10 ms·

Win11Debloat is a simple script that removes pre-installed windows bloatware

123 points by mariuz 3y ago

Belphemur 3y ago
I have a love and hate relationship with this type of tools. On one hand, I want to remove all that I don't need and keep my privacy on my computer; on the other I don't want to have to fiddle and google why the Windows update failed. Because, I stopped counting how many times one of those registry changes/app removal actually broke Windows update. In the end, I just run other software like StartAllBack that I can easily uninstall if it causes issues when updating Windows.
- causi 3y ago
  How's StartAllBack compare to other software like Start11?
  - Semaphor 3y ago
    Afaik is the only one that supports a vertical sidebar.
    - officeplant 3y ago
      What about top
      - causi 3y ago
        The one thing I miss about Vista is the ability to have the whole My Computer menu bar across the top of your desktop.
      - Semaphor 3y ago
        Yeah, works as well. But IIRC most taskbar replacements support that.
    - causi 3y ago
      I wish there was one of these Start replacement programs that expanded the functionality instead of just giving back what Microsoft has taken from us. How about a Taskbar that auto-hides but only after a certain amount of time? How about a Taskbar that expands to show additional rows when you have a lot of windows open and hides itself when you don't?
      - Semaphor 3y ago
        It has some other features, I just don’t need them. I was perfectly happy with the Windows taskbar as it was, all that was missing was a sane position for it, as, unlike the MS devs, I do not have a portrait monitor (at least that’s the only¹ reason I can think of for forcing people to use a horizontal taskbar). ¹: Yes, that’s hyperbole.
- n4te 3y ago
  I use Sledgehammer to control when Windows Update runs and which updates it installs.
- toyg 3y ago
  > times one of those registry changes/app removal actually broke Windows update. If there is an option in Registry, it's clearly an acceptable use-case. The truth is that Microsoft developers are lazy (like most devs) and just fail to test their updates properly - or even intentionally ship broken software, in order to force this or that option back to its (typically privacy-invasive) default.
  - Arainach 3y ago
    That's not true at all. The contents of the registry are not a documented public API. They have no support guarantee. Some keys are documented, but those are not what these tools modify and are not the ones that cause problems. "I deleted a whole bunch of stuff in xorg.conf and my graphics started flickering" is not the fault of Xorg needing more tests.
    - toyg 3y ago
      These options are more like "I deleted a whole bunch of stuff in xorg.conf and my apt-get can't apply patches to KMail". An update-delivery mechanism shouldn't break because the user doesn't want to see ads or run Teams at startup. If the problem is that Windows Update cannot work unless all patches apply flawlessly, then that's a failure of design. If the problem is that the patches themselves assume that things they provide as options might not be set how they wish them to be set, then that's a failure of testing.
      - PlutoIsAPlanet 3y ago
        > If the problem is that Windows Update cannot work unless all patches apply flawlessly, then that's a failure of design. Not at all, it's better for an update to just immediately fail due to unsupported changes made to the OS than potentially leave the system in a unstable state. Windows was going to move to an image-based OS where updates would be atomic, but sadly that never happened (Windows 10X)
        toyg 3y ago
netbioserror 3y ago
If you turn the complexity curve of debloating and custom Windows ROMs about 90 degrees, it's the same as the backwards bend Windows users are doing to avoid jumping to something easier like Linux Mint.
- Black616Angel 3y ago
  No, then they tell you about all the not-working AAA-games they boycott and why that somehow hinders them of using Linux, which they by the way already tried in 1995 and it didn't work out back then so why should it now?
  - netbioserror 3y ago
    If we're expecting consistency, the overlap between "AAA games boycott" and "Linux users" should be fairly significant. I'm doing my part, though I must say, the utterly whelming stock of third-person movie-games is making it a LOT easier.
  - unethical_ban 3y ago
    That's quite a fantasy you've cooked up there. There is nothing demonic about happily gaming on the supported software platform. I have Windows because I play games built for Windows. I have Fedora on my laptop. Edit: oh yeah, a fresh KDE fedora install with encrypted volumes can't open the file manager without doing a one time cli to create a thumbnails directory. And I can't watch h26(4|5) videos in YouTube, supposedly unless I enable a 3p repo and install a package which gives me a dependency conflict.
    - markbnj 3y ago
      Yeah this is me. I've been using Windows since version 3, and was a windows dev for many years before focusing on linux and open source. Now Windows is basically for steam games, media consumption and displaying my work laptop using NoMachine (VNC on steroids, since windows is in control of my two Dell 27" displays and a nice keyboard and mouse).
  - deleted 3y ago
T3RMINATED 3y ago
[dead]
nerdjon 3y ago
