Let's Tame Windows 10

[sracer]

DISCLAIMER: These steps are for those who are comfortable modifying their system. If you are not, please don't attempt these steps. All of these can be accomplished using free tools. Proceed at your own risk.

NOTE: The topic of this thread is about taming Windows 10. If you are content with how Windows 10 runs and don't see the need or value in "taming" Windows 10 and would like to discuss the value in doing that, please post that in the "Do you think Windows 10 needs to be "tamed?" thread. I'd be happy to join that discussion there. Thanks!

Out-of-the-box, Windows 10 can be a real hassle to work with. But it doesn't have to be that way. Some may long for the "good old days" of Windows 7 (or some other previous version of Windows). But it is possible to do a fair amount of tweaking to Windows 10 so that it feels comfortable.

For the longest time, I avoided using Windows 10 on my systems. It wasn't because it was different. (I've been a software developer for over 45 years and the only thing constant is change) It was because it was a mess. But once the user community developed tools to tame Windows 10, I have found that it could actually be enjoyable to use it.

Even a pokey Asus Vivobook E203MA (2GB RAM / 32GB eMMC) notebook running Windows 10 S that I picked up a few years ago on Black Friday for $99 can be switched to Windows 10 Home and be tamed to be very useful and have 17GB storage free.


==> First things first, set a System Restore Point
I won't walk through how to do this... a person who doesn't know how, shouldn't be taking these actions...


==> Second things second, update the system
Not necessarily feature updates, but antivirus updates and other patches to the system. Reboot after the system is updated.


==> Take control of system updates
In spite of safeguards that Microsoft has implemented for automatic system updates, system updates can still happen at inopportune times.

The idea is NOT to prevent updates (though that is possible if one wants that), but to have control over when updates take place. Updates to antivirus and device drivers are important and helpful, but feature updates can often modify how the system looks and feels.


Set network connection to be "metered"
This will cause Windows Updates to be less aggressive with pushing updates. This is one step toward taking control over when and what updates get installed.


WuMgr - Windows Update Manager

GitHub - DavidXanatos/wumgr: Windows update managemetn tool for windows 10

Windows update managemetn tool for windows 10. Contribute to DavidXanatos/wumgr development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

Windows Update Manager hasn't been updated in a while but it still works well. I like the way it breaks out updates into categories, making it easier to decide which ones to install.... or when to install them. Make sure to check the boxes for disabling automatic updates.




WUB - Windows update blocker

Windows Update Blocker v1.8

In Windows There is no option to turn off Windows Updates. Windows Update Blocker is a tool that helps you to disable or enable Updates.

www.sordum.org

Setting the network connection to "metered" won't prevent updates from happening, so it is important to set up a "gatekeeper" that will completely block any and all updates. WUB does a fantastic job at this.


I keep this pinned to the taskbar for easy and frequent access.

NOTE: When WUB is active (blocking updates) you will be unable to install apps from the Microsoft Store. If you want to install an app from the store, inactivate WUB, install the app, then reactivate WUB.



==> Debloat

Once we take control over when and if updates happen, we can then work to remove some of the unnecessary bloat in Windows.

Chris Titus Tech's debloating tool
(before running, make sure that WUB is NOT blocking updates)

Run PowerShell as administrator (cut and paste the following):
iwr -useb https://christitus.com/win | iex

This is a simple PowerShell script that is in plain text. I've examined the script and it is straightfoward and pretty creative.

Here are the tweaks that I use... but research for yourself what each one does and decide which, if any, you want to apply.



==> Take control of system startup items

A system can take a long time to boot up because of items that are set to automatically start when the system is booted. Many of these startup items remain running in the background which can make the system sluggish.

Glary Utilities

Glary Utilities | Glarysoft

The Official Website of Glary Utilities. The #1 free, powerful and all-in-one utility in the world market!

www.glarysoft.com

Glary Utilities is a free general purpose system tuning tool. The free version has plenty of functionality for streamlining a system.

Disable selective startup programs

This provides more details (and entries) than Task Manager's startup tab.



Disable selective scheduled tasks

I like to disable entries that check simply check for updates. I keep OneDrive update active because I rely on OneDrive cloud storage. I disable Glary's scheduled task because I want control over when or if it runs. I don't need it in the background.



==> Cleanup (step 1)

Run Disk Cleanup

Run this periodically to remove unneeded files. I've noticed that it sometimes doesn't pick up everything that can be deleted, but WILL find more stuff a few hours later (even though no updates had taken place).




==> Cleanup (step 2)

Delete contents of C:\Windows\Temp
Delete contents of C:\Windows\Software Distribution\Download


==> Clean up Registry

Glary Utilities

Registry repair

There are some who claim that the Registry doesn't need to be cleaned up, but in my experience, it is helpful to do it after uninstalling an app. There's no perceptible difference in performance but cleaning does appear to eliminate the periodic unexplained hiccups.




