. Our rainforests are depending on you disabling this service.
Remote Differential Compression	Maybe	This is likely required for utilities that use the network to download files. If it is enabled, don't mess with it.
Removable Storage Management	No	The only reason you'd need this is if you are restoring from old NTBACKUP files.
RIP Listener	No	You won't need this, it's a routing protocol.
Services for NFS	No	This can be used to map a drive to a linux NFS server. Unlikely you'd need it since Samba works so well.
SNMP Feature	No	This is used for management systems in workplace networks. You don't need it.
Subsystem for UNIX-based Applications	No	This is used for compatibility with certain applications based on UNIX… you don't need it.
Tablet PC Optional Components	Maybe	If you have a Tablet PC, you should enable this. If you don't, you may still want to because this includes the Snipping Tool.
Telnet Client	AVOID	You should never use telnet. Ever.
Telnet Server	AVOID	You should never use telnet. Ever.
TFTP Client	AVOID	TFTP was used by many of the early internet worms… there's a reason it's disabled by default.
Windows DFS Replication Service	No	This is only really used in work environments. Don't bother with this if you are a home user.
Windows Fan and Scan	No	Why anybody still faxes anything is beyond me.
Windows Meeting Space	No	If you don't use Windows Meeting Space or the "People Near Me" feature, don't bother with this.
Windows PowerShell	No	PowerShell is a more advanced command line geared towards programmers and system administrators.
Windows Process Activation Service	Probably	This is likely required to support some .NET applications, so I wouldn't change whatever it's currently set to.
Windows Ultimate Extras	Maybe	If you like the extras, then enable them. (Ultimate Only)

Hopefully this will help somebody!