How did you clean up/ debloat windows 10?

[Beamin]

I hate how on windows you are no longer in control of it updating or even the programs on it. I don't need xbox and I'm sure 99% of windows machines especially those at work don't need an xbox app. I actually bought an xbox1 but took it back because I spent more time updating it then playing it and having to give up my basic human legal rights in the terms of service to update the god damn controller. The controller not only needs an update but I can't sue? Officially out of control. What happened to the days of Nintendo with a d pad a and b? Sure it wasn't as cool but I didn't have to hire an attorney to use it. God only knows what you agree to in windows 10.

Anyways what do you guys think of this?

https://youtu.be/q4ziE5Am0pM

Is there an easy way too take off the crap without having to download anything? This is my only computer so if I screw it up im SOL. Besides going in and deselecting or clicking every privacy option there is are there other ways windows can spy on you? I can handle my phone spying on me because I keep sensitive info off it, but my computer I don't have a choice. You know when you have to call capital one after you sign up to not have your info sold or the hand written letter you have to send to bank of America?

[Beamin]

There are 52 processes running like skype cortana and the store and I have only opened 2 applications edge and notepad. This would probably be a fast computer with good battery if it wasn't for this stuff. Why is this and how do you know what bloat ware and whats needed?

[Mr. Scram]

There are 52 processes running like skype cortana and the store and I have only opened 2 applications edge and notepad. This would probably be a fast computer with good battery if it wasn't for this stuff.

I always turn off Cortana during the install. It's essentially spyware.

[Mr. Scram]

Running a Powershell script from a third party is a very bad idea, unless you're very familiar with Powershell and understand exactly what it does. Just superficially understanding the code isn't really enough, a skilled attacker should be able to obfuscate his intentions well enough.

[bitseeker]

Hardcore debloating and performance optimization takes lots of research and, preferably, a test machine to experiment on or at least a full backup that you can use to recover your computer in case things go terribly wrong.

Without a recovery strategy, don't blindly run someone else's script or app. Even commercial apps for "optimizing" your computer can cause havoc.

For a less risky debloating,

• Press the Windows key
• Type Apps & features
• Click on the Apps & features item
• Wait a bit for the list of installed apps to populate
• Review the list
• For any app you don't want, click on it and then click the Uninstall button
• Repeat the previous step for each undesired app

Note: Although this is less risky, you could still remove an important library or supporting app. So, be sure you have a current backup before beginning.

[amyk]

...by installing Windows 7.

If you really must have the latest, I hear Server 2019 is relatively bloat-free.

[Mr. Scram]

...by installing Windows 7.

If you really must have the latest, I hear Server 2019 is relatively bloat-free.

Windows 7 is officially still in support but not for much longer. There are also security issues that Microsoft simply won't fix. It's effectively an obsolete OS at this point.

[Rerouter]

I forget the name of it, but all major windows versions have a OEM configuration DVD, with which you can generate a copy of that flavor of windows with literally thousands of little things you can turn on or off, It runs all the cross checks and builds it into an ISO you can then use as a normal windows install,

I would guess windows 10 would be no different, the windows 7 one I came across had an obscene amount of options, Including templates for stripped down to 0 versions with only a command line for windows 7 that became about a 330MB ISO,

So there is someone out there with a distribution ISO of windows 10 with none of the crap, just clean and crisp, for the rest of us, It involves a backup, then ripping out chunks until it gets upset, change tact and keep on ripping,

[IdahoMan]

Answer: I got Linux!

M$ isn't in the OS market anymore as far as I am concerned.

[electromotive]

Answer: I got Linux!

M$ isn't in the OS market anymore as far as I am concerned.

I use MacOS exclusively. My Windows PC only exists for the handful of design programs.

[james_s]

I wipe it and install Windows 7 if I need Windows, or Ubuntu if the required software is available for that. I put my computer-illiterate mother on Linux a couple years ago and it has been smooth sailing, she wouldn't have realized it wasn't just a new version of Windows if I hadn't told her. It runs a browser, pdf reader, word processor and spreadsheet and that's all she needs.