==> tame the Edge Browser

Microsoft Edge comes with Windows 10 by default and some of the internal system links will launch Edge to display information (regardless of what the default web browser is set to). So it makes sense, if one is going to use a Chromium-based browser on a hardware-challenged system, to leverage using Edge.

Extensions

• uBlock Origin - this has been a low-resource reliable ad blocker.
• Extensity - this is a great tool for easily enabling/disabling extensions. One of the biggest causes for slowdowns in Chromium-based browsers is extensions. By selectively enabling extensions when needed, and disabling them when not, these browsers can be kept running smoothly. (memory usage is a different story... and I'll attempt to tackle that later on)

______________________________

I hope some find this helpful. I'm always looking for better ways to do things and look forward to hear how others tame their Windows 10 systems.

This is what i consider an "introduction" to taming Windows 10. There's a lot more that I do, but those things are a bit more involved and not as easy to generalize to the average system. It requires more of a conversation.

 

[Queen6]

Good post. Done with W10 on the main system W11 isn't problematic, so letting that one roll. Only negative so far is more frequent updates in comparison to W10, equally a more macOS experience as the app's reopen on a restart.

TBH the biggest issue with Windows is the user, and can see why Apple looks to lockdown macOS to avoid such complications. This PC is closing on 5 years old and has yet to be clean installed, just no need.

O&O Shutup10 would be a good addition to turn off the telemetry.

Q-6

 

[sracer]

Good post. Done with W10 on the main system W11 isn't problematic, so letting that one roll. Only negative so far is more frequent updates in comparison to W10, equally a more macOS experience as the app's reopen on a restart.

TBH the biggest issue with Windows is the user, and can see why Apple looks to lockdown macOS to avoid such complications. This PC is closing on 5 years old and has yet to be clean installed, just no need.

O&O Shutup10 would be a good addition to turn off the telemetry.

Q-6

That's good to hear about Windows 11. I've been able to fire up a Win 11 VM so I'll be experimenting a bit.

I use O&O Shutup 10 too... I consider that to be an "intermediate" level task.

 

[Queen6]

That's good to hear about Windows 11. I've been able to fire up a Win 11 VM so I'll be experimenting a bit.

I use O&O Shutup 10 too... I consider that to be an "intermediate" level task.

So far W11 has been a non issue for me. Once you figure out "Start" and what you can do with it the rest falls into place. Initially a little frustrating, but I don't plan to revert this system to W10. The new OS has more buried settings, but you can turn them on/off, nor did Microsoft flip the switches on the upgrade with everything being the same as the W10 install.

Operating temp was initially higher, seems like MS is working on the optimisation as seeing temps to drop. Currently idling at 60C, but has 8 virtual desktops open, maybe 200 tabs in edge across 8 Windows and a good few apps open. Which is not bad as it's a 17" notebook, not a water cooled desktop.

The others will stay on W10 as not officially compatible. I know there are workaround's, equally until security is an issue I'll just leave as is.

Full W11 Pro 22H2

Q-6

 

[maflynn]

Nice writeup, there's tools, and steps that are new to me, so its great to keep learning.

I use a couple of things that some people may find useful.
Sysinternals from Microsoft. It provides a number of utilties that are so much better then was windows comes with.

I use Process Explorer often, as it shows more details and depth of what's running. Very useful for servers but also on workstations.

Microsoft PowerToys I believe the download for this is via the app store.
My favorite utility from there and what I use all of the time is PowerToys Run. It brings up a spotlight like search bar from where you can type what app your want to run

edit: you can set the hot-key to activate this, so I have it set to windows-space, so it works identically as cmd-space on the mac.

 

[sracer]

Nice writeup, there's tools, and steps that are new to me, so its great to keep learning.

I use a couple of things that some people may find useful.
Sysinternals from Microsoft. It provides a number of utilties that are so much better then was windows comes with.

I use Process Explorer often, as it shows more details and depth of what's running. Very useful for servers but also on workstations.

Microsoft PowerToys I believe the download for this is via the app store.
My favorite utility from there and what I use all of the time is PowerToys Run. It brings up a spotlight like search bar from where you can type what app your want to run

edit: you can set the hot-key to activate this, so I have it set to windows-space, so it works identically as cmd-space on the mac.

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...



Here are the start button and taskbar skin that I created...

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

Classic Shell • View topic - Windows XP Royale Skin

 

[maflynn]

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

Check out StarDock's Object Desktop You can customize the start button/menu, skin the OS, and other productivity things. I personally use Start11 and Fences, both allow me to use the environment the way I want too.

