Not MS fan, just left Linux after 26 years for music production only

[hapibeli]

Just want to know how to rid myself of MS bloatware, things I don't need constantly coming from MS.

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

What do you define as bloatware?  One man's annoyance is another man's necessary tool...

Just uninstall what you don't want.

[David Uzondu Reporter]

Look up ChrisTitusTech's debloat tool

 

[xrobwx71]

https://github.com/Raphire/Win11Debloat

 

There are many of these across the interwebs, check Google for more.

Research a bit and be careful, make sure the script or app is reputable.

[Haxzion]

The best and safest way to debloat a windows iso  is with NTLite....either the free version or the paid one.

There are many other guides and tools but i consider this one the safest

And don't try to debload an already installed OS it's just a waste of time.

Edited January 16, 2025 by Haxzion

[+Eternal Tempest MVC]

Look at O&O Shutup10++ & O&O App Buster

https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10 - Trigger Privacy Settings in mass / granular
https://www.oo-software.com/en/ooappbuster - Safely Uninstalling App Store Apps (it had guard rails)

Also, using powershell commands to remove app store apps work too.

https://www.wisecleaner.com/how-to/174-how-to-uninstall-windows-apps-with-powershell-on-windows-10-and-11.html
Just be careful what you remove.

[+Elі Subscriber²]

IMHO most of the tweaking tools for Windows have the potential to break your OS and the sad part is that you wouldn't even know it's broken and blame it on MS when things don't work as they should. Just use the Add/Remove feature on Windows to remove any programs you do not want. Otherwise, the ONLY app I would recommend that removes programs/System Modules/Windows apps and ALL traces of them without breaking stuff is TOTAL UNINSTALL. Not free but worth the purchase.

I also left Windows and stayed on Linux for over 7 years full-time, but VR brought me back around 4 years ago or so lol, and now I'm dual booting again. I have learned not to mess with Windows and just normally remove what I don't want. It's better this way.

[+Good Bot, Bad Bot Subscriber¹]

I am confused on why had to totally leave Linux? You only own one machine? Use in a VM? Dualboot?

[Accuphase]

On 16/01/2025 at 18:36, Dick Montage said:

What do you define as bloatware?  One man's annoyance is another man's necessary tool...

Just uninstall what you don't want.

What’s your necessary tool?

[Nick H. Supervisor]

On 17/01/2025 at 07:09, Accuphase said:

What’s your necessary tool?

Some people like and use Copilot. I don't, so I would consider it bloatware.

 

On 17/01/2025 at 00:32, Elі said:

IMHO most of the tweaking tools for Windows have the potential to break your OS and the sad part is that you wouldn't even know it's broken and blame it on MS when things don't work as they should. Just use the Add/Remove feature on Windows to remove any programs you do not want. Otherwise, the ONLY app I would recommend that removes programs/System Modules/Windows apps and ALL traces of them without breaking stuff is TOTAL UNINSTALL. Not free but worth the purchase.

I also left Windows and stayed on Linux for over 7 years full-time, but VR brought me back around 4 years ago or so lol, and now I'm dual booting again. I have learned not to mess with Windows and just normally remove what I don't want. It's better this way.

Definitely this. I know plenty of people here that use these scripts and tools and that is fine. But if they ask for support and I learn that they used something to "de-bloat" the system I'm less inclined to offer suggestions past "reinstall the OS as it was meant to be."

 

For @hapibeli: Why did you move away from Linux for music production? I can think of several people in that profession that are able to get their work done using Linux, so what is it that wasn't working for you? Was it just the case that the particular application that you use doesn't have native Linux support?

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

On 17/01/2025 at 07:09, Accuphase said:

What’s your necessary tool?

Not that it's overly relevant but I've seen scripts that remove:

• CoPilot
• Remote Desktop
• Power Automate
• Edge

I use these things every single day.  Others may or may not be in the same boat.  So one persons "bloatware" is another's "necessary tool".  A lot of people use these scripts and are ignorant as to what they do, and then blame MS when something doesn't work.

Don't get me wrong, these scripts have a really valid place - and for me, that is an education piece so that I maintain my own script that I run upon spinning up a new instance.

[Accuphase]

On 17/01/2025 at 19:50, Nick H. said:

Some people like and use Copilot. I don't, so I would consider it bloatware.

