8 ms·

Does anyone know any good "debloat" scripts to disable all these modern features of Windows 11 and bring me back to something that resembles the Windows I grew

by brink 2y ago

Does anyone know any good "debloat" scripts to disable all these modern features of Windows 11 and bring me back to something that resembles the Windows I grew up with? I'm having a hard time keeping track of all of the registry keys and config settings I need to update to keep this crap at bay.

imchillyb 2y ago
What you’re describing is the entire point of all these disparate settings. Security through obscurity. The security, though, is for Windows features not user’s protection.
Kenji 2y ago
[dead]
stressinduktion 2y ago
Not really a windows user, but I had some success with: https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10 https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10
inhumantsar 2y ago
the repo linked here is what you want
hypeatei 2y ago
https://github.com/Raphire/Win11Debloat https://github.com/Raphire/Win11Debloat
- ewoodrich 2y ago
  This is the first thing I run on any new Win 11 device/install and afterwards the OS just disappears into the background and doesn’t bother me one bit. Incredible feeling of zen being able to scroll past the heated online Win 11 debates that don’t seem to apply to my day to day usage at all.
cheeseomlit 2y ago
massgrave's LTSC install has made it tolerable for me at least. The first time I booted into a standard consumer win11 install I nearly had an aneurysm
- guilamu 2y ago
  Yes, w11 iot ltsc is the way.
WithinReason 2y ago
Despite the dumb name this looks useful: https://privacy.sexy/ https://privacy.sexy/ It generates the script for you based on your requirements. Looks extremely detailed with long descriptions.
- filchermcurr 2y ago
  Just disable Defender's real time scanning when you run the resultant script, otherwise it will protest. A lot. (Not just when you first run it, but the whole time.)
sodality2 2y ago
I've used https://ameliorated.io/ https://ameliorated.io/ to good effect.
CalRobert 2y ago
I find desktop Ubuntu to be reasonably close to the Windows 7 experience, which was when Windows peaked in my opinion.
- ZunarJ5 2y ago
  If you use Ubuntu Cinnamon it will look like it too.
- moffkalast 2y ago
  I find Gnome on stock Ubuntu pretty terrible for someone used to Windows, since workflows are different and you can't adjust anything. KDE and Kubuntu are pretty close though. I'd never really considered fully switching to Linux a usable option before I found it, but I've been running it for a few years on my laptop and recently on my work pc, and once Win10 is EoL it'll probably be the only thing I still run on the rest of my machines. The nice side effect of bloated Electron apps is that at least now most things work on all platforms lmao.
Technetium 2y ago
O&O ShutUp10++ is a requirement for me. It is my preference because every debloat script tends to legitimately break the OS. I have had to do clean installs multiple times this year after customers ran them. MS provides registry keys that can be configured, but they do consistently move them around. Without an application which can easily revert automated changes, it'd be nearly impossible to keep track of it all, let alone notice changes. Upside is not having a broken system, downside is needing to open it once every week or two. I agree with the other comments that LTSC would be better, but there's no reasonably legal way to obtain it, and nobody wants to have the BSA knock on their door asking for a quarter million USD per license violation. https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10 https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10
- miles 2y ago
  > LTSC would be better, but there's no reasonably legal way to obtain it I looked into it in 2018; turned out to be pretty easy and reasonable (~$300): https://tinyapps.org/blog/201811300700_windows_10_ltsc.html https://tinyapps.org/blog/201811300700_windows_10_ltsc.html
  - sergers 2y ago
    You can buy the licenses https://www.cdw.com/product/windows-11-iot-enterprise-ltsc-2024-license-1-license/8025005 https://www.cdw.com/product/windows-11-iot-enterprise-ltsc-2... Ms just finally released the installation media for ltsc win11
ForOldHack 2y ago
I keep God Mode and a text file of all the reg settings... in case the porkchopolips arrives, which I was greeted with Monday morning. By early after noon, all was quiet again. I recommend ALL these sites, and would only add Black Viper: https://www.tenforums.com/performance-maintenance/18394-black-viper-s-windows-10-service-configurations-very-useful-info.html https://www.tenforums.com/performance-maintenance/18394-blac... and... Windows 10 Integral Edition: Zone 94 and the Internet archive are temporarily offline, Hopefully MassGrave.dev is still working.
sunaookami 2y ago
Not directed at you but I find it funny that people (rightfully!) complain about Microsoft spyware and then run some dubious scripts from who-knows-where. With the added side effects that these scripts always disable/remove waaaay too much and break the install which then lead to users cursing Microsoft for things that the user has broken without knowing.
- pmontra 2y ago
  Ultimately it's Microsoft not giving those users what they want. They have to accommodate the OS to fit their needs and sometimes it breaks. It should be technically easy for Microsoft to decouple Recall from Explorer. I already saw this in the 90s with their web browser, coupled to the OS for purely commercial reasons.
- delusional 2y ago
  I think it's a pretty damning condemnation of Microsoft's current product strategy, at least in relation to the user segment that visits hacker news. People are willing to run highly privileged untrusted and unverified code in the personal computers, just for a chance to remove the stuff you're actively spending money and time developing.
  - ryandrake 2y ago
