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Ask HN: What are the first things you do on a new Windows 10 PC? Any checklists?

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Re: Ask HN: What are the first things you do on a new Windows 10 PC? Any checklists?

#11

Post by Someone1234 »

majkinetor wrote: post #8

iwr https://chocolatey.org/install.ps1 | iex cinst -y totalcommander copyq neovim vscode firefox everything sysinternals nirlauncher smplayer vlc git tortoisegit conemu 7zip paint.net dngrep dbeaver Update-SessionEnvironment git clone https://github.com/W4RH4WK/Debloat-Windows-10 ls Debloat-Windows-10/scripts/*.ps1 | % { . $_ } # YMVV git clone https://github.com/majkinetor/powershell_profile.d gc powershell_profile.…

Running all of those Debloat scripts:

- Permanently disables Windows Defender (requires registry changes to re-enable).

- Breaks the browser choice window. Skype. Time sync.

- Disables services seemingly arbitrarily.

- Disables SmartScreen.

- Disables both automatic updates and the notification for manual updates.

- Sets mouse speed/sensitivity/smoothing/pointer settings(???).

- Disables accessibility features.

- Reverts the volume slider.

My point is, it isn't "debloat" it is a fully opinionated default state for Windows 10, completely arbitrary, likely inconvenient, and potentially dangerous (SmartScreen, Windows Update, etc). Windows may also fail to update after this due to ACL permissions set on some files/registry keys/directories to keep certain features broken.

I do not recommend anyone runs this.

Re: Ask HN: What are the first things you do on a new Windows 10 PC? Any checklists?

#12

Post by Zeetah »

On Windows 10, I didn't use Mixed Reality or 3D printing or Xbox stuff or … So, I really wanted an image with non-essential items removed. I also don't like unnecessary items in my Start menu.

Summary of steps are:

A) Create Windows image with stuff I don't want removed

B) Create Windows settings and clean up script

C) Clean install using step A but do it with a local account [1]

D) Clean up Windows using script from step B

E) Rename PC

F) Connect to Microsoft account - this will bring over settings from your other Windows PC(s)

F) Install software using Chocolatey

Over time, as I make further changes to my setup, I usually apply them manually and then incorporate them into either step A or step B.

Steps for A:

  A1) Download ISO from Microsoft. For an example on how to do this, see instructions at: https://pureinfotech.com/download-windows-10-iso-without-media-creation-tool/

  A2) Create script for removing unnecessary items and then apply them to the Windows ISO image from step A1. I use: https://github.com/DrEmpiricism/Optimize-Offline to modify the Windows ISO image.

  A3) Use Rufus or similar tool to create bootable USB drive from image from step A2.

  A4) Clean install Windows.

  A5) When creating the image in step A2, you can add scripts that end up in c:\windows\setup\scripts. Run these scripts
Steps for B:

  B1) Use script from https://github.com/Disassembler0/Win10-Initial-Setup-Script and customize it to your liking
[1]: If you install with a Microsoft account, your user directory is the first five letters/numbers of your Microsoft account. When installing using a local account, the local account name, in its entirety is used.

edit1: fixed formatting.

Re: Ask HN: What are the first things you do on a new Windows 10 PC? Any checklists?

#13

Post by majkinetor »

Someone1234 wrote: post #11
majkinetor wrote: post #8

iwr https://chocolatey.org/install.ps1 | iex cinst -y totalcommander copyq neovim vscode firefox everything sysinternals nirlauncher smplayer vlc git tortoisegit conemu 7zip paint.net dngrep dbeaver Update-SessionEnvironment git clone https://github.com/W4RH4WK/Debloat-Windows-10 ls Debloat-Windows-10/scripts/*.ps1 | % { . $_ } # YMVV git clone https://github.com/majkinetor/powershell_profile.d gc powershell_profile.…

Running all of those Debloat scripts: - Permanently disables Windows Defender (requires registry changes to re-enable). - Breaks the browser choice window. Skype. Time sync. - Disables services seemingly arbitrarily. - Disables SmartScreen. - Disables both automatic updates and the notification for manual updates. - Sets mouse speed/sensitivity/smoothing/pointer settings(???). - Disables accessibility features. - Rev…

I don't run exactly all, but like I said, YMMV. That said, bunch of people I know run this all the time, me included, and besides some trivial stuff Windows runs at least x2 faster and feels snappier. Those scripts are meant to be inspected and applied.