I don't remember which one I have used in the past, if it was this one or not. (I think it is but not 100% sure) But this really is not for someone who does not really understand Windows. I ended up having a ton of issues gaming on my computer after this and it took a few tries to get it right. Personally if you don't mind the less than legal options, I highly recommend Windows 10 LTS. I use it on my Steam Deck and it has been amazing. Since it is an official build from Microsoft I have not had any compatibility issues and when something is missing I can easily install it. Been debating on moving my primary computer over but I have not wanted to go through reinstalling everything. Side note, a debloated or LTS version of Windows runs great on my steam deck and I find that I sometimes get better performance than for the same game running under Steam OS. So tools like this can really optimize your setup if you are trying to squeeze as much performance out of your machine as possible.
- anaisbetts 3y ago
  LTSC versions of Windows are literally missing major features and APIs, you should not be surprised if certain apps don't work on this version of Windows. It's designed for kiosk applications, not general purpose computers.
  - userbinator 3y ago
    It's missing all the new stuff that no one really wants.
  - nerdjon 3y ago
    I can't find anything saying it is meant for Kiosk applications that more that this is simply a long term support version of Windows that also removes a lot of the things that are not necessary in an enterprise setting. Now yes it was missing some of the things necessary for gaming but when I installed the Xbox app it easily also installed the other missing components. Windows on my Steam Deck gets daily use from me with the LTSC version and have had no issues.
    - anaisbetts 3y ago
techload 3y ago
BloatyNosy (similar to ThisIsWin11) is better: https://github.com/builtbybel/BloatyNosy/releases https://github.com/builtbybel/BloatyNosy/releases
- layer8 3y ago
  It seems this requires you to use a GUI? I find a customizable script that I can run in one go and repeatedly preferable.
sklargh 3y ago
Windows’ product marketing teams are doing more to drive me towards Linux than any actual benefit Linux offers. The only things keeping me on Windows are Microsoft Flight Simulator and some obscure wargames.
blantonl 3y ago
Imagine the goodwill Microsoft could garner with advanced users if this was a simple mouse click during the installation. Advanced Install > Minimal Install
- sokoloff 3y ago
  How much is the goodwill of those advanced users worth (incrementally over today) compared to the rev-share and advertising dollars they’d lose by regular users choosing this after watching a YouTube or two? Yeah, I’d like it, but it’s not hard to see why Microsoft doesn’t want to offer it.
- mschuster91 3y ago
  It would cost them too much money. Everyone is in for rent seeking these days... back in ye olde days (aka early '00s) you could actually buy operating systems or software, and you could keep using them virtually forever if you were fine that after a year or two you wouldn't get any bugfixes, and no new features at all. Nowadays, people simply don't have the money to shell out hundreds of dollars for Windows, Office or the Adobe Suite (the CS6 Master Collection was like what, 8.000$?) any more, and so it's cheaper on paper for everyone to either have subscription models (like Adobe or MS Office) or "freemium" models (Windows). Obviously Microsoft has to make up the difference in income somehow, and they chose to go the advertising route. Offering an easy way to get rid of all the invasive advertising and tracking would kill that golden goose.
- izacus 3y ago
  That's the Microsoft which will kick you back into setup wizard on every major update and try to reset default browser, search and document editing apps to Edge/Bing/Office-Outlook?
Dead_Lemon 3y ago
I like using the VMware Horizon OS Optimization Tool. Its quite powerful at removing bloat and unneeded features for running windows smoothly in a VM, with granular control. Installing windows in Audit mode was also a useful discovery, that this tool recommended doing for a fresh install.
hardware2win 3y ago
I dont see restoring old right click context menu
- throwingtoofar 3y ago
  You can do this by deleting the default value (should be 'C:\Windows\System32\Windows.UI.FileExplorer.dll') under the following key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{86ca1aa0-34aa-4e8b-a509-50c905bae2a2}\InProcServer32 though IIRC a tool to escalate privileges is needed to be able to modify the key. The tool I posted elsewhere in the thread has an option to restore the old context menu but its overkill to create an ISO and do a complete re-install just for that xD.
throwingtoofar 3y ago
An alternative is Optimize-Offline[0] which uses deprovisioning to remove packages from a Windows install ISO. This is a method which mimics Windows' official methods which should prevent things being re-added when updating. There are also tweaks to remove the TPM requirement and allow Windows 11 to run on older unsupported CPUs. [0] https://github.com/gdeliana/Optimize-Offline https://github.com/gdeliana/Optimize-Offline Edit: To mention there is also an option to bypass the online account requirement.
- j1elo 3y ago
  Not sure if your link is really a viable alternative. The first line of the Readme says it is for Windows 10: > Optimize-Offline is a Windows Image (WIM/ESD) optimization module designed for Windows 10 versions 1803-to-2009 64-bit architectures.
