Getting rid of OEM junk in Windows 11

[jpanhalt]

I finally broke down and bought a laptop on Back to School sales.  It's a Lenovo 16" Yoga with Windows 11 Home and Education OS.

Constantly, there are unwanted pop-ups.  When I installed Google Chrome as my browser, there were at least 4 pop-ups telling me to rely on the Windows browser.  At other times, I get Lenovo ads or current news.

Does a "clean" install of Windows 11 (purchased for one machine) stop or significantly reduce such nagware?  (My current desktop is a BYO with Gigabyte motherboard and Windows 7 Pro 32/64, and I rarely if ever see such pop-ups.) 

[DavidAlfa]

JRT was once a great tool to remove all OEM junk shipped in new computers, before MalwareBytes bought it - and then scrapped it.
Might still detect some crap, download from Bleeping Computer mirror as Author's (MalwareBytes site) is gone:
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/junkware-removal-tool/

For windows 11 specific crap:
https://github.com/cramaboule/Debloat_Windows11

Also if you hate that shi**y right-click menu (Like 99.9999% of people) and want to get it back to something usable, run this as admin:

Code: [Select]

reg add "HKCU\Software\Classes\CLSID\{86ca1aa0-34aa-4e8b-a509-50c905bae2a2}\InprocServer32" /f /ve
Reboot and enjoy having the usual menu back.

[wilfred]

Thiojoe did a video about this a few weeks ago. The title is "Debloat Windows 11 Installations With Just 2 Clicks".

Basically you select "world" as the location during installation.

It's only a short video and IIRC he doesn't claim it as his original idea, so a search will probably find something if you don't want to watch it.

[themadhippy]

If you wipe the existing install make sure youve a back up copy,a mate had hell of a problem with pc world trying to get a warranty repair done because he'd installed a bloat free version of windows

[Kim Christensen]

I do the same as themadhippy with any new computer that comes loaded with crapware:
Download new drivers for the machine onto a flashdrive.
Download windows from MS onto a bootable flashdrive.
Reload the OS entirely (Overwrite and not restore)
Reinstall any necessary drivers.

[Helio_Centra]

I took one look at Windows 11 and switched to Linux.

[coromonadalix]

i would advise to check 

the link batch file, 
the batch file is easier to check, and comment out  what you need to keep

or the JRT  stuff
jrt.exe will expand in the local app user temp file onto jrt folder,    copy it elsewhere and check the content ....


they can rip off good stuff for you ...


Zorin Os is a very good contender / replacement of this w11 crap

[jpanhalt]

Those are all great suggestions.  Thank you.  In the autoexec.bat days of Windows 3, I spent a lot of time there making it do what I wanted.  I don't mess with the register today with such abandon.  As for switching to Linux, that is still an option.  Depending on my success with bloatware, my next question is going to be which version of Linus + additional to use.

I am not sure exactly how to revert to the location signon.  It may not be too difficult.

When going to a fresh install, for my purposes, the important difference between home and pro versions seems to be the ability to run a virtual machine.  Are the freeware versions of that as good or better than the version Microsoft includes?

BTW, I hate touch screens.  Half the time, my very dry skin and short fingernails don't work -- even at Walmart and airport kiosk check ins.  I am considering getting a wifi keyboard to go with my wifi mouse and flip it open to make a small desktop.

John

[DavidAlfa]

I've tried all sort of linux distros. In the end there're still lots of bugs, and the feecking 4-line commands to fix something.
Though I liked Linux Mint. But still, lots of issues.
The system sleeps whenever there's an active ssh connection, or downloading something.
Why the heck there isn't a simple  API, like windows, so any program can do this automatically?
Ah, because there're 200 desktop UIs out there each one using heir own?
So I had to spend an entire afternoon creating a script for systemd.
But! If you make a oneshot script that gets executed when system is goign to sleep, and returns 1 (error) to block it... it never tries to sleep again.
It required all sort of hacks, this is what I hell damn hate about Linux. Always wasting lots of time for the most shitty things.
Feels like hand-cranking a modern car.
Damn, Linux needs to get rid of all that crap. I just DON'T want to master an engineering in Linux systems to use it.

[jpanhalt]

Thank you , David.

