How to make Windows 10 not Suck! ( As Bad ) :)

Operating Systems & Open Source Windows
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Disclaimer : You should not do this if you are worried about terms of service or may need some of the functions of the app store later. It is hard to say what MS will do in the future but for now it seems to work.
You should not do this on a Win install that you may want the full featured install instead.  There is always risk involved with using third-party tools that may be listed below.

Do not use this for any important system. Tested on Windows 10 Home OEM There will be some variation between different windows versions but this should basically apply.

I do not take the credit for any of the methods used. I have only gathered the info from the internet but i have used and or tested these methods/software on my own systems.

This is intended to help the average person rapidly regain some control of their system and address some of the most common ills and shorten the setup process.

Read this : https://www.privacytools.io/
They explain some of the reasonings behind certain things far better than I can.

Do not express install:

Click on custom install follow the prompts. I just shut everything off and open functions up as i need them.
Make a local account verses linking to your Microsoft account or starting one.

Make a usb installer for win 10:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10 media creation tool
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10ISO actual iso

Note : That if you have upgrade issues such as error/crash at boot I often bypass this nonsense by creating a new usb installer of the latest windows release and allow it to seek out and install all windows updates during the install process.This only works from win 10 version to the win 10 version.

       Note install antivirus of choice ....First ! Second use two different malware scanners and third use a firewall of some kind. Lets not just rely on windows firewall. Back up everything regularly and try to configure your system with an OS boot drive and a separate Data drive.

Download sites for Win 10 software:
https://ninite.com/ for the common basic stuff everyone uses
http://www.filehippo.com/ for some obscure stuff that is still needed from time to time
http://www.majorgeeks.com/ for everything but aligns more with the technical pc users and very specific software
http://www.ghacks.net/ always looking for and testing better pc software
Updating Gpu drivers:
https://support.amd.com/en-us
http://www.geforce.com/drivers

Firewalls :
https://www.glasswire.com/
http://tinywall.pados.hu/download.php
http://www.zonealarm.com/
https://www.comodo.com/home/internet-security/firewall.php

Here are some decent beginner teaching tools.

System Maintenance Tools / audit
http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html
http://www.glarysoft.com/glary-utilities/

Here is were the community and myself will never agree. This is weighted against the most common messes dropped in my lap and I find these maintenance tools do help a great deal. I have used these in past to push the basic user in a better direction toward even better habits
The caveat with these is that if you have something requires a very specific configuration requirement these may undo them every time they are used and it is still possible to cause harm to your system if misused.
May be able to set the tools to avoid doing so, tho ?

Just to be clear about these tools. They still need to be stacked with the usual antivirus,malware scanner, and firewall. The best security also includes keeping every piece of software fully updated with the most current versions.

System monitoring/benching tools : All kinds of …
https://www.piriform.com/
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/
http://www.guru3d.com/files/index.html
http://www.techspot.com/downloads/
For the lovers of the old school start menu.
http://startisback.com/
http://classicshell.net/
Media player replacement options
http://kodi.tv/download/
https://www.videolan.org/vlc/
https://plex.tv/
http://www.xionplayer.com/ My personal use just an audio player.
Messaging/video/voice calling + email
https://wire.com/ in development holds promise
https://protonmail.com/
https://jitsi.org/
Reducing eyestrain due to prolong pc use
https://justgetflux.com/

               This is the Tweaker section. A word of caution.......... You may not need all of these methods. So take some time to consider what you may need for yourself.  A reminder to take your time and fully consider what stuff may be important to you before you start wiping stuff out. Always keep in mind that every time windows updates you will need to review all this every time. When in doubt ? Don't do it.

A very specific approach but not one for every windows version or user. For instance… a gaming machine would have to be a little more permissive in order to allow for steam ect…
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/itpro/windows/manage/disconnect-your-organization-from-microsoft

I have tried most of these and they worked for me but use with caution.