  - throwingtoofar 3y ago
    Works with windows 11, I have it on an unsupported gen 6 intel desktop + a newer laptop. This version is a fork of the original thats no longer maintained but they didn't update the readme.
- blinkingled 3y ago
  Interesting. But seems to only support Windows 10?
  - throwingtoofar 3y ago
    Works with windows 11 too.
dmaa 3y ago
I swear I wanted to smash my work computer being permanently molested by some xbox overlay when using some random shortcut. Wtf were they thinking?
- duffyjp 3y ago
  I mostly use Macs, and without wasting your time with the details my CTRL-C equivalent in the Terminal is WindowsKey-C. Well, I was in Powershell on Windows 11 yesterday and needed to CTRL-C something and muscle memoried my Mac shortcut and it popped up some sort of chat GUI with no [X] button. What the heck is this stuff? Who wants these features? I do have to say after much reluctance I upgraded my PC from Windows 10 to 11 and it's much more than a reskin. I even shoehorned it on my 4th gen i7 laptop and it's never run better. I'm looking forward to trying this tonight to get rid of some of the cruft.
  - hospitalJail 3y ago
    If you don't have a video card, it takes minutes to change to Linux. If you have a video card, it takes hours. Still better than M$.
    - duffyjp 3y ago
      I dual boot (currently Artix) but the gaming experience is still best on Windows.
    - MikusR 3y ago
      What is M$?
dz0ny 3y ago
I use https://christitus.com/debloat-windows-10-2020/ https://christitus.com/debloat-windows-10-2020/ a bit more options
- PcChip 3y ago
  A friend introduced me to him at a bar, they were old friends. I had no idea who he was but kept thinking he really looked familiar. Very nice guy!
stabbles 3y ago
Another way to debloat windows is not to have windows at all
mellosouls 3y ago
Had a quick skim. Hmm, Teams, OneNote and Remote Desktop considered bloatware, gaming apps not. Not sure of the target demographic for this. Perhaps worth considering very carefully before running in productivity or office environments, assuming you have access.
- theandrewbailey 3y ago
  I have to use that bloatware every day. Teams is pretty much the definition of it. I agree with the script.
- bhouston 3y ago
  Yeah, I agree. I think games do count as bloat generally, so should be removed by default. Maybe have a few more questions in the custom mode: - Remove Teams - Remove OneNote - Remove RemoteDesktop - Remove Games I would answer yes to all the above but Remote Desktop. A GUI with a tree view would be best for the custom mode. Then you can drill into the categories.
  - brian_herman 3y ago
    Try this it has a gui its called sophia app. https://github.com/Sophia-Community/SophiApp https://github.com/Sophia-Community/SophiApp
- anaisbetts 3y ago
  It also removes the Video player which is odd because like, I feel like that kinda should be built into an OS?
  - n4te 3y ago
    No, no it shouldn't.
    - anaisbetts 3y ago
      Really? You think that a modern consumer/professional operating system, upon double-clicking a video, should do nothing? That's a thing that you would ship to an entire planet full of Regular People and say "Yes, this is the Right Thing. You should be happy about this result"
loufe 3y ago
I've been using SophiApp[0]/SophiScript for the last 6 months whenever I take a look at a Windows computer. I appreciate the GUI for case-specific toggling of certain features. Like it or not, the people we help sometimes want some of these things. 0 - https://github.com/Sophia-Community/SophiApp https://github.com/Sophia-Community/SophiApp
ta8645 3y ago
Having been bitten in the past, i'm always terrified that tools like this contain malware.
- mikelovenotwar 3y ago
  There's precious little code to read....
sakex 3y ago
I'd love to have a way to remove Edge. But it seems impossible.
- BasedAnon 3y ago
  there's a really easy way to remove edge, just install Ubuntu!
  - sakex 3y ago
    True ahah. And that's what I did. I'm dual booting my desktop but I do need Windows for gaming.
- whyoh 3y ago
  Have you tried to do an internet search? There are simple step-by-step tutorials that tell you how to do it (and no 3rd party software is required). Note: it can get reinstalled automatically after an update, but you can add a registry setting to prevent that.
  - sakex 3y ago
    Yes that's my issue, it always come back (like weekly). I was not aware I could add a registry entry. I'll try, thank you :=)
gjvc 3y ago
relevant https://blog.frantovo.cz/s/1576/Niklaus%20Wirth%20-%20A%20Plea%20for%20Lean%20Software%20-%20OCR.pdf https://blog.frantovo.cz/s/1576/Niklaus%20Wirth%20-%20A%20Pl...
yabones 3y ago
Some bad advice in there... Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Force Should be: Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Scope Process Turning off that feature permanently is a bad idea.
- housemusicfan 3y ago
  You're trying to convince a bunch of people that think curl | sudo sh with random scripts off the internet is perfectly okay.
  - _xivi 3y ago
    What better alternatives do you recommend?
    - smt88 3y ago
      Signed executables
      - _xivi 3y ago
        Are there signed executables that do what Win11Debloat and similar tools do?
        smt88 3y ago
        I know that ShutUp10 is signed[1]. 1. https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10 https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10