I had a feeling it was something like that as I read mentions of all the different distributions/flavors.

[themadhippy]

The system sleeps whenever there's an active ssh connection, or downloading something.

Does it? dont think ive had that happen since i found were the power options were not hidden

Always wasting lots of time for the most shitty things.

yea ive never booted or closed windows and had to wait ages till it finishes its must have,didn't ask me,upgrade.

my next question is going to be which version of Linus + additional to use.

mint is a popular beginners choice as it come with most stuff you want pre loaded,its based on ubuntu,another popular distro,and the one ive been using as my main os since its early days.As for additions that all depends what you want to do.

[DavidAlfa]

Meh, that's different. Windows does it by itself and that's it. You don't have to surf 200 forums to find out how to fix it.

[RoGeorge]

Didn't used Windows for years, but from what I remember Windows used to undo some (if not most) of my tuning with time (during updates, but not necessarily at the first update), so even if you "fix" Windows upon your wish, the junk will return.

At some point I've got sick of fighting against the Windows OS, and switched to Linux.

Tried many Linux flavors at first, and agonized between choices, even tried FreeBSD for a while, which is not Linux but a BSD flavor, like the Mac OS.  Eventually settled to Ubuntu, because it is as easy to use as Windows, and it just works.

Windows won't give up on its habits/style, so in the future expect the "junk" to become more and more aggressive.  By comparison, Linux feels like fresh air.

My advice would be to get yourself comfortable with Linux.  Most important, don't try to make Linux to behave and/or look like Windows, but instead try to adapt/change your working habits to the new OS.

If you manage to make the switch to Linux, you'll never want to go back.

[Bud]

The keyword is "if" 

[50ShadesOfDirt]

+1 to the reload effort. It's the only way to be sure (nuke it from orbit, that is ... if you remember that movie)

Ensure you have all the latest device drivers, buy a copy of Win11 pro, do a clean install, and then reload device drivers. Then:

1. go through the newly installed os and remove any final things you don't want; websites galore with tips on how to do that.

2. install a good backup/restore program (I suggest Macrium Reflect, free version). Practice backing up and restoring, including wiping the existing (newly installed OS) and restoring. build a recovery cd or usb drive.

3. load all your favorite apps & utilities, and do a final macrium backup/restore. Now you have a laptop ready to use, pretty much debloated the way you want, and an initial backup on the shelf, ready to protect you from disaster.

All good practice, as at this stage, you can blow away and reload until the OS is just the way you want it. I go one step further, and put all my files onto another drive (move my home dir to a separate drive); websites will show you how to do this. Now, I can backup and restore the C drive for imaging and disaster recovery. The D drive holds my data, and it's backups of all my data files (my home dir) is very small and fast. Restore the C drive to recover from any kind of disaster. Restore what I need from the D drive backups if any data files lost. All very clean and simple (and separate from each other).

Hope this helps ...

[SiliconWizard]

Windows has gotten bad enough, but the Home editions are the definite worst in terms of unwanted bloatware, lack of configurability, automatic everything.

[edpalmer42]

Didn't used Windows for years, but from what I remember Windows used to undo some (if not most) of my tuning with time (during updates, but not necessarily at the first update), so even if you "fix" Windows upon your wish, the junk will return.

One thing I've noticed, even with Windows 10, is that if you clean up your system, Windows 'fixes' it because the bloatware is re-downloaded from the Microsoft Store.  So be sure to set your Store options to NOT automatically update.

Ed

[Halcyon]

If you wipe the existing install make sure youve a back up copy,a mate had hell of a problem with pc world trying to get a warranty repair done because he'd installed a bloat free version of windows

Warranty isn't impacted by what software you install on your machine. Warranty is there to cover manufacturing faults in hardware if for some reason the machine stops working. This is almost certainly the case worldwide, but certainly in countries like Australia with decent consumer laws. Such a clause would be deemed "unfair".

In any case, you can download disk images from many OEM companies, or you can download a basic Windows ISO directly from Microsoft, which you can use as long as you have a valid licence.

[Bicurico]

Come on, Windows isn't that bad.

Just install a clean Windows from a usb stick prepared with Microsoft's tool.

Then uninstall all undesired apps in the start menu and configure windows to your liking.

