diff --git a/cmd/windows_exporter/0_service.go b/cmd/windows_exporter/0_service.go
index a2260370..3208afe2 100644
--- a/cmd/windows_exporter/0_service.go
+++ b/cmd/windows_exporter/0_service.go
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ var (
 	stopCh = make(chan struct{})
 
 	// serviceManagerFinishedCh is a channel to send a signal to the main function that the service manager has stopped the service.
-	serviceManagerFinishedCh = make(chan struct{})
+	serviceManagerFinishedCh = make(chan struct{}, 1)
 )
 
 // IsService variable declaration allows initiating time-sensitive components like registering the Windows service
diff --git a/internal/collector/service/service.go b/internal/collector/service/service.go
index ce623eba..56b3f9c5 100644
--- a/internal/collector/service/service.go
+++ b/internal/collector/service/service.go
@@ -422,15 +422,6 @@ func (c *Collector) getProcessStartTime(pid uint32) (uint64, error) {
 		return 0, fmt.Errorf("failed to open process %w", err)
 	}
 
-	defer func(handle windows.Handle) {
-		err := windows.CloseHandle(handle)
-		if err != nil {
-			c.logger.Warn("failed to close process handle",
-				slog.Any("err", err),
-			)
-		}
-	}(handle)
-
 	var (
 		creation windows.Filetime
 		exit     windows.Filetime
@@ -439,6 +430,14 @@ func (c *Collector) getProcessStartTime(pid uint32) (uint64, error) {
 	)
 
 	err = windows.GetProcessTimes(handle, &creation, &exit, &krn, &user)
+
+	if err := windows.CloseHandle(handle); err != nil {
+		c.logger.LogAttrs(context.Background(), slog.LevelWarn, "failed to close process handle",
+			slog.Any("err", err),
+			slog.Uint64("pid", uint64(pid)),
+		)
+	}
+
 	if err != nil {
 		return 0, fmt.Errorf("failed to get process times %w", err)
 	}
@@ -479,7 +478,7 @@ func (c *Collector) getServiceConfig(service *mgr.Service) (mgr.Config, error) {
 		*buf = make([]byte, bytesNeeded)
 	}
 
-	c.serviceConfigPoolBytes.Put(buf)
+	defer c.serviceConfigPoolBytes.Put(buf)
 
 	return mgr.Config{
 		BinaryPathName:   windows.UTF16PtrToString(serviceConfig.BinaryPathName),