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Windows 10 Debloat Script

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Re: Windows 10 Debloat Script

#121

Post by jankotek »

kabdib wrote: post #21
giancarlostoro wrote: post #3

I tried running this and then I remembered why I stopped tweaking Windows, I wind up running into odd issues. Windows stopped being unstable for me years ago when I stopped fidgeting with features. I'm better off disabling as much as I can through the normal settings they provide. I don't know if it's just I'm doing something wrong but it's been my experience. I would love to see Windows not take up 4 gigs of RAM out…

The biggest WTF was Cortana . . . running by default on Windows Server. I have no idea what they were thinking. Yes, you can disable it with a policy editing. For a server product, you shouldn't have to.

Windows 2003 Server had sound system disabled in default installation. How things change...

Re: Windows 10 Debloat Script

#122

Post by throwaway2048 »

floatingatoll wrote: post #73
wsdookadr wrote: post #2

This will disable a number of different apps/services/features that are either useless or slow down the OS considerably. The following script is even nicer as it comes with an UI: https://github.com/Sycnex/Windows10Debloater Both are written in powershell.

This is marginally less terrible, but it's still terrible — for example, it considers Skype "bloat" so hopefully you didn't need that! — and the list goes on as you read through the (thankfully, fewer) scripts.

its not hard to reinstall if you actually want it, it most certainly is bloaty.

Re: Windows 10 Debloat Script

#123

Post by zamadatix »

jsmith99 wrote: post #120
floatingatoll wrote: post #49

Do your friends a favor and never run this or any like it on their systems "for their benefit". This is a prime example of "expert user footgun problem". The phrase "debloat" is a marketing-hype word that's being used to bait you all into someone's personal view of how computers should be. Expect to be forced to reinstall Windows 10 a few days or weeks after running any such script. Whenever I tech support any of my…

Just like all those threads about searching in the Windows 10 Start Menu, where some commenters always say that search is broken because it never remembers their most used apps and always brings up something obscure. Presumably they - or some script they didn't really understand - turned off the "Let Windows track app launches to improve Start and search results" setting.

Actually for the longest time if you simply toggled:

Settings -> Background Apps -> "Let apps run in the background"

It would disable search even though nothing related to search was in the apps list (along with other presumably hidden items). The workaround was to leave background apps globally enabled and manually disable every app that showed in the list (including any that got added over time). I think this was finally fixed in 1809.

Re: Windows 10 Debloat Script

#124

Post by technion »

jniedrauer wrote: post #34
kabdib wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The biggest WTF was Cortana . . . running by default on Windows Server. I have no idea what they were thinking. Yes, you can disable it with a policy editing. For a server product, you shouldn't have to.

It's unsurprising to me that *nix systems are the majority on Azure. It is surprising to me that enterprise shops still commission new Windows servers at all in $current_year.

In supporting the enterprise, pretty much every application I deal with is unfortunately "Windows Only". Accounts tends to be managed by MYOB, Quickbooks or in the large firms, Accountants Office (also a MYOB product). All these ship with Windows services, Attache being particularly offensive as it has "known issues" with clients on Windows 8.1 or higher. Pay is often Payglobal or NAV, which again is Windows.

The closest I had was a LexisNexis product that used to run on a Linux server - until our account manager told us they were dropping Linux because, and I quote, "Linux has too many security problems". I've supported two different EMR (medical) products, and at least five different POS products, all Windows only. Even when we get a SaaS product running in a web browser, half the time it's "IE only".

I'd give a lot to live in the type of organisation without this legacy.

Re: Windows 10 Debloat Script

#125

Post by technion »

jzzskijj wrote: post #53
giancarlostoro wrote: post #3

I tried running this and then I remembered why I stopped tweaking Windows, I wind up running into odd issues. Windows stopped being unstable for me years ago when I stopped fidgeting with features. I'm better off disabling as much as I can through the normal settings they provide. I don't know if it's just I'm doing something wrong but it's been my experience. I would love to see Windows not take up 4 gigs of RAM out…

Hah, indeed. "An all knowing colleague" suggested in Slack to use DisableWinTracking* tool for greater privacy and security. I had already done the most of the usual privacy enhancing stuff manually to Windows 10, but decided to try if the tool would know something more. Some weeks later IT realized there are several desktops in our domain which stopped installing Windows updates on a same day. And some administratio…

I can echo this. On a security assessment I found an organisation was a long way behind in Windows Updates. I eventually tracked this to the AppReadiness service being disabled, which someone thought was a cool debloat option. The end result is that machines just claim to be up to date despite not being.