Win7 is old but IMHO it represents the pinnacle of MS operating system development. Some people fret about security but I'm personally not worried about it in the least, I've had Windows Update turned off for several years now on everything and I've had fewer problems overall than when I was diligent of keeping everything up to date. Being the tech guy in the family I've cleaned up malware on dozens of PCs over the years and the number that were the result of unpatched exploits? Absolutely zero, zilch, none. *Every* single one was the result of the user installing something sketchy, either out of ignorance or because it was cleverly bundled with an installer and they skipped past the fine print too quickly, that's how the two malware infections I've had on my own machines happened and once I became wise to that trick years ago it hasn't happened since.

Security patches are very important for outward facing systems, servers that are exposed to the wide open internet. For the average PC though you've got a firewall and NAT in almost all cases and the system is not externally exposed, not infallible by any means but nothing is. Use an up to date browser, run NoScript and AdBlock at all times, don't go to sketchy sites, don't download sketchy stuff, and most importantly, back up any data you don't want to lose. Security comes from user practices, not Microsoft patching the OS, and for the typical home PC the updates just aren't that important except to those who have a vested interest in selling new software or just can't help parroting hysteria. Frankly I see Windows Update as far more of a threat than malware ever since Microsoft started abusing it in their heavy handed attempt to force Windows 10 on everybody. I've had to fix more than one machine that got hosed by the update process, wouldn't have been any worse off if a virus infection had required a complete reformat and reinstall.

[TERRA Operative]

I use this:
https://www.winprivacy.de/english-home/

Followed by this:
https://winaero.com/comment.php?comment.news.1836

Then my Onedrive removal script:
https://github.com/TERRAOperative/OneDrive-Uninstaller

Works great across multiple machines so far.

[james_s]

I use MacOS exclusively. My Windows PC only exists for the handful of design programs.

My work issued laptop is a Macbook Pro and I quite like the OS. The hardware is nicely built too but sadly the machine is severely crippled by form over function fashion decisions. It's much thinner than it has to be, so thin in fact that it's a bit awkward to carry. The ports are very limited, nothing at all beyond four USB-C ports and a headphone jack. Battery life is less than impressive, I can't even get through a full day at the office without plugging it in, a problem that could have easily been solved by a few more mm of thickness. The keyboard is crap, the key travel is minuscule resulting in a loud clacking sound and uncomfortable feel. The cooling is inadequate, resulting in rapid thermal throttling under any kind of serious use. The trackpad is absurdly huge to the point that it gets in the way, I find myself using a small patch in the lower right corner, making it 25% the size it is would have been perfectly adequate. The touch bar is a neat gimmick but it's just that, a gimmick, I use it for adjusting the screen brightness, sound volume and taking screenshots, nothing more. Then there's the big deal breaker for me, the RAM and SSD are soldered to the motherboard, zero expandability. Calling it a "Pro" machine is a joke, the models from 10 years ago were far better designs. I like MacOS, despite its flaws the polish and user experience is in a whole different class than Windows, my uptime is more than 200 days now without a single rude interruption from an update and it is still performing flawlessly, not getting slow and glitchy the way Windows does after a month or two without a reboot.

If Apple is not going to get their head out of their ass and design some actual pro machines aimed at power users then they should license their OS to run on 3rd party hardware. While it's possible to build a hackintosh, in practice I've found it to be far more screwing around than it's worth for any serious use. You might get it working fine with enough effort but if you ever decide to update to a later version of the OS you could be SOL.

[rdl]

I think your only hope is switching to Linux.

Windows is no longer an operating system. It's a service designed to make money for Microsoft and they're going to be changing it frequently. Every change/update basically resets the system to the way Microsoft wants it to run. Your preferences are irrelevant.

I installed Windows 10 on a test computer late last year just to see how bad it really was. Funny thing is, what ticked me off the most was not the privacy issues, but the extent to which they take over the machine.

As an example, there are a ton of "Windows apps" that want to be running all the time despite being mostly useless, and they all want to be sniffing at your data and sharing it between themselves all the time.

I couldn't find a simple way to remove all those useless "apps" completely and literally almost threw the computer at the wall out of frustration. I unplugged the machine and haven't started it up since. The next time I do start it, it will be to install Linux of some kind.

In my world, the only reason for Windows 10 would be to play a game that I really, really want to play, but won't run on anything else. Everything else I need to do on a computer is either trivial on Linux or works fine on Windows 7.