This is what I like windows over macOS. With macOS, I have to do things the way Apple tells me, with Windows, I can make it look, act and feel any way I choose. There's a lot of good with the macOS UI, don't get me wrong, but flexibility is not one of them

 

[sracer]

Check out StarDock's Object Desktop You can customize the start button/menu, skin the OS, and other productivity things. I personally use Start11 and Fences, both allow me to use the environment the way I want too.

I was a fan of stardock back-in-the-day... they offered freebie tools and their licensing for their other tools was generous. But with owning multiple systems, and even more VMs, it is cost prohibitive to consider any of their products these days.

This is what I like windows over macOS. With macOS, I have to do things the way Apple tells me, with Windows, I can make it look, act and feel any way I choose. There's a lot of good with the macOS UI, don't get me wrong, but flexibility is not one of them

This. Even though Windows 10/11 is more restrictive regarding customization (compared to WinXP and Win 7), they are still more flexible than Mac OS.

 

[Queen6]

Nice writeup, there's tools, and steps that are new to me, so its great to keep learning.

I use a couple of things that some people may find useful.
Sysinternals from Microsoft. It provides a number of utilties that are so much better then was windows comes with.

I use Process Explorer often, as it shows more details and depth of what's running. Very useful for servers but also on workstations.

Microsoft PowerToys I believe the download for this is via the app store.
My favorite utility from there and what I use all of the time is PowerToys Run. It brings up a spotlight like search bar from where you can type what app your want to run

edit: you can set the hot-key to activate this, so I have it set to windows-space, so it works identically as cmd-space on the mac.
View attachment 2160586

Another for Process Explorer & AutoRuns as can see deep into the system and can link to Virus Total with 70+ AV engines. W11 offers a more Mac like experience, however tends to need a couple more steps for the power user to get the best out of the OS which I don't care for. Overall an improvement on W10, although as per the OP you need to tame it.

Some other notables;
Winmerge (reveals the difference in files/folders very, very handy application)
WinDirStat (see where your space is going)
OFSMount (have a lot of RAM? why not put it to use)
EEK (solid tried & proven AV on demand scanner)
Norton Power Eraser (It's good, works fast, digs deep with no bloat!)
Just Color picker (need to match a colour this is the tool)
Libre Office (used for years never had any issue with MS Office files including complex Spreadsheets with over 500K entries on the Mac or PC)
WireGuard (need a good supporting VPN, extremely fast. No obfuscation so you will pop up on the radar instantly, equally if permissible this is the solution for a fast secured connections)

On the Mac side pretty much have the same, just differing apps/venders...

Q-6

 

[v0lume4]

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

This is beautiful. Reminds me of Windows XP Media Center. Nostalgia. Better times.

 

[klasma]

If you don’t want to block Windows Updates completely, but just automatic restarts, I recommend Reboot Blocker. It’s a service that continuously rotates the Active Hours so that reboots are delayed indefinitely. It works reliably on Windows 10, not sure about 11.

Other useful tools are AutoHotkey (for keyboard macros/hotkeys and all kinds of automations), Winaero Tweaker (UI tweaks), Everything (super-fast filename search), WinCompose (entering Unicode characters), Path Copy Copy (copying file paths in explorer), and PureText (plain-text pasting). I also use WindowManager ($15).

 

[flashflood101]

Almost everything listed here is unnecessary, and some are potentially harmful or else break core functionality.

 

[RokinAmerica]

On win 10, I use O_O Shut Up and Classic Shell.

Have for years.

 

[Queen6]

Almost everything listed here is unnecessary, and some are potentially harmful or else break core functionality.

No, not if you know what your doing. This PC is closing on 5 years old with no issues and no clean install. As per the OP's first post you need to understand the HW & OS to some level and then deicide for yourself the best course of action.

If not comfortable with such powerful applications, stay clear. I've a 2011 15" MBP which has been through the wringer and then some. Last it was clean installed was the factory, today in 2023 it runs better than on release with zero throttle.

Note, some core functionality is not desirable for all and hence the need to suspend/stop/remove such applications...

What the OP's post does is shortcut Microsoft, as you can turn off manually but takes some digging into settings, registry & the OS.

Is all wired wrong, should be opt in, not opt out, but money and all. First I do with any new system is turn all the data harvesting off.

I use a lot of deeper applications and this system has yet to crash. Windows is easy macOS on Apple Silicon still a learning curve.

Thing being is I want the computers to work for me, not for the provider as they've already been paid...

Q-6

 

[Silvestru Hosszu]

Registry repair

There are some who claim that the Registry doesn't need to be cleaned up, but in my experience, it is helpful to do it after uninstalling an app. There's no perceptible difference in performance but cleaning does appear to eliminate the periodic unexplained hiccups.