    Microsoft's software is now indistinguishable from malware. If I had to run Windows, I would have zero trust in it, which matches my level of trust in "Fast Eddie's Random Script". At least Fast Eddie says in the README file that his script is not attacking my computer. Microsoft readily admits to its status as an attacker, and calls the attacks "features."
    - MiddleEndian 2y ago
      Microsoft learned from the years of its own users accepting 3rd party malware on their machines pre Win-7, and pretty much all phone users (Android definitely, probably iOS as well but I'm less familiar) accepting unremovable bloatware, so they added it back with Win8+. Honestly Windows 10 is/was pretty good once you removed the MS malware but they're definitely antagonistic as a whole.
lovethevoid 2y ago
I've used Chris' winutil https://github.com/ChrisTitusTech/winutil https://github.com/ChrisTitusTech/winutil due to being open source and a powershell script, you can see everything it's doing there's no magic. The recommended update schedule change is something a lot of other programs miss out on imo Additionally for O&O shut up fans, it has the option to launch that too within the script's GUI, as neither has to be installed to run
- keyringlight 2y ago
  I know this technically applies to a lot of open source, but given the breadth of tools under the windows 'tweaking' category and the audience I'd expect to use these "magic wands to fix things you disagree with MS on" I'm really surprised there aren't more subtle trojans mixed in with them. I think it's extremely unlikely any significant amount of users examine the source or make sure a binary they're using is trustworthy, even assuming they know what to look for. There's a lot of 'marketing' possible and a receptive audience whenever a big tech company pushes something like Copilot/Recall, and I'm sure a well timed or prompt 'quick and simple fix' tool release with some a time pressure could get a lot of installs.
  - pixl97 2y ago
    There are tons of windows Trojans already. Going after the 'too smart' type just gets you detected faster.
Wowfunhappy 2y ago
Switch to Windows LTSC.
1970-01-01 2y ago
https://www.getblackbird.net/ https://www.getblackbird.net/ Be sure to backup your system first. Blackbird thoroughly rips away whatever you choose.
Narishma 2y ago
My solution was to run Linux and a Windows 2000 VM for the old apps.
zamalek 2y ago
> disable all these modern features of Windows 11 Being a dependency of explorer.exe implies that it can't be disabled. To explain further: explorer.exe is responsible for your task bar, start menu, etc.
- RajT88 2y ago
  I thought for sure somebody was complaining about explorer.exe not loading if it cannot find recall.DLL or something. The thread describes a much more minimal kind of dependency. More like the dark pattern variety which is hard to turn off.
  - tandr 2y ago
    would it be possible to make a stub for recall.dll, that does nothing? Or it HAS to be signed?
    - RajT88 2y ago
      Doesn't matter - they are not talking about that. AFAIK, there's no recall.dll. But assuming they do this, you can enable unsigned driver installation (there's a valid use case for that), but I'm not sure you can get explorer.exe to load unsigned libraries. Maybe! Explorer.exe is a user mode process, so it's way less bad than other system processes.
kibwen 2y ago
> I'm having a hard time keeping track of all of the registry keys and config settings I need to update to keep this crap at bay. Remember when the retort from Windows users against Linux was "Linux is only free if your time has no value?"
ballenf 2y ago
I downgraded a laptop to Win10. Is there any reason to go to 11 before EOL for 10?
- ZunarJ5 2y ago
  No. It's just a less useful UX. Linux Mint after will get you everything Windows forgot customers want.
OptionOfT 2y ago
One of the things I've been trying to do since the advent of Windows 11 is ... get rid of 'Recommendations' on the Start Menu. It gives me the creeps to see stuff pop up there. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/client-management/mdm/policy-csp-start#hiderecommendedsection https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/client-management/... Whatever you do, the GPO / Registry key doesn't work on Non-Education / SE systems. If you apply it on an Education version, the StartMenuShellExperienceHost (you may need to shuffle those words around) will read the settings. Nothing on my Workstation version. Now, it MIGHT work if you push it through MDM, but MDMs cost money, and I haven't been able to find a self-hostable MDM that is up to date.
- Marsymars 2y ago
  The "Recommendations" section is near-impossible to get rid of, but it's pretty easy to stop anything from displaying in that section. Under Settings > Personalization > Start, I have "More pins" selected, and the various "Show whatever" options disabled, and my "Recommended" section is a single empty row at the bottom of the start menu that reads "To show your recent files and new apps, turn them on in the Settings."
skydhash 2y ago
download && install rufus flash usb drive with linuxmint backup files reboot and boot from the usb drive wipe system drive and install linuxmint
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
CursedUrn 2y ago
Just be aware that these "fixes" aren't 100% complete and will likely break in the future when Microsoft patches Windows. For example, when people tried to block telemetry in Windows 10 via the hosts file, Microsoft first moved the telemetry servers from named domains to a series of new IP addresses, then after a year or so they patched the telemetry sending code to bypass the hosts file. Similarly if you ran the scripts to disable Cortana/Windows Search, that worked for a while but nowadays you'll find SearchApp.exe doing Cortana work in the background whether you like it or not.
ZunarJ5 2y ago
https://github.com/LeDragoX/Win-Debloat-Tools https://github.com/LeDragoX/Win-Debloat-Tools I run this on any new Win install. I also suggest Portmaster so you know where your data is going. https://safing.io/ https://safing.io/
sub7 2y ago
O&O ShutUp is the first thing to install on every windows system, followed by netlimiter