[Karel]

I don't use w10. Not at home and not at work. Except for the wifes notebook, where I installed O&O Shutup10:

https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10

[soldar]

Answer: I got Linux!

M$ isn't in the OS market anymore as far as I am concerned.

Yup. I am running Win XP PRO SP3 on my old machine and Linux Mint on my newer machine. No way I am running Win10. No way.

But I am facing the same problem MS is facing which is that computing is moving away from computers and into mobile devices. I still only have an old dumb phone which is only good for talking, which is all I need, but my wife has an Android phone and I feel, like with Windows 10, she has totally lost control of her privacy and her info. 

That is the way the world is going and people don't seem to care.

When she upgraded her phone she gave me her old Samsung Galaxy S7 but I saw I need to have an account with Google and the phone is sitting on my desk and I have no intention of using it.

Maybe some day in the future we can have an alternative to Android which does not spy on us. In the meanwhile if I need to look up something on the phone I just ask my wife to do it for me.

I think your only hope is switching to Linux.

Windows is no longer an operating system. It's a service designed to make money for Microsoft and they're going to be changing it frequently. Every change/update basically resets the system to the way Microsoft wants it to run. Your preferences are irrelevant.

I installed Windows 10 on a test computer late last year just to see how bad it really was. Funny thing is, what ticked me off the most was not the privacy issues, but the extent to which they take over the machine.

As an example, there are a ton of "Windows apps" that want to be running all the time despite being mostly useless, and they all want to be sniffing at your data and sharing it between themselves all the time.

I couldn't find a simple way to remove all those useless "apps" completely and literally almost threw the computer at the wall out of frustration. I unplugged the machine and haven't started it up since. The next time I do start it, it will be to install Linux of some kind.

In my world, the only reason for Windows 10 would be to play a game that I really, really want to play, but won't run on anything else. Everything else I need to do on a computer is either trivial on Linux or works fine on Windows 7.

The thing is that Linux also has its own set of problems. It is still half baked and needs to boil some more before it's done and ready for a wide audience. It is not quite ready for non-nerd consumers.

It seems to me there would be a market for alternatives to Win 10 and to Android which respected privacy and configuration. I think people would be willing to pay for that but it seems both Google and MS make more money selling our info.

[Karel]

The thing is that Linux also has its own set of problems. It is still half baked and needs to boil some more before it's done and ready for a wide audience. It is not quite ready for non-nerd consumers.

This is exactly why I do like Linux. It's not ready for a wide audience. But it is ready for engineers.
This means that Linux is mostly used by engineers, technicians, researchers and otherwise people
who know more or less what they are doing. No housewifes, kids or other people for which the OS is just
a gateway to the internet or games.

[stevelup]

You could look into Windows 10 IoT / LTSB - I don't think there are legitimate ways of end users getting hold of it though.

It is basically Windows 10 with -all- the cruft removed. Literally the only unwanted thing that's installed is One Drive and that can be got rid of with a single GPO.

[apis]

I like Linux as well, just be aware that it requires a bit of effort to learn a new operating system. It's a bit like learning a new language, it can be frustrating at first. You need to crawl before you can walk, walk before you can run. But it's only a problem for whoever is going to administer the system or do complex things, for casual users there is little difference. My mother actually prefers Ubuntu to Windows, I had to install it for her but I also would have had to install windows for her if it didn't come pre-installed.

[soldar]

I like Linux as well, just be aware that it requires a bit of effort to learn a new operating system. It's a bit like learning a new language, it can be frustrating at first. You need to crawl before you can walk, walk before you can run. But it's only a problem for whoever is going to administer the system or do complex things, for casual users there is little difference. My mother actually prefers Ubuntu to Windows, I had to install it for her but I also would have had to install windows for her if it didn't come pre-installed.

She-who-must-be-obeyed appointed me "system administrator" and herself "casual user" and that is the end of that! So I have to spend countless hours discovering and learning things and even wrestling with things that do not work or work very badly. To give an example, Chinese language input in Windows just works with no problems while in Linux I've had to wrestle for hours and still it only half-works. No solution can be found.