View attachment 2160340

Just a quick warning for those who are using registry modifications/hacks. This will disable those for potentially unforeseen consequences.
E.g. I had modified the registry to be able to accommodate extra large pst files.
After running the registry fix outlook stopped working and I wasnt able to open the psts.
It was 1 hour + fix.
So be aware to (1) avoid using this if you modified your registry on purpose or (2) redo immediately your modification after running Registry Repair.

 

[Queen6]

Just a quick warning for those who are using registry modifications/hacks. This will disable those for potentially unforeseen consequences.
E.g. I had modified the registry to be able to accommodate extra large pst files.
After running the registry fix outlook stopped working and I wasnt able to open the psts.
It was 1 hour + fix.
So be aware to (1) avoid using this if you modified your registry on purpose or (2) redo immediately your modification after running Registry Repair.

Export the registry hive or key (right click), is then just a 10 second fix to revert. Want to dig about in the Registry need to be very careful and know where your going...

Window's Registry can become fragmented which can effect performance. For most best to keep out, bottom line is the Registry is a database and dead ends have no impact on performance as they are ignored by the system.

Close to 5 years of heavy use

Q-6

 

[maflynn]

I use O_O Shut Up

That's what I use, and I'm generally happy with how things are.

Almost everything listed here is unnecessary, and some are potentially harmful or else break core functionality.

Do you have any evidence that its harmful?

I think one of the very things we're trying to do is break core functionality, i.e., Windows telemetry and other actions of accessing external sites. That very much is high on our list to stop.

As for unnecessary, I don't consider personal privacy unnecessary, and the other stuff using classshell, windowblinds, start11. Yeah its not needed but the great thing about windows, is you get to alter how the OS look and behave, in a completely safe manner. These are not hacks, I get coming from a Mac person where Apple shuts down any attempt at self expression you may be concerned at how this works, but in other operating systems its quite normal to use themes and apps to customize the environment.

Overall, customizing the computer/OS allows us to use the computer in a way we want too, and not be forced to use this in a way that the someone else thinks it should be. What the OP does, may not be fully my cup of tea, but it doesn't have to be. It works for him ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Queen6]

That's what I use, and I'm generally happy with how things are.


Do you have any evidence that its harmful?

I think one of the very things we're trying to do is break core functionality, i.e., Windows telemetry and other actions of accessing external sites. That very much is high on our list to stop.

As for unnecessary, I don't consider personal privacy unnecessary, and the other stuff using classshell, windowblinds, start11. Yeah its not needed but the great thing about windows, is you get to alter how the OS look and behave, in a completely safe manner. These are not hacks, I get coming from a Mac person where Apple shuts down any attempt at self expression you may be concerned at how this works, but in other operating systems its quite normal to use themes and apps to customize the environment.

Overall, customizing the computer/OS allows us to use the computer in a way we want too, and not be forced to use this in a way that the someone else things it should be. What the OP does, may not be fully my cup of tea, but it doesn't have to be. It works for him ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Personal privacy is a right, done with companies monetising me. Those I cant work around I just dump is far easier that way...

Q-6

 

[unrigestered]

my "current" Windows 7 system didn't need as much taming, but i'm of the opinion that one should try handling the system with it's natively provided tools first, the registry in this case. google can be your friend (some times 😂) only if that fails to deliver, one should opt for 3rd party solutions, which - in many cases, indeed are "unneccessary" (in my opinion of course) as quite a lot can already been done natively, though i'm of course not sure how well MS has protected it's telemetry supply chain.

mind you, i always had an aversion against 3rd party system tools or "helpers" though to begin with and only use them when it is indeed impossible to do on a vanilla OS

 

[Queen6]

my "current" Windows 7 system didn't need as much taming, but i'm of the opinion that one should try handling the system with it's natively provided tools first, the registry in this case. google can be your friend (some times 😂) only if that fails to deliver, one should opt for 3rd party solutions, which - in many cases, indeed are "unneccessary" (in my opinion of course) as a pot can already been done natively, though i'm of course not sure how well MS has protected it's telemetry supply chain.

mind you, i always had an aversion against 3rd party "system tools/helpers" though 😂

I mostly use native OS apps/tools. Google wont give them the time of day, not because they are not Apple because they are Google and are needlessly intrusive & prying...

Q-6

 

[unrigestered]

use DDG then 😜 (or something else)

(you surely do use some kind of search engine on the internet?)

 

[Queen6]

use DDG then 😜 (or something else)

(you surely do use some kind of search engine on the internet?)

Brave & DuckDuck Go combined with a strong Obfuscated VPN as try to limit the leakage. Want to start getting serious TOR...