by brink 2y ago

imchillyb 2y ago

What you’re describing is the entire point of all these disparate settings. Security through obscurity. The security, though, is for Windows features not user’s protection.

Kenji 2y ago

[dead]

stressinduktion 2y ago

Not really a windows user, but I had some success with: https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10 https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10

inhumantsar 2y ago

the repo linked here is what you want

hypeatei 2y ago

https://github.com/Raphire/Win11Debloat https://github.com/Raphire/Win11Debloat

ewoodrich 2y ago
This is the first thing I run on any new Win 11 device/install and afterwards the OS just disappears into the background and doesn’t bother me one bit. Incredible feeling of zen being able to scroll past the heated online Win 11 debates that don’t seem to apply to my day to day usage at all.

cheeseomlit 2y ago

massgrave's LTSC install has made it tolerable for me at least. The first time I booted into a standard consumer win11 install I nearly had an aneurysm

guilamu 2y ago
Yes, w11 iot ltsc is the way.

WithinReason 2y ago

Despite the dumb name this looks useful: https://privacy.sexy/ https://privacy.sexy/ It generates the script for you based on your requirements. Looks extremely detailed with long descriptions.

filchermcurr 2y ago
Just disable Defender's real time scanning when you run the resultant script, otherwise it will protest. A lot. (Not just when you first run it, but the whole time.)

sodality2 2y ago

I've used https://ameliorated.io/ https://ameliorated.io/ to good effect.

CalRobert 2y ago

I find desktop Ubuntu to be reasonably close to the Windows 7 experience, which was when Windows peaked in my opinion.

ZunarJ5 2y ago
If you use Ubuntu Cinnamon it will look like it too.
moffkalast 2y ago
I find Gnome on stock Ubuntu pretty terrible for someone used to Windows, since workflows are different and you can't adjust anything. KDE and Kubuntu are pretty close though. I'd never really considered fully switching to Linux a usable option before I found it, but I've been running it for a few years on my laptop and recently on my work pc, and once Win10 is EoL it'll probably be the only thing I still run on the rest of my machines. The nice side effect of bloated Electron apps is that at least now most things work on all platforms lmao.