Process Lasso
https://bitsum.com/

Network repair tool
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/netadapter-repair-all-in-one/

Package installer
https://chocolatey.org/ updated recently and sports a new gui installer

Godmode
http://wccftech.com/enable-god-mode-in-windows-10/

Windows 10 Toggle Tweaker windows 10
http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/windows_10_toggle_tweaker.html
This is new and combines a lot of tools listed below and makes them redundant . Does not address host files

Updating windows 10 manually
https://www.ghacks.net/2017/04/19/run-windows-update-on-windows-10-manually-only/
http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/wumt_wrapper_script.html

Winaero has several tweaking guides and some tools. As with any third-party tools, use at your own risk.
http://winaero.com/blog/how-to-remove-a-specific-bundled-app-in-windows-10-individually/
http://winaero.com/blog/how-to-remove-all-bundled-apps-in-windows-10
Links of some uninstallers for Cortana/Edge and customer feedback and support.
http://winaero.com/blog/how-to-uninstall-onedrive-from-windows-10/
http://winaero.com/blog/how-to-uninstall-and-remove-edge-browser-in-windows-10/
http://winaero.com/blog/how-to-uninstall-and-remove-contact-support-in-windows-10/
http://winaero.com/blog/how-to-uninstall-and-remove-feedback-in-windows-10/
http://winaero.com/blog/how-to-uninstall-and-remove-cortana-in-windows-10/
http://winaero.com/blog/bypass-windows-10-limitations-and-set-desired-search-engine-in-cortana/
untested as i nuked bing/edge/cortana

Easy button privacy/system tweaks
http://www.ghacks.net/2015/08/14/comparison-of-windows-10-privacy-tools/ Read First !
http://winaero.com/comment.php?comment.news.1836 Winaero tweaker
https://www.safer-networking.org/spybot-anti-beacon/
https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10
https://www.winprivacy.de/english-home/
https://github.com/10se1ucgo/DisableWinTracking/releases disable tracking tool

Sleep/Hibernate often causes more issues then it is worth.
https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/2859-hibernate-enable-disable-windows-10-a.html

Disable hibernation but keep fast start up
http://winaero.com/blog/disable-hibernation-but-keep-fast-startup/

Reduce foot print of Hibernation / Windows
http://www.zdnet.com/article/windows-10-tip-more-hibernation-secrets-to-save-time-and-disk-space/

Backup system image
http://www.zdnet.com/article/windows-10-tip-create-a-full-image-backup-using-this-hidden-tool/

Check trim status of your ssds
https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/40028-trim-support-solid-state-drives-enable-disable-windows-10-a.html

Prefetch and Superprefetch
http://www.thewindowsclub.com/disable-superfetch-prefetch-ssd

Disable Onedrive
http://pureinfotech.com/uninstall-onedrive-windows-10/

Disable DVR xbox /windows 10
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/fix-low-game-fps-windows-10-disabling-feature/

How to stop those pesky driver updates :slight_smile:
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/take-back-control-driver-updates-windows-10/

Return error details verses frown… mutters something about ms thinking we are stupid
http://winaero.com/blog/show-bsod-details-instead-of-the-sad-smiley-in-windows-10/

Disable windows updates
http://winaero.com/blog/windows-10-update-disabler-disables-windows-10-updates-reliably/ A few words : This is not something to deploy long term. If you separate your data drive and os drive and wipe your os and rebuild regularly or run vms than I can see it.

Build your own: Advanced

Reg edit, disable system services and Command prompt tweaks in the works as i still collecting what i consider to be the most common and useful…

Again let me remind you to use system restore and about having a solid backup plan.

Now with that said. These methods are not perfect and may cause some issues from time to time. It is very hard to keep this a basic fast setup thread. Again … Feel welcome to post your tips and tricks below.

For the lovers of AeroGlass…
http://www.glass8.eu/download1

Updated : 05/02/2017

6 Likes
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Surprise ! Not !

1 Like
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Interesting read, I will keep this in mind when I make the jump to Windows 10

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There are work arounds so cortana will use google instead of bing. You can use "Bing2Google" extension for chrome. I am sure there will be work arounds for allot of the issues Windows 10 has. I know "startisback" now works with windows 10.