Q-6

 

[sracer]

my "current" Windows 7 system didn't need as much taming, but i'm of the opinion that one should try handling the system with it's natively provided tools first, the registry in this case. google can be your friend (some times 😂) only if that fails to deliver, one should opt for 3rd party solutions, which - in many cases, indeed are "unneccessary" (in my opinion of course) as quite a lot can already been done natively, though i'm of course not sure how well MS has protected it's telemetry supply chain.

mind you, i always had an aversion against 3rd party system tools or "helpers" though to begin with and only use them when it is indeed impossible to do on a vanilla OS

This thread is about "taming" Windows 10. If a person doesn't think Windows 10 needs to be tamed then obviously this thread is unnecessary.

Much of what is described in this thread by myself and others is NOT possible using the default tools supplied with Windows 10.

 

[Yebubbleman]

DISCLAIMER: These steps are for those who are comfortable modifying their system. If you are not, please don't attempt these steps. All of these can be accomplished using free tools. Proceed at your own risk.

Out-of-the-box, Windows 10 can be a real hassle to work with. But it doesn't have to be that way. Some may long for the "good old days" of Windows 7 (or some other previous version of Windows). But it is possible to do a fair amount of tweaking to Windows 10 so that it feels comfortable.

For the longest time, I avoided using Windows 10 on my systems. It wasn't because it was different. (I've been a software developer for over 45 years and the only thing constant is change) It was because it was a mess. But once the user community developed tools to tame Windows 10, I have found that it could actually be enjoyable to use it.

Even a pokey Asus Vivobook E203MA (2GB RAM / 32GB eMMC) notebook running Windows 10 S that I picked up a few years ago on Black Friday for $99 can be switched to Windows 10 Home and be tamed to be very useful and have 17GB storage free.


==> First things first, set a System Restore Point
I won't walk through how to do this... a person who doesn't know how, shouldn't be taking these actions...


==> Second things second, update the system
Not necessarily feature updates, but antivirus updates and other patches to the system. Reboot after the system is updated.


==> Take control of system updates
In spite of safeguards that Microsoft has implemented for automatic system updates, system updates can still happen at inopportune times.

The idea is NOT to prevent updates (though that is possible if one wants that), but to have control over when updates take place. Updates to antivirus and device drivers are important and helpful, but feature updates can often modify how the system looks and feels.


Set network connection to be "metered"
This will cause Windows Updates to be less aggressive with pushing updates. This is one step toward taking control over when and what updates get installed.
View attachment 2160342

WuMgr - Windows Update Manager

GitHub - DavidXanatos/wumgr: Windows update managemetn tool for windows 10

Windows update managemetn tool for windows 10. Contribute to DavidXanatos/wumgr development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

Windows Update Manager hasn't been updated in a while but it still works well. I like the way it breaks out updates into categories, making it easier to decide which ones to install.... or when to install them. Make sure to check the boxes for disabling automatic updates.
View attachment 2160339



WUB - Windows update blocker

Windows Update Blocker v1.8

In Windows There is no option to turn off Windows Updates. Windows Update Blocker is a tool that helps you to disable or enable Updates.

www.sordum.org

Setting the network connection to "metered" won't prevent updates from happening, so it is important to set up a "gatekeeper" that will completely block any and all updates. WUB does a fantastic job at this.
View attachment 2160345

I keep this pinned to the taskbar for easy and frequent access.

NOTE: When WUB is active (blocking updates) you will be unable to install apps from the Microsoft Store. If you want to install an app from the store, inactivate WUB, install the app, then reactivate WUB.



==> Debloat

Once we take control over when and if updates happen, we can then work to remove some of the unnecessary bloat in Windows.

Chris Titus Tech's debloating tool
(before running, make sure that WUB is NOT blocking updates)

Run PowerShell as administrator (cut and paste the following):
iwr -useb https://christitus.com/win | iex

This is a simple PowerShell script that is in plain text. I've examined the script and it is straightfoward and pretty creative.

Here are the tweaks that I use... but research for yourself what each one does and decide which, if any, you want to apply.
View attachment 2160344


==> Take control of system startup items

A system can take a long time to boot up because of items that are set to automatically start when the system is booted. Many of these startup items remain running in the background which can make the system sluggish.

Glary Utilities

Glary Utilities | Glarysoft

The Official Website of Glary Utilities. The #1 free, powerful and all-in-one utility in the world market!

www.glarysoft.com

Glary Utilities is a free general purpose system tuning tool. The free version has plenty of functionality for streamlining a system.

Disable selective startup programs

This provides more details (and entries) than Task Manager's startup tab.
View attachment 2160343


Disable selective scheduled tasks

I like to disable entries that check simply check for updates. I keep OneDrive update active because I rely on OneDrive cloud storage. I disable Glary's scheduled task because I want control over when or if it runs. I don't need it in the background.
View attachment 2160341


==> Cleanup (step 1)

Run Disk Cleanup

Run this periodically to remove unneeded files. I've noticed that it sometimes doesn't pick up everything that can be deleted, but WILL find more stuff a few hours later (even though no updates had taken place).