 

Definitely this. I know plenty of people here that use these scripts and tools and that is fine. But if they ask for support and I learn that they used something to "de-bloat" the system I'm less inclined to offer suggestions past "reinstall the OS as it was meant to be."

 

For @hapibeli: Why did you move away from Linux for music production? I can think of several people in that profession that are able to get their work done using Linux, so what is it that wasn't working for you? Was it just the case that the particular application that you use doesn't have native Linux support?

Linux doesn’t have the Steinberg suite of audio editing apps.

[Rigby]

Isn't almost everything easily uninstallable now? Right click, uninstall. Plus what is "bloat" really? With today's massive hard drive's the effect of having these apps installed is completely negligible.

[Phillip Hardy]

On 18/01/2025 at 01:16, Dick Montage said:

Not that it's overly relevant but I've seen scripts that remove:

• CoPilot
• Remote Desktop
• Power Automate
• Edge

I use these things every single day.  Others may or may not be in the same boat.  So one persons "bloatware" is another's "necessary tool".  A lot of people use these scripts and are ignorant as to what they do, and then blame MS when something doesn't work.

Don't get me wrong, these scripts have a really valid place - and for me, that is an education piece so that I maintain my own script that I run upon spinning up a new instance.

Me too I even run windows 2025 Server and have a ton of Linux/Freebsd and Windows VMs

Hyperv is awesome for what I do and you can even play games via Remote Destop

[adrynalyne]

On 20/01/2025 at 06:48, Phillip Hardy said:

Me too I even run windows 2025 Server and have a ton of Linux/Freebsd and Windows VMs

Hyperv is awesome for what I do and you can even play games via Remote Destop

I wish Hyper-V was better for desktop Linux. It’s always been a pain for me to get a good user experience even with the enhanced session. 

[Nick H. Supervisor]

On 20/01/2025 at 05:10, Accuphase said:

Linux doesn’t have the Steinberg suite of audio editing apps.

Are you referring to Cubase? I didn't see where the OP mentioned the application that they were using, hence asking the question. Otherwise you may as well point out that Adobe products and Safari don't work on Linux; while true it has no bearing on the OP's situation.

If the OP has been a Linux user for 25+ years it seems odd that one specific application would pull them over to Windows.

 

On 20/01/2025 at 08:55, Rigby said:

Isn't almost everything easily uninstallable now? Right click, uninstall. Plus what is "bloat" really? With today's massive hard drive's the effect of having these apps installed is completely negligible.

Copilot, Recall...those two are the latest that I can think of that you cannot uninstall through add/remove programs. Also, bloat is anything that uses computer resources (CPU, HDD space, RAM) that you don't use. So in my case, Copilot, Recall...I can't easily remove them, and running a script to get rid of them could have unforseen consequences that affect the stability of Windows. Also, Microsoft would probably just reinstall it with the next update so it's not really worth the hassle.

I guess that last bit is really your point, though. It's not worth the hassle of fighting against Microsoft's decisions. I just use Windows as little as possible instead.

[WITHOUT-ME]

install Enterprise edition, no any preinstalled here

 

PS: welcome back home, its beautiful here

[binaryzero]

On 21/01/2025 at 01:47, Nick H. said:

If the OP has been a Linux user for 25+ years it seems odd that one specific application would pull them over to Windows.

It's not odd, Applications determine which operating system is required... It's okay to use multiple operating systems depending on the applications you use.

The whole switching OS and picking sides thing is lame af.

[corrosive23]

For music production, you should have gone Apple.

[adrynalyne]

On 20/01/2025 at 18:50, corrosive23 said:

For music production, you should have gone Apple.

Why, because of the stereotype?

[theefool]

I don't use 3rd party tools to remove features in windows.  I just use  get-appxpackage -allusers *app* | remove-appxpackage -allusers   (this to remove currently installed apps on all profiles)

then get-appxProvisionedPackage -online | where-object {$_.Packagename -like "*app*"} | remove-appxprovisionedpackage -online (this to prevent those apps from installing for future users, or when you wipe your profile)

 

Or something like that.  I probably made some spelling errors there, but no real reason to use 3rd party tools.  I use this on enterprise as well.  With enterprise, it helps to use group policy.