Let's Tame Windows 10

[maflynn]

I'm not sure why you need to block Windows Updates, especially in Windows 10

I don't have an answer to this, other then my observation that many people who are in the debloat camp adhere to a no update mentality. I'm not knocking it but I do think its risky imo

Regarding startup items

Sysinternal's Autoruns provides a deep enough dive to show what's running. It gives me peace of mind of finding everything.

Disk Cleanup will help you if you are super low on space,

I kind of like the idea of making sure none of the cruft is laying about. True that if you're not short on space its not impacting performance but keeping a tidy computer isn't a bad thing.

- I think a lot of Mac faithful give the Windows Registry a worse name than deserved. It IS NOT newbie friendly and one should ALWAYS be careful of making changes there, but installing a program and then later uninstalling it isn't going to leave the kind of cruft likely to cause any sort of noticeable annoyance of any kind. This WAS the case in the Windows Vista and earlier days (and, to a lesser extent, in the Windows 7 era too). But it got a lot better in 8, 8.1, and especially Windows 10. Of course, this all depends on what you are installing or uninstalling.

I work fairly often in the registry for my job and I personally don't find the need to clean it. The inverse, in the early days of windows registry clean up utilities did more harm then good. With that said, I find uninstalling utilities that clean up all bits of an application including the registry is beneficial.

The OP created the thread for things he found useful for his usage, and I totally get that those things don't fit your needs. Many don't fit my needs but I also learned about a few things, and I think that in of itself is helpful.

 

[RokinAmerica]

I also am a big fan of a lean, clean, mean machine.

Addressing the Windows Updates, I always delay them, mostly because I want to see what is included and want to read reactions, so my delay is a week. But I also work long and weird hours, so I can't really have a schedule. But I do update fairly regular. I just do it by choice and not schedule.

 

[unrigestered]

sorry for being slightly off-topic, as it's about Windows 11, but since my new laptop should arrive soon, and i'm planning to wipe the drive and perform a clean install as soon as possible to get rid of McAfee and other malware, i'd like to know wether it is necessary to have a Microsoft account, or if an "offline" local account is enough.

It's Windows 11 Pro and i'm also planning to use Office Home / Student, which i'm not sure if it will be covered by the Windows installation tool available on their website.

 

[maflynn]

i'd like to know wether it is necessary to have a Microsoft account, or if an "offline" local account is enough.

Technically you have to use a MS account, but there are work arounds

Here's one work around. What happens what worked last 6 months ago, or last year may not work now as MS keeps trying to force you to use an account.

I recently just used Method 1 from this URL: https://beebom.com/how-create-local-account-windows-11/

That worked for me, just last month

 

[Queen6]

Technically you have to use a MS account, but there are work arounds

Here's one work around. What happens what worked last 6 months ago, or last year may not work now as MS keeps trying to force you to use an account.

I recently just used Method 1 from this URL: https://beebom.com/how-create-local-account-windows-11/

That worked for me, just last month

True but there are advantages of an MS online account, just need to be mindful it's online...

Not advocating by any means as there is without any doubts a cost to privacy. That said you can turn a lot off and there are tools that help. macOS you can block with the likes of Little Snitch, but gets old fast due to the sheer number of server/system requests.

I kind of have the routine if the system doesn't need to be connected to the internet I cut it. Probably dont help any, but makes me feel a little better LOL...

W10/11 I'll isolate applications I dont want to communicate externally via the firewall. Works as the app cant communicate with the server and vies versa..

Q-6

 

[unrigestered]

thanks, so how will MS (or Windows) know the key was tied to my system if i wiped my HDD?
also... is Office a separate install, or included in the Windows installer as most Windows systems seem to come with a "30 days Office trial"?
same question regarding the acknowledgment of that key

 

[maflynn]

True but there are advantages of an MS online account, just need to be mindful it's online

I have a MS account, but I set up my windows system as a local account. There are reasons behind that and I'm happy I go down that path. My motivations are not everyone's and what works for me, won't for others.

 

[maflynn]

thanks, so how will MS (or Windows) know the key was tied to my system if i wiped my HDD?