View attachment 2160346


==> Cleanup (step 2)

Delete contents of C:\Windows\Temp
Delete contents of C:\Windows\Software Distribution\Download


==> Clean up Registry

Glary Utilities

Registry repair

There are some who claim that the Registry doesn't need to be cleaned up, but in my experience, it is helpful to do it after uninstalling an app. There's no perceptible difference in performance but cleaning does appear to eliminate the periodic unexplained hiccups.

View attachment 2160340


==> tame the Edge Browser

Microsoft Edge comes with Windows 10 by default and some of the internal system links will launch Edge to display information (regardless of what the default web browser is set to). So it makes sense, if one is going to use a Chromium-based browser on a hardware-challenged system, to leverage using Edge.

Extensions

• uBlock Origin - this has been a low-resource reliable ad blocker.
• Extensity - this is a great tool for easily enabling/disabling extensions. One of the biggest causes for slowdowns in Chromium-based browsers is extensions. By selectively enabling extensions when needed, and disabling them when not, these browsers can be kept running smoothly. (memory usage is a different story... and I'll attempt to tackle that later on)

______________________________

I hope some find this helpful. I'm always looking for better ways to do things and look forward to hear how others tame their Windows 10 systems.

This is what i consider an "introduction" to taming Windows 10. There's a lot more that I do, but those things are a bit more involved and not as easy to generalize to the average system. It requires more of a conversation.

I'm not saying that there isn't good stuff in here. But I'll say that a lot of it is very much unnecessary.

In reverse order:

- The Edge stuff is useful. I have nothing to say to negate that stuff. I pretty much just change the default search provider to Google, and am largely fine just doing that. But everyone's different.

- 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.

- Disk Cleanup will help you if you are super low on space, but it won't help you with much. The best thing you can do is clear out old Windows Update installers. And, if you are still within your 10 days following a feature update, killing the Windows.old folder that contained your previous Windows 10 version will reclaim a decent amount of space. But even then, that is only truly helpful if (a) you are low on space, (b) you are having no issues following your recent feature update to the newer version of Windows 10, and (c) you really can't wait for that folder to be deleted on its own. Basically, if you need Disk Cleanup, chances are decent that you have other larger stuff filling up your drive that you probably need to deal with instead (in which case, Disk Cleanup won't really help you anyway).

- Regarding startup items, I don't know what utility you have there, but it's got stuff in it that isn't even in the current iteration of Windows 10 anymore (stuff like Homegroups, which were deprecated in Windows 10 1803, which, at this point hasn't been supported since well before the pandemic). Task Manager has a perfectly good interface for turning off start-up items. It's also the case that most Windows apps are good about having a settings/Preferences area where you can tell the app NOT to start up when you log into Windows. Furthermore, you don't want to disable the services that update Edge. Edge is a browser that resides on your computer. It as just as important to keep Edge up to date (even if you use any other browser as your default) as it is to keep Safari up to date on a Mac where it is not the default browser. At least, from a security hygiene perspective. Plus, it REALLY doesn't eat up any considerable amount of resources.

- For "De-Bloating" Windows, I can only assume you mean the Windows Store apps. This was and still is a common complaint of Windows 10 and Windows 11. However, there are a couple of things that most Windows users don't realize about these apps. (a) They're incredibly lightweight and (b) None of them run in the background on their own. You could ignore them outright and they wouldn't inconvenience you ever. However, it's also important to note and know how they get there in the first place. They reside on the Windows install image in the default user folder. Which is to say that they get "provisioned" at the time that each new account is created. You could use PowerShell (or simply uninstall whichever apps you don't want via a number of convenient GUI options) to remove them from the user account that you are using, you could remove them from the Windows install image so that they're never there to be provisioned to an account to begin with, or you can, from within a live Windows OS, remove them from the default user account (which wouldn't kill them from any already created user account, but would for any new user accounts spun up thereafter). A lot of people see the need to avoid these things (and in an IT context, that makes PERFECT sense). But they're pretty easy to just ignore at no tangible cost to resources.

- I'm not sure why you need to block Windows Updates, especially in Windows 10 and especially in 2023 when all new features (that aren't security related) are pretty much exclusively going into Windows 11 feature update releases. In the Windows 10 era and beyond, Windows Updates are REALLY EASY to manage. All Microsoft products get updates on the second Tuesday of each month (referred to in the IT world as "Patch Tuesday"); two weeks later, they offer up public previews of the patches to come that next Patch Tuesday. Like with Apple's updates, Microsoft's monthly updates for Windows 10 and 11 (as well as Windows Server 2016 and newer) are cumulative. So, however behind you are, you only need one update to get you current. There are other miscellaneous security or stability updates here and there to Windows. None of them cause any harm and are usually important. Basically, if you religiously check for updates on the 20th of each month, you will have (a) removed the potential for Windows to try to run an update requiring a reboot at an inconvenient time and (b) given the IT community time to test, validate, and report back any critical issues to Microsoft to give them time to pull and reissue the update. Windows 10 Feature Updates, at this point, are all security based, and do not otherwise change Windows 10 so significantly that you ought to be worried about things breaking. Plus, if you are running Home or Pro versions, you only have six months to get off of your current Windows 10 release and onto its replacement before you are in a position where you are no longer getting updates. tl;dr: Windows Update is fine and so long as you keep to a schedule, there's no need to disable it, block it, or whatever. Just do proper system maintenance on your machine!

