Which tool to debloat Windows

Remi · March 15, 2022, 2:58pm

Windows does have a lot of things I don’t like. Like the unnecessary pre-installed software and the slow forced updates. There are some applications that can help with these annoyances and save the time of not having to do every thing manually. But there are quite a lot of them. Does anyone have experience for which of these tools work well?

I’m looking for something that:

It works on Windows 11 (and preferably also on Windows 10).
It removes unwanted software running on the background and other bloat.
It must not remove things that break things unexpectedly. It must clearly tell me what is removed.
Disable automatic update download and installation (I don’t mind update notifications).
If possible make update run in the for ground (or something) to make Windows update faster.
Disable telemetry.

I’m leaning to thisiswin11 because it seems very transparent and it is open source, but it does not support Windows 10.

I’ve also seen some options to create custom installation ISO’s. Do any of you guys have experience with these and have any recordations for or against it?

And I Linux does not have these issues, but for something’s I still need Windows (I actually use Linux mainly).

quaralis · March 15, 2022, 3:23pm

Chris Titus has a pretty good de-bloater… GitHub - ChrisTitusTech/win10script: This is the Ultimate Windows 10 Script from a creation from multiple debloat scripts and gists from github.

TheSkuffedKnerd · March 15, 2022, 3:28pm

WindowsDebloatMaster works well and WinAeroTech also works well and adds quite a few more system options for you to tweak.

Four0Four · March 15, 2022, 3:40pm

ThisIsWin11 is the most comprehensive tool I know for for Windows 11. For Windows 10, I use ShutUp10 but it’s mostly geared toward privacy tweaks and telemetry.

Yes, unfortunitally I do have some experience with trying to customize Windows 10 ISO. Whenever Microsoft decided to start installing Candy Crush and other garbage apps without asking, but I thought it would be a great idea to strip all those apps out of the ISO for my corporate environment. It worked great… that is until the next Window feature upgrade and it led to massive breakage and reimaging quite a few workstations. My current solution for app management/debloating is to use group policy to disable unneeded services, registry keys to prevent auto-installation of apps, and a startup script to remove default apps from each user profile. Strongly advise against trying to remove Windows apps directly from the ISO using Remove-ProvisionedAppxPackage. YMMV

PowerShell Script I use to remove unwanted apps on a per user basis

Get-AppxPackage *pandora* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *duolingo* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *eclipsemanager* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *photoshop* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *actipro* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *powerbi* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *speedtest* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *office.sway* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *remotedesktop* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *3dbuilder* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *windowsalarms* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *windowscommunicationsapps* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *windowscamera* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *officehub* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *skypeapp* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *getstarted* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *zunemusic* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *windowsmaps* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *solitairecollection* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *bingfinance* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *zunevideo* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *bingnews* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *onenote* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *windowsphone* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *windowsstore* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *photos* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *bingsports* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *soundrecorder* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *weather* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *feedbackhub* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *gethelp* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *mspaint* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *oneconnect* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *print3d* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *3dviewer* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *microsoft.messaging* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *xbox* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *freshpaint* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *wunderlist* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *wikipedia* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage *translator* | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-WindowsCapability -online | ? {$_.Name -like '*ContactSupport*'} | Remove-WindowsCapability online
Get-WindowsCapability -online | ? {$_.Name -like '*QuickAssist*'} | Remove-WindowsCapability online

Disable automatic installation of Windows Apps (I add these keys to c:\users\default\ntuser.dat so they are applied to all new Windows users)

`Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ContentDeliveryManager]
“FeatureManagementEnabled”=dword:00000000
“OemPreInstalledAppsEnabled”=dword:00000000
“PreInstalledAppsEnabled”=dword:00000000
“RotatingLockScreenEnabled”=dword:00000000
“RotatingLockScreenOverlayEnabled”=dword:00000000
“SilentInstalledAppsEnabled”=dword:00000000
“SoftLandingEnabled”=dword:00000000
“SystemPaneSuggestionsEnabled”=dword:00000000
“ContentDeliveryAllowed”=dword:00000000
“SubscribedContent-338388Enabled”=dword:00000000
“SubscribedContent-338389Enabled”=dword:00000000
“SubscribedContent-338393Enabled”=dword:00000000
“PreInstalledAppsEverEnabled”=dword:00000000

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ContentDeliveryManager\Renderers]

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ContentDeliveryManager\Renderers\SubscribedContent-310091]
“Version”=“2”

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ContentDeliveryManager\Renderers\SubscribedContent-310092]
“Version”=“2”

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ContentDeliveryManager\Renderers\SubscribedContent-338380]
“Version”=“2”

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ContentDeliveryManager\Renderers\SubscribedContent-338381]
“Version”=“2”

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ContentDeliveryManager\Renderers\SubscribedContent-338387]
“Version”=“2”

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ContentDeliveryManager\Renderers\SubscribedContent-338388]
“Version”=“2”

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ContentDeliveryManager\Subscriptions]

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Notifications\Settings\Windows.SystemToast.Suggested]
“Enabled”=dword:00000000

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\International\User Profile]
“HttpAcceptLanguageOptOut”=dword:00000001`

Remi · March 17, 2022, 11:16am

Thanks for your replies. I’m going to try your suggestions.