    - joshuaissac 3y ago
      > What better alternatives do you recommend? Install packages only from the operating system's package repository or from another trusted repository. If the software installer is only available as a script, download the script manually and check its contents instead of piping it to a root shell (and maybe run it in a VM instead). That way, you can know if the code is trying to do something nefarious. Piping to Bash can also be detected server side, so a server can serve malicious code when it is piped and good code when it is not. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11532599 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11532599
Saris 3y ago
>Hide the 'Include in library', 'Give access to' and 'Share' options in the context menu. Uh no? How are you supposed to set up network shares. And why is it removing useful apps like 3D Viewer and Remote Desktop?
ckozlowski 3y ago
Humbly submitting Chris Titus' Debloat tool as well for comparison. I've enjoyed using Chris' tool, as the GUI design makes it easy to a-la-carte select which you want removed and not, along with recommendations. Makes it very clear to see what's being removed. https://github.com/ChrisTitusTech/winutil https://github.com/ChrisTitusTech/winutil
- KeyBoardG 3y ago
  It looks neat, but running off of his site directly via an administrator elevated powershell is an awful security practice.
  - smt88 3y ago
    That was an instant dealbreaker for me. Someone who pushes that can't be given basic trust for literally anything else. At the very least, he could've hosted the script on github.com, which is far less likely to be hijacked than his personal domain.
    - KeyBoardG 3y ago
      He sells it wrapped in an EXE for $10. That provides incentive to not make things easy or follow any best practices.
psyclobe 3y ago
Best debloat technique is to just switch to Linux
johnnyworker 3y ago
Why does win11 even exist, after w10 having been introduced as the final OS? What crap does it contain that couldn't be put into 10 via updates? Why would you use it voluntarily? I'm honestly curious.
OliveMate 3y ago
Has anyone here tried this? When projects like this normally pop up I see people talk about potential issues with future Windows updates. -- I'm in a bit of a tricky spot, in the next month or two I'll be building a new PC and I really don't know what to do about the OS. Windows is familiar, easy, and I know how to fix things with it, but the increasing amount of bloat and needless online integration is putting me off Windows 11 (my current W10 doesn't have the start menu online search thank God). Recently I got sick of Windows 11's bloat + poor performance on my ThinkPad and Iinstalled Linux. I got a month and a half out of Fedora until something happened and half of my flatpaks would crash seconds after launch – even with terminal logs and the entire internet to sift through, I knew that I was way above my head. Currently I'm on Mint and hoping I don't run into anything like that again. I can use Linux, but I know the limits of my knowledge. I can take a semi-disposable nature with what I put on my laptop, if I have to install another Linux distro I'll do it in a heartbeat. But with my desktop, I can't take the same approach. And again, Windows is familiar enough to me that I can diagnose + fix issues easily. I'd just like to know people's experiences with running scripts like this.
- rafiere 3y ago
  [dead]
wombat-man 3y ago
I could really go for something like Ninite that let me easily customize win11. It's about turning stuff off but also enabling some of those optional windows features like hyper-v. Just let me install, fire up ninite, that util, and we're off.
mikedelago 3y ago
My question to this is "why go through the trouble of doing this when there's operating systems where you don't need to do a debloat step" I realize the answer is that people use Windows because the software they use requires Windows, but it just irks me that this is the solution to not wanting a "bloated" OS.
- DrThunder 3y ago
  There are versions of Windows that do not have the bloat issue. Enterprise or Education are good options.
  - hospitalJail 3y ago
    I was considering getting Enterprise edition, but the side by side comparison between Home and Enterprise did not mention the lack of bloat. It showed literally only 1 checkbox about some security thing. Ended up going with Linux since it seemed OneDrive/malware was inevitable.
DrThunder 3y ago
Is this any better than decrapifier? https://community.spiceworks.com/scripts/show/4378-windows-10-decrapifier-18xx-19xx-2xxx https://community.spiceworks.com/scripts/show/4378-windows-1...
kornhole 3y ago
What makes this superior or more easy than https://privacy.sexy/ https://privacy.sexy/?
hospitalJail 3y ago
A bit too late for me. I got nailed with deleting a 5gb documents folder on OneDrive. It deleted my local 25GB documents folder. In the recycling bin was 5gb of files, the other 20GB of files are gone. Installed Linux, which sucked for a few hours, but I'm so happy to be free of Microsoft!!!
pentagrama 3y ago
I may be wrong, but this tool seems more trustworthy to me https://www.oo-software.com/en/ooappbuster https://www.oo-software.com/en/ooappbuster You always have to be careful with tools that modify Windows, you may have issues, specially with Windows updates.