Besides, what kind of engineers are we if we can't fix something done with the script ? You don't recommend experimentation, I can live with that if we don't do work together... Otherwise, perhaps you should try running what looks to you like arbitrary setup and see what path it takes you.

Re: Ask HN: What are the first things you do on a new Windows 10 PC? Any checklists?

#14

Post by Someone1234 »

majkinetor wrote: post #13
Someone1234 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Running all of those Debloat scripts: - Permanently disables Windows Defender (requires registry changes to re-enable). - Breaks the browser choice window. Skype. Time sync. - Disables services seemingly arbitrarily. - Disables SmartScreen. - Disables both automatic updates and the notification for manual updates. - Sets mouse speed/sensitivity/smoothing/pointer settings(???). - Disables accessibility features. - Rev…

I don't run exactly all, but like I said, YMMV. That said, bunch of people I know run this all the time, me included, and besides some trivial stuff Windows runs at least x2 faster and feels snappier. Those scripts are meant to be inspected and applied. Besides, what kind of engineers are we if we can't fix something done with the script ? You don't recommend experimentation, I can live with that if we don't do work…

You suggested people run:

> ls Debloat-Windows-10/scripts/*.ps1 | % { . $_ }

So kinda are suggesting people run them all. Plus "run them all then fix all the stuff it breaks otherwise you aren't a true engineer" isn't a particularly strong argument for this.

People that know what they're doing don't need these kind of scripts (and would know better than half of what these scripts do anyway). So these kind of scripts pray on those likely not to know enough to fix the issues they cause.

But regardless, just don't start posting about how Windows Update never works correctly because you manually set HOST file and ACL privileges that are specifically designed to stop Windows from working in a normal way. You play silly games you win silly prizes.

Re: Ask HN: What are the first things you do on a new Windows 10 PC? Any checklists?

#16

Post by majkinetor »

Someone1234 wrote: post #14
majkinetor wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't run exactly all, but like I said, YMMV. That said, bunch of people I know run this all the time, me included, and besides some trivial stuff Windows runs at least x2 faster and feels snappier. Those scripts are meant to be inspected and applied. Besides, what kind of engineers are we if we can't fix something done with the script ? You don't recommend experimentation, I can live with that if we don't do work…

You suggested people run: > ls Debloat-Windows-10/scripts/*.ps1 | % { . $_ } So kinda are suggesting people run them all. Plus "run them all then fix all the stuff it breaks otherwise you aren't a true engineer" isn't a particularly strong argument for this. People that know what they're doing don't need these kind of scripts (and would know better than half of what these scripts do anyway). So these kind of scripts…

I suggested:

> ls Debloat-Windows-10/scripts/*.ps1 | % { . $_ } # YMMV

Notice YMMV comment :)

So now you made the entire thing about it ... :)

Re: Ask HN: What are the first things you do on a new Windows 10 PC? Any checklists?

#17

Post by lorein0688 »

I will very firstly remove the pre-installed apps that comes with the Windows 10. These apps are not only useless bur also eat up hard drive space and as a result the system start working slow.

Check it out - http://www.pcerror-fix.com/trick-to-uninstall-or-remove-pre-...

Re: Ask HN: What are the first things you do on a new Windows 10 PC? Any checklists?

#19

Post by partisan »

When I bought my Windows 10 MSI gaming laptop, it ran horribly and stopped booting up after a week.

For some reason I just exchanged it for the same model. This time I reinstalled the windows image that came with the computer with no add-ons or extra software.

I’ve had this laptop for 2 years and game on it regularly.

So my advice is: make sure you have a clean version from the start.

Re: Ask HN: What are the first things you do on a new Windows 10 PC? Any checklists?

#20

Post by beatgammit »

I usually install Linux, and then disable all of the privacy violating stuff that I can in Windows, like Cortana and Telemetry, and uninstall as much bloat as I can. I then install Firefox, Tor browser, and WSL.

Once that's done, I can move on to whatever I need for regular usage of the machine, like Git, compilers, Steam, etc.

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