I would never install cleaning tools as they bring a whole universe of their own addware crap.

Windows will initially suggest Edge as the default browser, but then stops nagging.

Remember that one uses Windows because of the software it supports.

[Lindley]

Agree with @Bicurico, we recently bought a similar Lenovo and simply uninstalled the crapware and tweaked a few windows settings to suit our needs and then its was a very quiet system.
As a former W10 user, cannot see any point in going back to it if you have paid for the hardware and software  for W11.

Before any changes were made we took a system image of C drive  as supplied, so we could return it to the original state if we got any problems, which we have not had.

[Ranayna]

It the machine has an OEM install, download the Microsoft Media Creation Tool, prepare a USB Stick with it, and re-install the machine from scratch.
That will get rid of the OEM Bloatware.

Afterwards, i like to use O&O Shutup10++. Despite the name, this also works on Windows 11.
As long as you only disable green settings, this is reasonable safe. Many yellows can also be disabled, but you might lose funktionality. Careful with anything red.

[Infraviolet]

"Windows does it by itself and that's it. You don't have to surf 200 forums to find out how to fix it."
Usually because when it is Windows it can't be fixed, ever more so with the newer versions which become ever more like "thin clients", your PC becoming nothing more than an acces portal to a remote server which has full contrl of everything you do, and which happily wrecks your workflow whenever they have a fancy new idea for "how everyone should use it".

As for using Linux like Windows, if you pick a user friendly distro like Mint then it can, for general use, look and feel like Win XP or 7 (the good old Windows versions), you just have to use a different mindset on the rare occasions when you want to install something new or change something.

The real difference is with Linux you can set and forget, whereas with Windows you're always having to fight against a product which thinks it knows what you need better than you do.

[aeberbach]

I have a P1 - you do need Lenovo's drivers to make things work correctly. With vanilla Windows it would never wake from sleep properly, really frustrating to have the laptop closed and connected via USB-C and have to open the lid to wake it up. The Lenovo drivers have not contributed to the frequency of Edge begging to be used which is the major annoyance in Windows for me. Lately there was some nonsense about a new AI feature to add but since dismissing it there has been no repetition.

Also when installing Windows 11 if you want your account to be named what you want rather than the first part of whatever email you use for Microsoft, search for "OOBE\BypassNRO" - various places detail how to install without login.

Linux is surprisingly polished these days, it has been usable for a very long time. If I could just get used to FreeCad I would probably switch.

[Bud]

I took one look at Windows 11 and switched to Linux.

I took looks at Linux many times and at different times and stayed on Windows.

[CatalinaWOW]

I've been trying Linux out since kernel version 0.99.  The first time I actually got a system running was an Ygdrasil distro, and then went to Redhat V6.  The first time I actually got any useful work done was the Mandrake distro.  The last time last week.  I continue to be upset with Windows and their attempt to make every transaction a pay opportunity.   I have been reading Linux magazines since they became a thing in the early 2000s and collecting the ISO DVDs.  But since I want to use the computer to do something, not to tinker with the operating system I have never successfully made the switch.

Last week I wanted to set up a standalone computer to run one tool in my shop.  The software to run this tool is available in Windows, Mac and Linux versions.  I have been using the Windows version for a few years on a laptop and while it is working it isn't really robust for the shop environment.

Set up a desktop machine and load Ubuntu.  It comes up fine but when I go to Firefox to download the tools software (installed as part of the setup) it doesn't work.  It says it is running but no window appears.  Pisser but I use the application manager to download a different browser which works fine and I download the software.  But it isn't in Flatpack format so doesn't work automagically.  The vendor for the software has a help forum and various suggestions are made on how to solve the problem and none of them work.  Tried Mint and Fedora, which had different problems.  All I want to do is run a piece of software that is supposedly usable in the Linux environment.   I have failed after several attempts and am now setting the machine up in Windows.

Windows has lots of irritations, but they really aren't anything compared to trying to keep up with all of the incompatibilities in the Linux universe.  Everyone is having fun trying to make it perfect by "improving" this, that and the other thing, but perfection is the enemy of good enough.  Until Linux settles on more universal operating modes and standards it will never rise out if its niche on the desktop.