123 points by mariuz 3y ago

I have a love and hate relationship with this type of tools. On one hand, I want to remove all that I don't need and keep my privacy on my computer; on the other I don't want to have to fiddle and google why the Windows update failed. Because, I stopped counting how many times one of those registry changes/app removal actually broke Windows update. In the end, I just run other software like StartAllBack that I can easily uninstall if it causes issues when updating Windows.

causi 3y ago
How's StartAllBack compare to other software like Start11?
- Semaphor 3y ago
  Afaik is the only one that supports a vertical sidebar.
  - officeplant 3y ago
    What about top
    - causi 3y ago
      The one thing I miss about Vista is the ability to have the whole My Computer menu bar across the top of your desktop.
    - Semaphor 3y ago
      Yeah, works as well. But IIRC most taskbar replacements support that.
  - causi 3y ago
    I wish there was one of these Start replacement programs that expanded the functionality instead of just giving back what Microsoft has taken from us. How about a Taskbar that auto-hides but only after a certain amount of time? How about a Taskbar that expands to show additional rows when you have a lot of windows open and hides itself when you don't?
    - Semaphor 3y ago
      It has some other features, I just don’t need them. I was perfectly happy with the Windows taskbar as it was, all that was missing was a sane position for it, as, unlike the MS devs, I do not have a portrait monitor (at least that’s the only¹ reason I can think of for forcing people to use a horizontal taskbar). ¹: Yes, that’s hyperbole.
n4te 3y ago
I use Sledgehammer to control when Windows Update runs and which updates it installs.
toyg 3y ago
> times one of those registry changes/app removal actually broke Windows update. If there is an option in Registry, it's clearly an acceptable use-case. The truth is that Microsoft developers are lazy (like most devs) and just fail to test their updates properly - or even intentionally ship broken software, in order to force this or that option back to its (typically privacy-invasive) default.
- Arainach 3y ago
  That's not true at all. The contents of the registry are not a documented public API. They have no support guarantee. Some keys are documented, but those are not what these tools modify and are not the ones that cause problems. "I deleted a whole bunch of stuff in xorg.conf and my graphics started flickering" is not the fault of Xorg needing more tests.
  - toyg 3y ago
    These options are more like "I deleted a whole bunch of stuff in xorg.conf and my apt-get can't apply patches to KMail". An update-delivery mechanism shouldn't break because the user doesn't want to see ads or run Teams at startup. If the problem is that Windows Update cannot work unless all patches apply flawlessly, then that's a failure of design. If the problem is that the patches themselves assume that things they provide as options might not be set how they wish them to be set, then that's a failure of testing.
    - PlutoIsAPlanet 3y ago
      > If the problem is that Windows Update cannot work unless all patches apply flawlessly, then that's a failure of design. Not at all, it's better for an update to just immediately fail due to unsupported changes made to the OS than potentially leave the system in a unstable state. Windows was going to move to an image-based OS where updates would be atomic, but sadly that never happened (Windows 10X)
      - toyg 3y ago

netbioserror 3y ago

If you turn the complexity curve of debloating and custom Windows ROMs about 90 degrees, it's the same as the backwards bend Windows users are doing to avoid jumping to something easier like Linux Mint.

Black616Angel 3y ago
No, then they tell you about all the not-working AAA-games they boycott and why that somehow hinders them of using Linux, which they by the way already tried in 1995 and it didn't work out back then so why should it now?
- netbioserror 3y ago
  If we're expecting consistency, the overlap between "AAA games boycott" and "Linux users" should be fairly significant. I'm doing my part, though I must say, the utterly whelming stock of third-person movie-games is making it a LOT easier.
- unethical_ban 3y ago
  That's quite a fantasy you've cooked up there. There is nothing demonic about happily gaming on the supported software platform. I have Windows because I play games built for Windows. I have Fedora on my laptop. Edit: oh yeah, a fresh KDE fedora install with encrypted volumes can't open the file manager without doing a one time cli to create a thumbnails directory. And I can't watch h26(4|5) videos in YouTube, supposedly unless I enable a 3p repo and install a package which gives me a dependency conflict.
  - markbnj 3y ago
    Yeah this is me. I've been using Windows since version 3, and was a windows dev for many years before focusing on linux and open source. Now Windows is basically for steam games, media consumption and displaying my work laptop using NoMachine (VNC on steroids, since windows is in control of my two Dell 27" displays and a nice keyboard and mouse).
- deleted 3y ago