There are some very basic things which leave a lot to be desired in Linux Mint and it seems the developers are more concerned with developing fancy skins and DUIs than a solid, stable OS. From one version to the next things change and you need to start learning. Kind of like Windows.

And Linux Mint gets plenty of updates. I am pretty sure I get on average more than one per day. The difference for me is that they are updates mostly of separate software packages and not of one Big Brother trying to tell me what to do. I do not mind Linux updates because I just download them whenever I want (and IF I want).

[apis]

To give an example, Chinese language input in Windows just works with no problems while in Linux I've had to wrestle for hours and still it only half-works. No solution can be found.

I've never tried that so I don't know how to do it, but they use Linux in China (and other Asian countries with a logographic script system) so I'm pretty sure it can be made to work well.

I found this when googling, maybe it helps: http://ubuntuhandbook.org/index.php/2016/07/2-best-chinese-pinyin-im-ubuntu-16-04/
I have no idea if it works though, and the instructions are for Ubuntu!

There are some very basic things which leave a lot to be desired in Linux Mint and it seems the developers are more concerned with developing fancy skins and DUIs than a solid, stable OS. From one version to the next things change and you need to start learning. Kind of like Windows.

There isn't one set of developers for Linux, the people who develop the kernel are not the same people who are configuring the desktop (that is usually done by the people behind the distributions). How stable it will be also mostly depends on the distribution (and there are hundreds of distributions). I haven't tried Mint yet so I don't have an opinion about it, I'm still using Ubuntu.

[schmitt trigger]

Subscribing to this thread.

[soldar]

I've never tried that so I don't know how to do it, but they use Linux in China (and other Asian countries with a logographic script system) so I'm pretty sure it can be made to work well.

There are Chinese distributions of Linux and they, obviously, support Chinese input but I am not about to install a Chinese distribution of Linux.  Linux Mint has serious problems with Chinese input while in Windows it works right out of the box with no problems since Win98.

I found this when googling, maybe it helps: http://ubuntuhandbook.org/index.php/2016/07/2-best-chinese-pinyin-im-ubuntu-16-04/
I have no idea if it works though, and the instructions are for Ubuntu!

Thanks but no thanks. I have already spent way too many hours and got to a point where it sort of works with some workarounds. I do not want to spend any more time on this. I was close to setting my Linux machine on fire to dispose of the problem. 

As I say, it just shows Linux Mint is sort of half baked and needs some polishing. When you drag an item to the desktop it does not land where you put it but several spaces away. Really? This seems like something pretty basic. It is very annoying. I have plenty of similar complaints.

There isn't one set of developers for Linux, the people who develop the kernel are not the same people who are configuring the desktop (that is usually done by the people behind the distributions). How stable it will be also mostly depends on the distribution (and there are hundreds of distributions). I haven't tried Mint yet so I don't have an opinion about it, I'm still using Ubuntu.

That might explain it but does not make it any better or less annoying.  Still, as I said, I prefer Linux Mint to Windows 10 and so I am using it.

[james_s]

I like Linux as well, just be aware that it requires a bit of effort to learn a new operating system. It's a bit like learning a new language, it can be frustrating at first. You need to crawl before you can walk, walk before you can run. But it's only a problem for whoever is going to administer the system or do complex things, for casual users there is little difference. My mother actually prefers Ubuntu to Windows, I had to install it for her but I also would have had to install windows for her if it didn't come pre-installed.

Yes but if you're coming from WinXP/Vista/7 to Win10 then there are enough changes that you already need to learn a new OS anyway. In my case the first time I saw Win8 I thought "What the @(*^#& is this??!" and that pushed me to really start using Linux on a day to day basis on my secondary laptop and getting familiar with it.

Ubuntu installs just as easily as Windows these days and most things work out of the box. You can do complex customization if you want but you don't have to. For casual users I'd say it's 100% there already. It runs a web browser, that's all a lot of people need anymore and then there is lots of other great software. Drawing, painting, audio, video, drafting, games, etc. Then for those who need more you can run Windows under Virtualbox.