Technetium 2y ago

O&O ShutUp10++ is a requirement for me. It is my preference because every debloat script tends to legitimately break the OS. I have had to do clean installs multiple times this year after customers ran them. MS provides registry keys that can be configured, but they do consistently move them around. Without an application which can easily revert automated changes, it'd be nearly impossible to keep track of it all, let alone notice changes. Upside is not having a broken system, downside is needing to open it once every week or two. I agree with the other comments that LTSC would be better, but there's no reasonably legal way to obtain it, and nobody wants to have the BSA knock on their door asking for a quarter million USD per license violation. https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10 https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10

miles 2y ago
> LTSC would be better, but there's no reasonably legal way to obtain it I looked into it in 2018; turned out to be pretty easy and reasonable (~$300): https://tinyapps.org/blog/201811300700_windows_10_ltsc.html https://tinyapps.org/blog/201811300700_windows_10_ltsc.html
- sergers 2y ago
  You can buy the licenses https://www.cdw.com/product/windows-11-iot-enterprise-ltsc-2024-license-1-license/8025005 https://www.cdw.com/product/windows-11-iot-enterprise-ltsc-2... Ms just finally released the installation media for ltsc win11

ForOldHack 2y ago

I keep God Mode and a text file of all the reg settings... in case the porkchopolips arrives, which I was greeted with Monday morning. By early after noon, all was quiet again. I recommend ALL these sites, and would only add Black Viper: https://www.tenforums.com/performance-maintenance/18394-black-viper-s-windows-10-service-configurations-very-useful-info.html https://www.tenforums.com/performance-maintenance/18394-blac... and... Windows 10 Integral Edition: Zone 94 and the Internet archive are temporarily offline, Hopefully MassGrave.dev is still working.

sunaookami 2y ago

Not directed at you but I find it funny that people (rightfully!) complain about Microsoft spyware and then run some dubious scripts from who-knows-where. With the added side effects that these scripts always disable/remove waaaay too much and break the install which then lead to users cursing Microsoft for things that the user has broken without knowing.

pmontra 2y ago
Ultimately it's Microsoft not giving those users what they want. They have to accommodate the OS to fit their needs and sometimes it breaks. It should be technically easy for Microsoft to decouple Recall from Explorer. I already saw this in the 90s with their web browser, coupled to the OS for purely commercial reasons.
delusional 2y ago
I think it's a pretty damning condemnation of Microsoft's current product strategy, at least in relation to the user segment that visits hacker news. People are willing to run highly privileged untrusted and unverified code in the personal computers, just for a chance to remove the stuff you're actively spending money and time developing.
- ryandrake 2y ago
  Microsoft's software is now indistinguishable from malware. If I had to run Windows, I would have zero trust in it, which matches my level of trust in "Fast Eddie's Random Script". At least Fast Eddie says in the README file that his script is not attacking my computer. Microsoft readily admits to its status as an attacker, and calls the attacks "features."
  - MiddleEndian 2y ago
    Microsoft learned from the years of its own users accepting 3rd party malware on their machines pre Win-7, and pretty much all phone users (Android definitely, probably iOS as well but I'm less familiar) accepting unremovable bloatware, so they added it back with Win8+. Honestly Windows 10 is/was pretty good once you removed the MS malware but they're definitely antagonistic as a whole.

lovethevoid 2y ago

I've used Chris' winutil https://github.com/ChrisTitusTech/winutil https://github.com/ChrisTitusTech/winutil due to being open source and a powershell script, you can see everything it's doing there's no magic. The recommended update schedule change is something a lot of other programs miss out on imo Additionally for O&O shut up fans, it has the option to launch that too within the script's GUI, as neither has to be installed to run

keyringlight 2y ago
I know this technically applies to a lot of open source, but given the breadth of tools under the windows 'tweaking' category and the audience I'd expect to use these "magic wands to fix things you disagree with MS on" I'm really surprised there aren't more subtle trojans mixed in with them. I think it's extremely unlikely any significant amount of users examine the source or make sure a binary they're using is trustworthy, even assuming they know what to look for. There's a lot of 'marketing' possible and a receptive audience whenever a big tech company pushes something like Copilot/Recall, and I'm sure a well timed or prompt 'quick and simple fix' tool release with some a time pressure could get a lot of installs.
- pixl97 2y ago
  There are tons of windows Trojans already. Going after the 'too smart' type just gets you detected faster.

