from Hacker News

Windows 10 Debloat Script

by wsdookadr on 7/20/19, 7:24 PM with 182 comments

  • by giancarlostoro on 7/20/19, 7:44 PM

    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 of the box. I don't need Cortana running period. Let me uninstall Cortana please Microsoft. I'm sure there's other crap I don't want but I fear if I can't just hit 'Uninstall' it wont go well, or an update will bring it back.

  • by jclay on 7/21/19, 12:40 AM

    I was surprised to find on a recent reinstall of Windows 10 that it no longer included the start menu full of sponsored apps and games. It was a pretty minimal install, all things considered. This was with the Education edition which is a derivative of the Pro edition I believe.

    I’d also highly recommend the BoxStarter setup scripts [0]. They remove all of the unnecessary default applications, perform windows updates, apply sane developer defaults and install development tooling depending on your needs. It’s a one click run, so it’s a pretty easy way to bootstrap a new install. No negative side effects and have been using them for several years.

    0. https://github.com/microsoft/windows-dev-box-setup-scripts

  • by wsdookadr on 7/20/19, 7:25 PM

    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.

  • by what-the-grump on 7/21/19, 2:25 AM

    Just needs to stamp registry with, ran this script on X date, so I can tell the user exactly when and what time they broke windows before reinstalling the OS.

    Do not run these scripts they are always making it worse.

  • by davesmith1983 on 7/20/19, 8:07 PM

    This is interesting. I was using the ShutUp10 tool (I am not affiliated).

    https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10

    That lists what it considers "Safe" things to turn off and I generally keep to that.

    I would however want to try this in a VM before running it.

  • by floatingatoll on 7/20/19, 8:34 PM

    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 friends, the first question I ask is "did you do expert-user things to your system?" and they say "well, I mean, I edited some Registry settings" and I just stop and tell them to reinstall Windows because it's time to amputate. I'll have to add "Have you ever opened Windows PowerShell?" to my list, because that'll catch all of these right out of the gate.

    In case that's not reason enough to be afraid — check out this random sampling of changes this makes!

    * "This script disables Windows Defender" — Because anti-malware protection is "bloat"

    * "Disable 'Updates are available' message" — Because you shouldn't have to be notified when security updates are available for your system, for example to address zero-day RCEs

    * "Windows Biometric Service" — And suddenly you can't face-login to your Windows 10 computer any longer, but hey, it's "bloat"

    * "Disable easy access keyboard stuff" — Because no one would ever use keyboard accessibility, that's just "bloat"

    * "Restoring old volume slider" — I would get that this was "debloat" if it removed the volume slider, but simply restoring an older one?

    * "PandoraMediaInc.29680B314EFC2", "SpotifyAB.SpotifyMusic" — Hope you don't like streaming music, that's just "bloat" anyways

    And, consider how easily this repo could be compromised to result in you self-infecting your computer with malware by running all of these scripts without a close review of the steps they take. First step in any persistent Windows infection is to disable Windows Defender and Windows Update notifications so the user doesn't take steps that might uninstall the persistent infection. Repo does that already, so it's not like it'd be difficult.

  • by thelazydogsback on 7/20/19, 10:45 PM

    Windows 10 started out snappy (boot and usage) and responsive and has remained so for me w/o changing any defaults and taking all updates -- IMHO the best Win yet. I'm sure there is bloat there, but if I don't see it, disk/ssd is cheap. (Resharper is the only beast that seems to cause issues.)

  • by FluffyKitty on 7/20/19, 7:48 PM

    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?

  • by grenoire on 7/20/19, 8:01 PM

    I would also like to plug O&O Shutup10 here, allows you to disable (seemingly safely, in my experience) most annoying Windowz 'features:' https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10

  • by buro9 on 7/21/19, 9:33 AM

    There is an easier way (for those with access to the version of Windows involved):

        Windows 10 N LTSB / LTSC
    N = No media things built-in, so you'll need to install VLC if that's a concern.

    LTSB / LTSC = Long-Term Servicing Branch / Long-Term Servicing Channel. This is really the killer thing but it comes with catches. You'll get an absolutely stable Windows and to achieve that a load of things are removed by Microsoft.

    https://www.computerworld.com/article/3250464/faq-windows-10...

    > LTSB does not include Edge nor any Microsoft Store (Universal Windows Platform, or UWP) apps, whether Redmond-made or third-part, because the browser and those apps constantly change and need updating. Also AWOL: the Cortana voice-activated digital assistant and access to the Microsoft Store.

    And for the HN community... lack of Microsoft Store means that you are not running Ubuntu on Windows.

  • by CommanderData on 7/21/19, 9:26 AM

    Been using this https://github.com/Disassembler0/Win10-Initial-Setup-Script script for over a year and it's been my goto to fix Windows 10 after a fresh install.