The Linux update system is *far* superior to that in Windows too. For one thing you have 100% control over the process if you want. You can set it to auto-update which also works very smoothly, it can install updates in the background without interrupting what you do, most updates don't require a reboot at all and those that do patiently wait until you decide to reboot the machine yourself. When that happens they just boot up, no sitting there for 45 minutes not letting you use the machine. The way Windows handles updates now is absurd, it is obnoxious to the point of being unusable. My friend is a gamer so he's pretty much forced to use Win10 on his gaming/VR machine. He doesn't use it all that frequently and complains that every time he does go to use it he has to wait an hour for the damn thing to install updates he didn't ask for and doesn't want. It's crazy to me that anyone finds this acceptable.

[apis]

I like Linux as well, just be aware that it requires a bit of effort to learn a new operating system. It's a bit like learning a new language, it can be frustrating at first. You need to crawl before you can walk, walk before you can run. But it's only a problem for whoever is going to administer the system or do complex things, for casual users there is little difference. My mother actually prefers Ubuntu to Windows, I had to install it for her but I also would have had to install windows for her if it didn't come pre-installed.

Yes but if you're coming from WinXP/Vista/7 to Win10 then there are enough changes that you already need to learn a new OS anyway. In my case the first time I saw Win8 I thought "What the @(*^#& is this??!" and that pushed me to really start using Linux on a day to day basis on my secondary laptop and getting familiar with it.

Ubuntu installs just as easily as Windows these days and most things work out of the box. You can do complex customization if you want but you don't have to. For casual users I'd say it's 100% there already. It runs a web browser, that's all a lot of people need anymore and then there is lots of other great software. Drawing, painting, audio, video, drafting, games, etc. Then for those who need more you can run Windows under Virtualbox.

Yes, that is true. I just worry someone might expect it to be a perfectly smooth ride; there will inevitably be some frustration when switching to a new OS.

I remember that something simple, like no longer having access to the same utility programs I was used to could be frustrating. For example, I couldn't find a simple paint program when I needed it because it wasn't called MS Paint like I was used to (there are many such programs but they are not installed by default as far as I know). The default calculator application didn't use to be particularly good, the current one in Ubuntu 18 is ok, but I would still recommend a program called speedcrunch. Such small problems could cause a lot of stress. It's a lot easier to find help and suggestions online now though.

Linux has come a long way in terms of ease of use. You once had to configure X manually, and there were warnings that if you get the monitor scan-rates wrong you might blow up you monitor. Not for the faint of heart. (Most of the difficulty back then was dealing with buggy or nonexistent drivers though). Today the installation process for Ubuntu is easy as long as you go with the defaults. I would say it's a lot easier than installing windows actually, but the big difference is that windows is often pre-installed when you buy a new computer.

The people who have most difficulty in my experience are not the casual users, but rather those who are windows power users and one day want to install a web server for example. Suddenly they finds themselves trying to configure apache, mysql and php using bash, sudo and vi, realising they don't even know where the configuration files are stored. You have to learn to use the command line interface if you want to do more advanced things (especially server related). There is no problem with that imo, but there is a learning curve (it was worth the effort though). But for casual use you don't have to worry about that.

The Linux update system is *far* superior to that in Windows too. For one thing you have 100% control over the process if you want. You can set it to auto-update which also works very smoothly, it can install updates in the background without interrupting what you do, most updates don't require a reboot at all and those that do patiently wait until you decide to reboot the machine yourself. When that happens they just boot up, no sitting there for 45 minutes not letting you use the machine. The way Windows handles updates now is absurd, it is obnoxious to the point of being unusable. My friend is a gamer so he's pretty much forced to use Win10 on his gaming/VR machine. He doesn't use it all that frequently and complains that every time he does go to use it he has to wait an hour for the damn thing to install updates he didn't ask for and doesn't want. It's crazy to me that anyone finds this acceptable.

Completely agree. And it not only updates your operating system, but it can update all programs on your computer! No need to worry about upgrading your browser to get the latest security fixes for example.

I sympathise with your friend. I used dual boot with windows 10 on my latest laptop, but I removed windows eventually since it was practically useless. Whenever booting into windows the computer would insist on installing updates for several hours, often preventing me from using the computer and getting back to work for the rest of the day. Very frustrating when trying to meet a deadline late in the evening and switching into windows for whatever reason. I don't understand how anyone put up with it. If you need windows, definitely put it on a virtual machine!