Wowfunhappy 2y ago

Switch to Windows LTSC.

1970-01-01 2y ago

https://www.getblackbird.net/ https://www.getblackbird.net/ Be sure to backup your system first. Blackbird thoroughly rips away whatever you choose.

Narishma 2y ago

My solution was to run Linux and a Windows 2000 VM for the old apps.

zamalek 2y ago

> disable all these modern features of Windows 11 Being a dependency of explorer.exe implies that it can't be disabled. To explain further: explorer.exe is responsible for your task bar, start menu, etc.

RajT88 2y ago
I thought for sure somebody was complaining about explorer.exe not loading if it cannot find recall.DLL or something. The thread describes a much more minimal kind of dependency. More like the dark pattern variety which is hard to turn off.
- tandr 2y ago
  would it be possible to make a stub for recall.dll, that does nothing? Or it HAS to be signed?
  - RajT88 2y ago
    Doesn't matter - they are not talking about that. AFAIK, there's no recall.dll. But assuming they do this, you can enable unsigned driver installation (there's a valid use case for that), but I'm not sure you can get explorer.exe to load unsigned libraries. Maybe! Explorer.exe is a user mode process, so it's way less bad than other system processes.

kibwen 2y ago

> I'm having a hard time keeping track of all of the registry keys and config settings I need to update to keep this crap at bay. Remember when the retort from Windows users against Linux was "Linux is only free if your time has no value?"

ballenf 2y ago

I downgraded a laptop to Win10. Is there any reason to go to 11 before EOL for 10?

ZunarJ5 2y ago
No. It's just a less useful UX. Linux Mint after will get you everything Windows forgot customers want.

OptionOfT 2y ago

One of the things I've been trying to do since the advent of Windows 11 is ... get rid of 'Recommendations' on the Start Menu. It gives me the creeps to see stuff pop up there. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/client-management/mdm/policy-csp-start#hiderecommendedsection https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/client-management/... Whatever you do, the GPO / Registry key doesn't work on Non-Education / SE systems. If you apply it on an Education version, the StartMenuShellExperienceHost (you may need to shuffle those words around) will read the settings. Nothing on my Workstation version. Now, it MIGHT work if you push it through MDM, but MDMs cost money, and I haven't been able to find a self-hostable MDM that is up to date.

Marsymars 2y ago
The "Recommendations" section is near-impossible to get rid of, but it's pretty easy to stop anything from displaying in that section. Under Settings > Personalization > Start, I have "More pins" selected, and the various "Show whatever" options disabled, and my "Recommended" section is a single empty row at the bottom of the start menu that reads "To show your recent files and new apps, turn them on in the Settings."

skydhash 2y ago

download && install rufus flash usb drive with linuxmint backup files reboot and boot from the usb drive wipe system drive and install linuxmint

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

CursedUrn 2y ago

Just be aware that these "fixes" aren't 100% complete and will likely break in the future when Microsoft patches Windows. For example, when people tried to block telemetry in Windows 10 via the hosts file, Microsoft first moved the telemetry servers from named domains to a series of new IP addresses, then after a year or so they patched the telemetry sending code to bypass the hosts file. Similarly if you ran the scripts to disable Cortana/Windows Search, that worked for a while but nowadays you'll find SearchApp.exe doing Cortana work in the background whether you like it or not.

ZunarJ5 2y ago

https://github.com/LeDragoX/Win-Debloat-Tools https://github.com/LeDragoX/Win-Debloat-Tools I run this on any new Win install. I also suggest Portmaster so you know where your data is going. https://safing.io/ https://safing.io/

sub7 2y ago

O&O ShutUp is the first thing to install on every windows system, followed by netlimiter