New laptops have the key embedded into the bios, you shouldn't get prompted as the install will look at the bios. Older laptops had the key on a sticker on the laptop somewhere

 

[unrigestered]

New laptops have the key embedded into the bios

also for Office? or does that key include that license too?

 

[Queen6]

thanks, so how will MS (or Windows) know the key was tied to my system if i wiped my HDD?
also... is Office a separate install, or included in the Windows installer as most Windows systems seem to come with a "30 days Office trial"?
same question regarding the acknowledgment of that key

The key is built in to the systems firmware and how Windows is activated. Not much for clean installs myself, however this Asus has gone through one due to a secondary drive failure and my daughters MSI has been wiped numerous time as she DL's everything and anything LOL with no issue.

Office is separate and paid for, unless a time limited deal with the OEM. Dont want to pay or subscribe? LibreOffice is the solution is just as good unless you need very high level Excel plugins.

Q-6

 

[unrigestered]

i paid 80-something Euros for Office Home & Stundent 2021 in a configuration option of that laptop.
Libre Office is an alternative (which i'm planning to install on my Linux drive 👍)
and i'm also having iWorks on my Apple systems (+ Office 2010 or so on my ancient Win 7 machine)
so i think i will be good for a while 😂

 

[Queen6]

also for Office? or does that key include that license too?

No, unless a time limited deal with the OEM. Generally a Trial, have a look at LibreOffice yet to have a compatibility issue, even with complex spreadsheets with 500K+ entries.

Q-6

 

[Queen6]

i paid 80-something Euros for Office Home & Stundent 2021

Then you should have a licence key...

Q-6

 

[unrigestered]

yes, probably, haven't received my machine yet.
just wanted to know how the key validation would work

and of course will try to track those keys down and take notes of them before i'm actually wiping that drive

 

[Queen6]

yes, probably, haven't received my machine yet.
just wanted to know how the key validation would work

and of course will try to track those keys down and take notes of them before i'm actually wiping that drive

Why wipe the drive, just remove what you dont need? When it's gone it's gone and there are tools to reveal what is exactly auto starting or running on the system linked to over 70 AV/Malware engines...

From MS directly.

Autoruns for Windows - Sysinternals

See what programs are configured to startup automatically when your system boots and you login.

learn.microsoft.com

Process Explorer - Sysinternals

Find out what files, registry keys and other objects processes have open, which DLLs they have loaded, and more.

learn.microsoft.com

IMO clean installs are pointless on modern systems, might scrape a few MB of space if that with a good active uninstaller. I've a closing on stock 12 year old 15" MBP, last it was clean installed was the factory. Came back to me DOA, was just SW. Cleaned it up, it now runs better than when I bought it in 2011 thx to Apple's FW optimisations.

TLDR: dont sweat on this...

Q-6

 

[unrigestered]

I know that (additional) clean installs usually aren’t required anymore. My Win 7 laptop from 2010 is still running fine within its capabilities without having received any new re-installs either, but as i don’t use registry cleaning tools, it’s always a hassle to remove any remnants of deinstalled software. In this case McAfee and who knows what kind of other “helper“ tools are coming on that dell.
Sure i could live with dozens or hundreds of dead links inside my registry without much (or any) trouble.
I just prefer not to have huge amounts of totally unnecessary leftovers cluttering my computer(s)

 

[bogdanw]

I use Debloat Windows 10 https://github.com/W4RH4WK/Debloat-Windows-10/

 

[Queen6]

I know that (additional) clean installs usually aren’t required anymore. My Win 7 laptop from 2010 is still running fine within its capabilities without having received any new re-installs either, but as i don’t use registry cleaning tools, it’s always a hassle to remove any remnants of deinstalled software. In this case McAfee and who knows what kind of other “helper“ tools are coming on that dell.
Sure i could live with dozens or hundreds of dead links inside my registry without much (or any) trouble.
I just prefer not to have huge amounts of totally unnecessary leftovers cluttering my computer(s)

Checkout Autoruns that will highlight dead links and you can directly delete from the registry.