    It's purely Powershell based unlike some other binary based tools out there, clean, in a single file. I'd say it doesn't use any hacks either to stop telemetry.

    Keep in mind Windows will revert some settings occasionally after a Windows update.

  • by lame-robot-hoax on 7/20/19, 7:51 PM

    If you’re going go to all this trouble to “debloat” Windows, why not just install Fedora/Ubuntu/PopOS/Debian/Manjaro or something?

    I just don’t see the point with fiddling around with little hacks trying to disable telemetry and stuff when you can just install a Linux distro and be done with it.

    I mean sure depending on your use case that may not be possible, but if you don’t have a certain software or hardware limitation holding you to Windows, I really don’t see why you wouldn’t just use a Linux distro.

  • by jron on 7/21/19, 2:57 AM

    LTSB. A huge chunk of bloat is disabled/missing by default.

  • by majkinetor on 7/20/19, 10:31 PM

    Great debloater, I use it for years, along with bunch of other developers I know. It may produce a problem here and there but its well worth it and produces lighting fast system. Highly recommended and kudos to W4RHRWK for maintaining it so long.

  • by octosphere on 7/20/19, 7:53 PM

    Hmm, I wonder what happens when I combine this with other popular scripts like Make Windows 10 Great Again https://gist.github.com/IntergalacticApps/675339c2b805b4c9c6... and Reclaim-Windows10 https://github.com/alirobe/Reclaim-Windows10 is there much overlap between all three scripts or do they all work great in tandem?

  • by wsdookadr on 7/21/19, 11:26 AM

    Another mention would be TronScript which is described here:

    https://www.reddit.com/r/TronScript/wiki/index

    It can be downloaded from one of these mirrors:

    https://www.reddit.com/r/TronScript/wiki/downloads

  • by Fnoord on 7/23/19, 9:36 PM

    > Please replace it with something better, either use Classic Shell or Start is Back, but stop using that shit.

    Classic Shell is dead, long live its successor Open Shell [1]

    [1] https://github.com/Open-Shell/Open-Shell-Menu

  • by robk on 7/21/19, 7:28 AM

    I found this one a little more upto date for the latest 1809 update. The blacklist option lets you easily choose what to Uninstall https://github.com/Sycnex/Windows10Debloater

  • by petepete on 7/20/19, 8:20 PM

    I'm considering my first Windows workstation in more than a decade and was planning on Windows for Workstations precisely because I don't want to remove all the packaged crap.

    £300 is quite the premium though.

  • by etaioinshrdlu on 7/20/19, 9:17 PM

    I have Windows 10 LTSC running in a VM and it seems pretty bloat-free to me. Anyone else using this, any experiences?

    It's a free trial for 90 days too.

    The only thing I noticed so far was forced-auto updates and reboots...

  • by sakesun on 7/21/19, 12:50 PM

    Zillion thanks for whoever post this. My 7 years old laptop just got massively faster than ever.

  • by vkaku on 7/21/19, 7:37 AM

    Okay, this stuff is great.

    The question is: Why can't Microsoft just release Windows 10 Core?

  • by Tempest1981 on 7/21/19, 4:51 AM

    Are there any Win10 themes - to make it look more like Win7?

  • by spunch on 7/20/19, 10:21 PM

  • by jokowueu on 7/21/19, 4:03 AM

    Nice

  • by fieryskiff1 on 7/20/19, 7:52 PM

    Like most "Debloat" scripts and apps, it also disables some services that result in overall less secure installation.

  • by Krasnol on 7/20/19, 8:16 PM

    It's astonishing how many de-bloat scripts, tools or functions of other tools this OS spawned. That should make the developers think...if it wasn't intended and they didn't give a damn because monopoly...

  • by siphon22 on 7/21/19, 12:11 AM

    Funny coincidence, I recently debloated my W10 with a script as well. I saw the one in the OP during my search, but ultimately didn't go with it as it didn't look legit to me compared to another one that I found mentioned in a article guide.

    Used this one:

    https://github.com/Sycnex/Windows10Debloater

    This one does not affect anything to do with Windows Update and any important system stuff from my experience.

  • by codetrotter on 7/20/19, 7:54 PM

    This still leaves a lot of undesirable stuff on your system.

    Here, I prefer something like this.

    https://sourceforge.net/projects/dban/files/dban/dban-2.3.0/...

    Darik's Boot and Nuke — A hard drive disk wipe and data clearing utility

    And then download and install KDE Neon User Edition from https://neon.kde.org/download

    KDE Neon is a Linux distro based on Ubuntu.

    Yes I am being a bit facetious, sorry.

    But I am actually curious, how many people on HN run Windows on their computers vs the number of people that run macOS, Linux or one of the BSDs?