T3RMINATED 3y ago

[dead]

nerdjon 3y ago

I don't remember which one I have used in the past, if it was this one or not. (I think it is but not 100% sure) But this really is not for someone who does not really understand Windows. I ended up having a ton of issues gaming on my computer after this and it took a few tries to get it right. Personally if you don't mind the less than legal options, I highly recommend Windows 10 LTS. I use it on my Steam Deck and it has been amazing. Since it is an official build from Microsoft I have not had any compatibility issues and when something is missing I can easily install it. Been debating on moving my primary computer over but I have not wanted to go through reinstalling everything. Side note, a debloated or LTS version of Windows runs great on my steam deck and I find that I sometimes get better performance than for the same game running under Steam OS. So tools like this can really optimize your setup if you are trying to squeeze as much performance out of your machine as possible.

anaisbetts 3y ago
LTSC versions of Windows are literally missing major features and APIs, you should not be surprised if certain apps don't work on this version of Windows. It's designed for kiosk applications, not general purpose computers.
- userbinator 3y ago
  It's missing all the new stuff that no one really wants.
- nerdjon 3y ago
  I can't find anything saying it is meant for Kiosk applications that more that this is simply a long term support version of Windows that also removes a lot of the things that are not necessary in an enterprise setting. Now yes it was missing some of the things necessary for gaming but when I installed the Xbox app it easily also installed the other missing components. Windows on my Steam Deck gets daily use from me with the LTSC version and have had no issues.
  - anaisbetts 3y ago

techload 3y ago

BloatyNosy (similar to ThisIsWin11) is better: https://github.com/builtbybel/BloatyNosy/releases https://github.com/builtbybel/BloatyNosy/releases

layer8 3y ago
It seems this requires you to use a GUI? I find a customizable script that I can run in one go and repeatedly preferable.

sklargh 3y ago

Windows’ product marketing teams are doing more to drive me towards Linux than any actual benefit Linux offers. The only things keeping me on Windows are Microsoft Flight Simulator and some obscure wargames.

blantonl 3y ago

Imagine the goodwill Microsoft could garner with advanced users if this was a simple mouse click during the installation. Advanced Install > Minimal Install

sokoloff 3y ago
How much is the goodwill of those advanced users worth (incrementally over today) compared to the rev-share and advertising dollars they’d lose by regular users choosing this after watching a YouTube or two? Yeah, I’d like it, but it’s not hard to see why Microsoft doesn’t want to offer it.
mschuster91 3y ago
It would cost them too much money. Everyone is in for rent seeking these days... back in ye olde days (aka early '00s) you could actually buy operating systems or software, and you could keep using them virtually forever if you were fine that after a year or two you wouldn't get any bugfixes, and no new features at all. Nowadays, people simply don't have the money to shell out hundreds of dollars for Windows, Office or the Adobe Suite (the CS6 Master Collection was like what, 8.000$?) any more, and so it's cheaper on paper for everyone to either have subscription models (like Adobe or MS Office) or "freemium" models (Windows). Obviously Microsoft has to make up the difference in income somehow, and they chose to go the advertising route. Offering an easy way to get rid of all the invasive advertising and tracking would kill that golden goose.
izacus 3y ago
That's the Microsoft which will kick you back into setup wizard on every major update and try to reset default browser, search and document editing apps to Edge/Bing/Office-Outlook?

Dead_Lemon 3y ago

I like using the VMware Horizon OS Optimization Tool. Its quite powerful at removing bloat and unneeded features for running windows smoothly in a VM, with granular control. Installing windows in Audit mode was also a useful discovery, that this tool recommended doing for a fresh install.

hardware2win 3y ago

I dont see restoring old right click context menu

throwingtoofar 3y ago
You can do this by deleting the default value (should be 'C:\Windows\System32\Windows.UI.FileExplorer.dll') under the following key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{86ca1aa0-34aa-4e8b-a509-50c905bae2a2}\InProcServer32 though IIRC a tool to escalate privileges is needed to be able to modify the key. The tool I posted elsewhere in the thread has an option to restore the old context menu but its overkill to create an ISO and do a complete re-install just for that xD.

throwingtoofar 3y ago

An alternative is Optimize-Offline[0] which uses deprovisioning to remove packages from a Windows install ISO. This is a method which mimics Windows' official methods which should prevent things being re-added when updating. There are also tweaks to remove the TPM requirement and allow Windows 11 to run on older unsupported CPUs. [0] https://github.com/gdeliana/Optimize-Offline https://github.com/gdeliana/Optimize-Offline Edit: To mention there is also an option to bypass the online account requirement.

j1elo 3y ago
Not sure if your link is really a viable alternative. The first line of the Readme says it is for Windows 10: > Optimize-Offline is a Windows Image (WIM/ESD) optimization module designed for Windows 10 versions 1803-to-2009 64-bit architectures.
- throwingtoofar 3y ago
  Works with windows 11, I have it on an unsupported gen 6 intel desktop + a newer laptop. This version is a fork of the original thats no longer maintained but they didn't update the readme.
blinkingled 3y ago
Interesting. But seems to only support Windows 10?
- throwingtoofar 3y ago
  Works with windows 11 too.