- There is no need to pick and choose which updates or categories of updates to install in Windows 10. This practice was flawed in Windows 8.1 and earlier. Microsoft couldn't develop around people picking and choosing updates (it left several permutations of a Windows installation which only further contributed to instability in Windows as a whole), so it gave everyone the same cumulative patches that include everything needed to keep things secure and stable. To be honest, Windows 10 (and 11) is (are) much better for this reason. Just install and update everything and you'll be fine. Seriously.

- There is no need to set your network as metered UNLESS your network actually IS metered. Like if you have a Windows laptop that has a cellular modem and you are not on an unlimited data plan, set that network as metered. Or if you are at a hotel or on a flight and you only have so much bandwidth that you can use. THAT'S when you set your network as metered. If you are otherwise on top of your Windows Updates (again, just update every month on the 20th until it tells you that you have no further updates or until it tells you that the only updates are the anti-virus definitions that are set to automatically install themselves anyway), you will not experience any kind of network slowdown caused by Windows Update. The only way that you possibly COULD cause slowdowns via Windows Update is if you refused to keep your machine up to date and then had to download a much larger cumulative update to catch yourself up (which is a fairly no-win approach to managing Windows to begin with).



I think much of this guide comes at it from the standpoint of underexposure to Windows 10 as a platform. It's really not bad, it needs very little to get up and running stably. And, quite honestly, whenever I'm setting up a Windows 10 machine for anyone outside of an IT environment, my order of operations is simply, (1) Install Windows, (2) Install Drivers, (3) Install Windows Updates, (4) There is no Step 4. It doesn't have to be any more complicated than that. That all being said, you REALLY DO run into bloatware on consumer PCs where the manufacturer cakes the machine with their apps and where you don't have the luxury (that the business class PCs have) of a simple app that fetches and installs the correct drivers for each component or, in the case of the Microsoft Surface machines, don't need to factor drivers at all since they're baked into the system and perfectly recognized/invoked by Windows Update. But, assuming you're not operating with the pitfalls of a consumer (i.e. not Business Class, but still made by Dell, HP, Lenovo, Acer, Asus, etc.) name brand laptop/desktop, Windows 10 (or 11, for that matter) needn't be anywhere near this complicated.

 

[Queen6]

I'm not saying that there isn't good stuff in here. But I'll say that a lot of it is very much unnecessary.

In reverse order:

- The Edge stuff is useful. I have nothing to say to negate that stuff. I pretty much just change the default search provider to Google, and am largely fine just doing that. But everyone's different.

- 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.

- Disk Cleanup will help you if you are super low on space, but it won't help you with much. The best thing you can do is clear out old Windows Update installers. And, if you are still within your 10 days following a feature update, killing the Windows.old folder that contained your previous Windows 10 version will reclaim a decent amount of space. But even then, that is only truly helpful if (a) you are low on space, (b) you are having no issues following your recent feature update to the newer version of Windows 10, and (c) you really can't wait for that folder to be deleted on its own. Basically, if you need Disk Cleanup, chances are decent that you have other larger stuff filling up your drive that you probably need to deal with instead (in which case, Disk Cleanup won't really help you anyway).

- Regarding startup items, I don't know what utility you have there, but it's got stuff in it that isn't even in the current iteration of Windows 10 anymore (stuff like Homegroups, which were deprecated in Windows 10 1803, which, at this point hasn't been supported since well before the pandemic). Task Manager has a perfectly good interface for turning off start-up items. It's also the case that most Windows apps are good about having a settings/Preferences area where you can tell the app NOT to start up when you log into Windows. Furthermore, you don't want to disable the services that update Edge. Edge is a browser that resides on your computer. It as just as important to keep Edge up to date (even if you use any other browser as your default) as it is to keep Safari up to date on a Mac where it is not the default browser. At least, from a security hygiene perspective. Plus, it REALLY doesn't eat up any considerable amount of resources.