Re: Windows 10 Debloat Script

#126

Post by zamadatix »

FluffyKitty wrote: post #8

I have to ask, for anyone that cares this much, why bother with Windows at this point? Wouldn't it be easier to just use Linux? I know the usual argument is that you need Windows to game, but why make your gaming instance your main work instance too? Why not dual boot and use Linux for work and Windows for gaming?

I use Linux heavily (work and home) but it's never played as well with hardware as I'd have liked. HDR is basically non-existent, G-Sync is basically impossible in windowed mode, 150% high DPI is only really functional in KDE, it's extremely painful to use a custom keyboard layout (and the method seems to change yearly), both Firefox and Chrome run significantly slower/use significantly more power, not all of the non-Linux apps I need work well in WINE, and when new hardware is timely supported I still have to upgrade the kernel (many of the times manually).

Most annoying on my laptop there is some input issue with the keyboard where it would drop a couple of key inputs per minute, usually grouped. I spent a month trying to figure out why and trying different solutions, never did find out.

But more than all of that... even on the hardware where everything worked out of the box and none of the above limitations were a problem... I still have to customize the install. Sure, I may not have to remove sleezy/privacy invading stuff like on Windows but it's not like I just click one button and get the exact packages I want.

I love Linux but only as a VM or single purpose bare metal box, for a daily driver (work or home) it's simply easier to use Windows and run WSL or Hyper-V if I need something Linux specific.

Re: Windows 10 Debloat Script

#127

Post by crispinb »

zamadatix wrote: post #126
FluffyKitty wrote: post #8

I have to ask, for anyone that cares this much, why bother with Windows at this point? Wouldn't it be easier to just use Linux? I know the usual argument is that you need Windows to game, but why make your gaming instance your main work instance too? Why not dual boot and use Linux for work and Windows for gaming?

I use Linux heavily (work and home) but it's never played as well with hardware as I'd have liked. HDR is basically non-existent, G-Sync is basically impossible in windowed mode, 150% high DPI is only really functional in KDE, it's extremely painful to use a custom keyboard layout (and the method seems to change yearly), both Firefox and Chrome run significantly slower/use significantly more power, not all of the non…

> I spent a month trying to figure out why ..

That phenomenon is what keeps me from using Linux as my main laptop OS. I have done, for long stretches (and probably will again), but I'm always driven to either OS X or Windows by a waning desire to spend time troubleshooting or on sysadmin. If not for that I'd use Linux f/t as I prefer many of its traits.

Re: Windows 10 Debloat Script

#128

Post by CamperBob2 »

floatingatoll wrote: post #49

Do your friends a favor and never run this or any like it on their systems "for their benefit". This is a prime example of "expert user footgun problem". The phrase "debloat" is a marketing-hype word that's being used to bait you all into someone's personal view of how computers should be. Expect to be forced to reinstall Windows 10 a few days or weeks after running any such script. Whenever I tech support any of my…

The phrase "debloat" is a marketing-hype word that's being used to bait you all into someone's personal view of how computers should be

Well, my personal view of that topic is certainly a lot more valid than Microsoft's.

Re: Windows 10 Debloat Script

#130

Post by mattigames »

floatingatoll wrote: post #49

Do your friends a favor and never run this or any like it on their systems "for their benefit". This is a prime example of "expert user footgun problem". The phrase "debloat" is a marketing-hype word that's being used to bait you all into someone's personal view of how computers should be. Expect to be forced to reinstall Windows 10 a few days or weeks after running any such script. Whenever I tech support any of my…

The only valid complains in this post are about Windows defender and updates notifications, all the others are indeed bloatware because you can reinstall Spotify if you want it that much, and the "accessibility keyboard" should just ask you if you really want to uninstall that, which 99% of users don't need at all.
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