Q-6

 

[sgtaylor5]

After you have uninstalled McAfee the normal way and have rebooted, make sure you delete every instance of McAfee folders from program files, program files (x86), program data (normally hidden), the common files folders inside of the program files folders. you might have to unhide hidden files in the View tab of File Explorer, and then you can look for McAfee folders in the appdata\local and the appdata\roaming folders in your C:\Users\username folder.

After that you can run ccleaner and it should get everything left in the registry. Reboot.

I dislike McAfee with a passion, because OEMs put it on every machine they sell, and it’ll usually use up a gig of ram. When I remove it, I see about 10 to 15% better performance on my clients’ machines.

 

[Queen6]

After you have uninstalled McAfee the normal way and have rebooted, make sure you delete every instance of McAfee folders from program files, program files (x86), program data (normally hidden), the common files folders inside of the program files folders. you might have to unhide hidden files in the View tab of File Explorer, and then you can look for McAfee folders in the appdata\local and the appdata\roaming folders in your C:\Users\username folder.

After that you can run ccleaner and it should get everything left in the registry. Reboot.

I dislike McAfee with a passion, because OEMs put it on every machine they sell, and it’ll usually use up a gig of ram. When I remove it, I see about 10 to 15% better performance on my clients’ machines.

Last I uninstalled McAfee you needed a specific app from them to fully purge the system. Today dont know, but I tend to avoid systems with McAfee as it's deliberately difficult to remove.

If memory serves I got the app off one of their EU sites as the the EU is far less tolerant of such BS. Yes can do a clean install, but risk loosing a lot of the OEM's support. TBH I'd rather just pay for a clean computer out the box than fool about with it. Venders that do get my $$$$, those that dont better offer a kick ass computer at a low price...

Q-6

 

[sgtaylor5]

Last I uninstalled McAfee you needed a specific app from them to fully purge the system. Today dont know, but I tend to avoid systems with McAfee as it's deliberately difficult to remove.

If memory serves I got the app off one of their EU sites as the the EU is far less tolerant of such BS. Yes can do a clean install, but risk loosing a lot of the OEM's support. TBH I'd rather just pay for a clean computer out the box than fool about with it. Venders that do get my $$$$, those that dont better offer a kick ass computer at a low price...

Q-6

McAfee uninstalls normally, and doesn't usually require a special utility to uninstall, but that's as far as it's improved.

I don't like Norton, either. They're both practically malware.

 

[maflynn]

I don't like Norton, either. They're both practically malware.

The sad thing is, if you were a PC user from way back, Norton Utilities was THE best utility suite for DOS. I remember reading his book back in the day.

 

[StellarVixen]

Thanks! A few more tools for me to tinker with too.


On a lighter note, I like to use OpenShell/ClassicShell... primarily for the start menu but also as a little "comfort food" looking back at a time when personal computers were more personal. I don't go crazy with full transformations... just a start button, taskbar skin, and start menu.

Here's one of my favorite themes...

View attachment 2160653

Here are the start button and taskbar skin that I created...
View attachment 2160651 View attachment 2160652

The Royale skin can be downloaded here... (I didn't create it)

Classic Shell • View topic - Windows XP Royale Skin

If you are fan of this look, there is the ISO of most faithful XP look that you can get (it is built on 2019 LTSC version of Windows 10)

 

[sracer]

The sad thing is, if you were a PC user from way back, Norton Utilities was THE best utility suite for DOS. I remember reading his book back in the day.

View attachment 2163694

During my career at IBM, my team had the opportunity to meet and speak with him. Back in the day, he was the nerd's nerd.

 

[unrigestered]

The sad thing is, if you were a PC user from way back, Norton Utilities was THE best utility suite for DOS. I remember reading his book back in the day.

View attachment 2163694

even back then i thought it was totally unnecessary, though i've only seen it on some friend's computers so i might have actually missed something important about it.
the good thing back then was though that pretty much everything (non malware) were completely clean installs, were deletimg the installation folder (and maybe removing one or two lines from the autoexec.bat and/or config.sys, which more more or less (c)lean too) meant that every single trace of an app had been completely removed.