dmaa 3y ago

I swear I wanted to smash my work computer being permanently molested by some xbox overlay when using some random shortcut. Wtf were they thinking?

duffyjp 3y ago
I mostly use Macs, and without wasting your time with the details my CTRL-C equivalent in the Terminal is WindowsKey-C. Well, I was in Powershell on Windows 11 yesterday and needed to CTRL-C something and muscle memoried my Mac shortcut and it popped up some sort of chat GUI with no [X] button. What the heck is this stuff? Who wants these features? I do have to say after much reluctance I upgraded my PC from Windows 10 to 11 and it's much more than a reskin. I even shoehorned it on my 4th gen i7 laptop and it's never run better. I'm looking forward to trying this tonight to get rid of some of the cruft.
- hospitalJail 3y ago
  If you don't have a video card, it takes minutes to change to Linux. If you have a video card, it takes hours. Still better than M$.
  - duffyjp 3y ago
    I dual boot (currently Artix) but the gaming experience is still best on Windows.
  - MikusR 3y ago
    What is M$?

dz0ny 3y ago

I use https://christitus.com/debloat-windows-10-2020/ https://christitus.com/debloat-windows-10-2020/ a bit more options

PcChip 3y ago
A friend introduced me to him at a bar, they were old friends. I had no idea who he was but kept thinking he really looked familiar. Very nice guy!

stabbles 3y ago

Another way to debloat windows is not to have windows at all

mellosouls 3y ago

Had a quick skim. Hmm, Teams, OneNote and Remote Desktop considered bloatware, gaming apps not. Not sure of the target demographic for this. Perhaps worth considering very carefully before running in productivity or office environments, assuming you have access.

theandrewbailey 3y ago
I have to use that bloatware every day. Teams is pretty much the definition of it. I agree with the script.
bhouston 3y ago
Yeah, I agree. I think games do count as bloat generally, so should be removed by default. Maybe have a few more questions in the custom mode: - Remove Teams - Remove OneNote - Remove RemoteDesktop - Remove Games I would answer yes to all the above but Remote Desktop. A GUI with a tree view would be best for the custom mode. Then you can drill into the categories.
- brian_herman 3y ago
  Try this it has a gui its called sophia app. https://github.com/Sophia-Community/SophiApp https://github.com/Sophia-Community/SophiApp
anaisbetts 3y ago
It also removes the Video player which is odd because like, I feel like that kinda should be built into an OS?
- n4te 3y ago
  No, no it shouldn't.
  - anaisbetts 3y ago
    Really? You think that a modern consumer/professional operating system, upon double-clicking a video, should do nothing? That's a thing that you would ship to an entire planet full of Regular People and say "Yes, this is the Right Thing. You should be happy about this result"

loufe 3y ago

I've been using SophiApp[0]/SophiScript for the last 6 months whenever I take a look at a Windows computer. I appreciate the GUI for case-specific toggling of certain features. Like it or not, the people we help sometimes want some of these things. 0 - https://github.com/Sophia-Community/SophiApp https://github.com/Sophia-Community/SophiApp

ta8645 3y ago

Having been bitten in the past, i'm always terrified that tools like this contain malware.

mikelovenotwar 3y ago
There's precious little code to read....

sakex 3y ago

I'd love to have a way to remove Edge. But it seems impossible.

BasedAnon 3y ago
there's a really easy way to remove edge, just install Ubuntu!
- sakex 3y ago
  True ahah. And that's what I did. I'm dual booting my desktop but I do need Windows for gaming.
whyoh 3y ago
Have you tried to do an internet search? There are simple step-by-step tutorials that tell you how to do it (and no 3rd party software is required). Note: it can get reinstalled automatically after an update, but you can add a registry setting to prevent that.
- sakex 3y ago
  Yes that's my issue, it always come back (like weekly). I was not aware I could add a registry entry. I'll try, thank you :=)

gjvc 3y ago

relevant https://blog.frantovo.cz/s/1576/Niklaus%20Wirth%20-%20A%20Plea%20for%20Lean%20Software%20-%20OCR.pdf https://blog.frantovo.cz/s/1576/Niklaus%20Wirth%20-%20A%20Pl...

yabones 3y ago

Some bad advice in there... Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Force Should be: Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Scope Process Turning off that feature permanently is a bad idea.