Like some, I will hold off on installing windows 10 til more work arounds are published. The worst of the bugs are sorted out. Automatic Updates will prob be the work around I am wanting more than anything.

and

https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows10

and

https://www.yahoo.com/tech/s/clean-install-windows-10-023300547.html

So there is hope.

I think it would be handy to have this topic pinned to the top for everyone. So more work arounds can be added and such.

Just found this, and forgive me if the links are the same as the first post.

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I am not sure you should use Yahoo as a resource.Tons of reasons.

1 Like
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This thread needs more attention.

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I have already uninstalled Win 10. I can not develop this list further. ( I can but not from actual use. ) At the end of the day ? Windows 10 is not as functional or as useful as the previous Windows before it. The most important reason not to upgrade to 10. ( Privacy concerns aside ) You just cannot force people to use something that doesnt do the same things as the old stuff. Too many ! It will not let me and people will just go the the stuff that can. I neither want nor care about Windows vision of the future. I have to stuff that gets the job done and for right now ? Windows 10 is not it.

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I gave the Windows 10 start menu a chance for a week but then had to go with Startisback like before. It's really good, you can pretty much pick and choose the best parts of the previous start menus. Like for instance Windows XP's All Programs flyout, which works better than ever on todays high res desktops.

Purely considered as a start menu the one in Windows 10 is functionally inferior even to Windows 95. And then there's the bug where the new search engine will start to forget items once it gets more than around 500 items to index. It's fabulous.

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I didnt realize how much i missed the flyout until I did the 10 setup. Directory wading that makes sense. :) In order and it is all right there.

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According to this nifty article;

After my upgrade to Windows 10 there were still 2 hidden folders $Windows~BT and $Windows~WS on the C Drive. Running Disk Cleanup deleted the $Windows~BT folder. Is it safe to delete the other hidden folder $Windows~WS?

The answer from the Microsoft Tech was:

They are both temporary directories used by windows to update your system.
It is safe to delete both to reclaim valuable space.
Microsoft has not updated the disk cleanup tool to delete $Windows.~WS yet (but you can delete it manually).

And here is the source for a batch file you can make to automate this process.

@echo "This will delete the folder C:\$Windows.~WS and C:\$Windows.~BT after an update to reclaim space. Windows 10 only."
@echo --------------------------------
@echo If you get message "The system cannot find the file specified" it means the folder is already deleted.
@echo --------------------------------
PAUSE
RD /S /Q "C:\$Windows.~WS"
RD /S /Q "C:\$Windows.~BT"
@echo --------------------------------
@echo All done
@echo --------------------------------
PAUSE NULL

This should help to free up some disk space :)

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https://forums.spybot.info/showthread.php?72686-Spybot-Anti-Beacon-for-Windows-10 Well ? Someone might check this and see what it does.

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I will be reviving this topic in the near future in order to further refine it. This is a work in progress designed to give the average person clean and simple methods that give greater control over their windows 10 install. I will not tap dance around the subject of privacy of Win 10. I do not think it is possible but I do think it can to some degree be mitigated. Use Win 10 with the understanding that nothing your doing is private and act accordingly. Gaming machine is reason i am revisiting this subject.

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Yup ! Everything still works and even has some refinements in some things.

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A post was merged into an existing topic: GTA V on Linux (Skylake Build + Hardware VM Passthrough) | Tek Syndicate

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Think you got a little lost ? Mods move to correct topic, please

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Nah wasn't lost but i still think making windows 10 suck less is by just locking it up next to Linux and only call for it when you need it specific with passtrough.

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ya Run it in a vm. I have done it but i prefer to either be on windows or on linux. Do not like mixing the two per say.

1 Like
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Fair choose.

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tho ? The funny thing is win 10 does just that on some level.

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WIndows + internet just not my thing. Ever since they started in 95/98.