- For "De-Bloating" Windows, I can only assume you mean the Windows Store apps. This was and still is a common complaint of Windows 10 and Windows 11. However, there are a couple of things that most Windows users don't realize about these apps. (a) They're incredibly lightweight and (b) None of them run in the background on their own. You could ignore them outright and they wouldn't inconvenience you ever. However, it's also important to note and know how they get there in the first place. They reside on the Windows install image in the default user folder. Which is to say that they get "provisioned" at the time that each new account is created. You could use PowerShell (or simply uninstall whichever apps you don't want via a number of convenient GUI options) to remove them from the user account that you are using, you could remove them from the Windows install image so that they're never there to be provisioned to an account to begin with, or you can, from within a live Windows OS, remove them from the default user account (which wouldn't kill them from any already created user account, but would for any new user accounts spun up thereafter). A lot of people see the need to avoid these things (and in an IT context, that makes PERFECT sense). But they're pretty easy to just ignore at no tangible cost to resources.

- I'm not sure why you need to block Windows Updates, especially in Windows 10 and especially in 2023 when all new features (that aren't security related) are pretty much exclusively going into Windows 11 feature update releases. In the Windows 10 era and beyond, Windows Updates are REALLY EASY to manage. All Microsoft products get updates on the second Tuesday of each month (referred to in the IT world as "Patch Tuesday"); two weeks later, they offer up public previews of the patches to come that next Patch Tuesday. Like with Apple's updates, Microsoft's monthly updates for Windows 10 and 11 (as well as Windows Server 2016 and newer) are cumulative. So, however behind you are, you only need one update to get you current. There are other miscellaneous security or stability updates here and there to Windows. None of them cause any harm and are usually important. Basically, if you religiously check for updates on the 20th of each month, you will have (a) removed the potential for Windows to try to run an update requiring a reboot at an inconvenient time and (b) given the IT community time to test, validate, and report back any critical issues to Microsoft to give them time to pull and reissue the update. Windows 10 Feature Updates, at this point, are all security based, and do not otherwise change Windows 10 so significantly that you ought to be worried about things breaking. Plus, if you are running Home or Pro versions, you only have six months to get off of your current Windows 10 release and onto its replacement before you are in a position where you are no longer getting updates. tl;dr: Windows Update is fine and so long as you keep to a schedule, there's no need to disable it, block it, or whatever. Just do proper system maintenance on your machine!

- There is no need to pick and choose which updates or categories of updates to install in Windows 10. This practice was flawed in Windows 8.1 and earlier. Microsoft couldn't develop around people picking and choosing updates (it left several permutations of a Windows installation which only further contributed to instability in Windows as a whole), so it gave everyone the same cumulative patches that include everything needed to keep things secure and stable. To be honest, Windows 10 (and 11) is (are) much better for this reason. Just install and update everything and you'll be fine. Seriously.

- There is no need to set your network as metered UNLESS your network actually IS metered. Like if you have a Windows laptop that has a cellular modem and you are not on an unlimited data plan, set that network as metered. Or if you are at a hotel or on a flight and you only have so much bandwidth that you can use. THAT'S when you set your network as metered. If you are otherwise on top of your Windows Updates (again, just update every month on the 20th until it tells you that you have no further updates or until it tells you that the only updates are the anti-virus definitions that are set to automatically install themselves anyway), you will not experience any kind of network slowdown caused by Windows Update. The only way that you possibly COULD cause slowdowns via Windows Update is if you refused to keep your machine up to date and then had to download a much larger cumulative update to catch yourself up (which is a fairly no-win approach to managing Windows to begin with).



I think much of this guide comes at it from the standpoint of underexposure to Windows 10 as a platform. It's really not bad, it needs very little to get up and running stably. And, quite honestly, whenever I'm setting up a Windows 10 machine for anyone outside of an IT environment, my order of operations is simply, (1) Install Windows, (2) Install Drivers, (3) Install Windows Updates, (4) There is no Step 4. It doesn't have to be any more complicated than that. That all being said, you REALLY DO run into bloatware on consumer PCs where the manufacturer cakes the machine with their apps and where you don't have the luxury (that the business class PCs have) of a simple app that fetches and installs the correct drivers for each component or, in the case of the Microsoft Surface machines, don't need to factor drivers at all since they're baked into the system and perfectly recognized/invoked by Windows Update. But, assuming you're not operating with the pitfalls of a consumer (i.e. not Business Class, but still made by Dell, HP, Lenovo, Acer, Asus, etc.) name brand laptop/desktop, Windows 10 (or 11, for that matter) needn't be anywhere near this complicated.

All good baring Google as the default search engine, not doing that. W10 is pretty robust, as is W11. Somethings need to be tamed for the sake of the user not the provider which is the point of this post.

Buy a new PC, I tend to format the drive and install Windows. If the infestation isn't too bad I'll kill the unwanted processes via Sysinternals AutoRuns, if they cant start, they don't run.

As for old Windows the image auto deletes so no need to worry about it, unless the user sees issue and has a need to roll back...

Q-6