housemusicfan 3y ago
You're trying to convince a bunch of people that think curl | sudo sh with random scripts off the internet is perfectly okay.
- _xivi 3y ago
  What better alternatives do you recommend?
  - smt88 3y ago
    Signed executables
    - _xivi 3y ago
      Are there signed executables that do what Win11Debloat and similar tools do?
      - smt88 3y ago
        I know that ShutUp10 is signed[1]. 1. https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10 https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10
  - joshuaissac 3y ago
    > What better alternatives do you recommend? Install packages only from the operating system's package repository or from another trusted repository. If the software installer is only available as a script, download the script manually and check its contents instead of piping it to a root shell (and maybe run it in a VM instead). That way, you can know if the code is trying to do something nefarious. Piping to Bash can also be detected server side, so a server can serve malicious code when it is piped and good code when it is not. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11532599 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11532599

Saris 3y ago

>Hide the 'Include in library', 'Give access to' and 'Share' options in the context menu. Uh no? How are you supposed to set up network shares. And why is it removing useful apps like 3D Viewer and Remote Desktop?

ckozlowski 3y ago

Humbly submitting Chris Titus' Debloat tool as well for comparison. I've enjoyed using Chris' tool, as the GUI design makes it easy to a-la-carte select which you want removed and not, along with recommendations. Makes it very clear to see what's being removed. https://github.com/ChrisTitusTech/winutil https://github.com/ChrisTitusTech/winutil

KeyBoardG 3y ago
It looks neat, but running off of his site directly via an administrator elevated powershell is an awful security practice.
- smt88 3y ago
  That was an instant dealbreaker for me. Someone who pushes that can't be given basic trust for literally anything else. At the very least, he could've hosted the script on github.com, which is far less likely to be hijacked than his personal domain.
  - KeyBoardG 3y ago
    He sells it wrapped in an EXE for $10. That provides incentive to not make things easy or follow any best practices.

psyclobe 3y ago

Best debloat technique is to just switch to Linux

johnnyworker 3y ago

Why does win11 even exist, after w10 having been introduced as the final OS? What crap does it contain that couldn't be put into 10 via updates? Why would you use it voluntarily? I'm honestly curious.

OliveMate 3y ago

Has anyone here tried this? When projects like this normally pop up I see people talk about potential issues with future Windows updates. -- I'm in a bit of a tricky spot, in the next month or two I'll be building a new PC and I really don't know what to do about the OS. Windows is familiar, easy, and I know how to fix things with it, but the increasing amount of bloat and needless online integration is putting me off Windows 11 (my current W10 doesn't have the start menu online search thank God). Recently I got sick of Windows 11's bloat + poor performance on my ThinkPad and Iinstalled Linux. I got a month and a half out of Fedora until something happened and half of my flatpaks would crash seconds after launch – even with terminal logs and the entire internet to sift through, I knew that I was way above my head. Currently I'm on Mint and hoping I don't run into anything like that again. I can use Linux, but I know the limits of my knowledge. I can take a semi-disposable nature with what I put on my laptop, if I have to install another Linux distro I'll do it in a heartbeat. But with my desktop, I can't take the same approach. And again, Windows is familiar enough to me that I can diagnose + fix issues easily. I'd just like to know people's experiences with running scripts like this.

rafiere 3y ago
[dead]

wombat-man 3y ago

I could really go for something like Ninite that let me easily customize win11. It's about turning stuff off but also enabling some of those optional windows features like hyper-v. Just let me install, fire up ninite, that util, and we're off.

mikedelago 3y ago

My question to this is "why go through the trouble of doing this when there's operating systems where you don't need to do a debloat step" I realize the answer is that people use Windows because the software they use requires Windows, but it just irks me that this is the solution to not wanting a "bloated" OS.

DrThunder 3y ago
There are versions of Windows that do not have the bloat issue. Enterprise or Education are good options.
- hospitalJail 3y ago
  I was considering getting Enterprise edition, but the side by side comparison between Home and Enterprise did not mention the lack of bloat. It showed literally only 1 checkbox about some security thing. Ended up going with Linux since it seemed OneDrive/malware was inevitable.

DrThunder 3y ago

Is this any better than decrapifier? https://community.spiceworks.com/scripts/show/4378-windows-10-decrapifier-18xx-19xx-2xxx https://community.spiceworks.com/scripts/show/4378-windows-1...

kornhole 3y ago

What makes this superior or more easy than https://privacy.sexy/ https://privacy.sexy/?

hospitalJail 3y ago

A bit too late for me. I got nailed with deleting a 5gb documents folder on OneDrive. It deleted my local 25GB documents folder. In the recycling bin was 5gb of files, the other 20GB of files are gone. Installed Linux, which sucked for a few hours, but I'm so happy to be free of Microsoft!!!

pentagrama 3y ago

I may be wrong, but this tool seems more trustworthy to me https://www.oo-software.com/en/ooappbuster https://www.oo-software.com/en/ooappbuster You always have to be careful with tools that modify Windows, you may have issues, specially with Windows updates.