Windows 10 - Overall Review and Modding

[bitdman]

I remember reading a while back that if you decide not to keep win 10 that you can roll back to win 7 or whatever you were using previously. Is this not true?

[GrantSP]

I've now been using Win 10 on my laptop for a while and recently installed an OEM version on my desktop.

This is what I did to tame Windows 10.

 

Disclaimer:

Your experience may vary and the choices I took may not match your outcomes.

This is only placed here as a courtesy, not a tutorial on what to do with every new install of Windows 10.

 

 

During installation choose 'Custom install' and uncheck EVERY option that is offered by Windows to 'assist you in your experience'. These include:

 

Personalization

• Personalize your speech, typing and inking input by sending contacts and calendar details along with other associated input data to Microsoft.
• Send typing and inking data to Microsoft to improve the recognition and suggestion platform.
• Let apps use your advertising ID for experiences across apps.

Location

• Let Windows and apps request your location, including location history, and send Microsoft and trusted partners some location data to improve location services.

Browser and protection

• User SmartScreen online service to help protect against malicious content and downloads in sites loaded by Windows browsers and Store apps.
• Use page prediction to improve reading, speed up browsing, and make your overall experience better in Windows browsers. Your browsing data will be sent to Microsoft.

Connectivity and error reporting

• Automatically connect to suggested open hotspots. Not all networks are secure.
• Automatically connect to networks shared by your contacts.
• Send error and diagnostic information to Microsoft.

 

Having done so you should have a minimal installation of Win 10 'straight out of the box', however after logging in you can prune some more dross from the system by running Powershell as an administrator and entering these commands to remove some apps that MS wants you to have.

 

The format of the commands is a "Get-AppxPackage" which searches the installed database for matching entries that contain the next string: *{app name}* where the * are any characters and the {app name} contains the string specific to the app(s) you are after.

Then a pipe | is used to send that selection to a "Remove-AppxPackage" which does the actual removal.

 

Warning! The following commands are using a very powerful system tool and if you are not sure of what they do, please do not proceed. I or STEP will not be responsible for any damage that may result from these instructions.

 

Get-AppxPackage *3d* | Remove-AppxPackage

Remove 3D from Windows 10

 

Get-AppxPackage *camera* | Remove-AppxPackage

Remove Camera from Windows 10

 

Get-AppxPackage *communi* | Remove-AppxPackage

Remove Mail and Calendar from Windows 10

 

Get-AppxPackage *calc* | Remove-AppxPackage

Remove Mail and Calculator from Windows 10

 

Get-AppxPackage *bing* | Remove-AppxPackage

Remove Money, Sports, News and Weather from Windows 10

 

Get-AppxPackage *zune* | Remove-AppxPackage

Remove Groove Music and Film & TV from Windows 10

 

Get-AppxPackage *people* | Remove-AppxPackage

Remove People from Windows 10

 

Get-AppxPackage *phone* | Remove-AppxPackage

Remove Phone Companion from Windows 10

 

Get-AppxPackage *photo* | Remove-AppxPackage

Remove Photos from Windows 10

 

Get-AppxPackage *solit* | Remove-AppxPackage

Remove Solitaire Collection from Windows 10

 

Get-AppxPackage *soundrec* | Remove-AppxPackage

Remove Voice Recorder from Windows 10

 

Get-AppxPackage *xboxapp* | Remove-AppxPackage

Remove Xbox from Windows 10

 

Get-AppxPackage *maps* | Remove-AppxPackage

Remove Maps from Windows 10

 

Get-AppxPackage *officehub* | Remove-AppxPackage

Remove Get Office

 

Get-AppxPackage *skypeapp* | Remove-AppxPackage

Remove Skype

 

Get-AppxPackage *getstarted* | Remove-AppxPackage

Remove Get Started

 

Get-AppxPackage *onenote* | Remove-AppxPackage

Remove OneNote

 

Get-AppxPackage *alarms* | Remove-AppxPackage

Remove Alarms and Clock from Windows 10

 

 

Re-installing these apps again if you later decide you want them.

Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers| Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register “$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xmlâ€}

 

 

Uninstall OneDrive

 

Open regedit and navigate to:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{018D5C66-4533-4307-9B53-224DE2ED1FE6}

Take note of the DWORD entry labeled System.IsPinnedToNameSpaceTree set to a value of 1 (one).

To remove OneDrive from File Explorer in Windows 10, double-click on that DWORD and set its value to 0 (zero).

You may have to perform a full reboot.

 

Windows Updates

 

Open Settings -- Update & Security -- Windows Update

And then select "Advanced options". When that opens select "Choose how updates are delivered."

Turn that option from "On"to "Off".

One further step needed to remove the entry from the list of installed apps is to open a command prompt as admin and enter:

%SystemRoot%\SysWOW64\OneDriveSetup.exe /uninstall

My system is now what I would consider a good base from where I will now start to build a solid gaming base.

The only issue that still plagues me is Edge. I would really like to remove it but so far have not found a way to do so.

 

Recently the so-called Creator patch is said to have broken the VFS, disabling the Game Bar has also apparently "fixed" this. (All of this is untested by myself as I have not seen it 1st person.)

 

For anyone using Windows 10 (or any successive iteration after this post) you will need to go to your settings and follow these steps:

• Open Settings, and click/tap on the Gaming icon.
• Click/tap on Game bar on the left side, and turn on (default) or off Record game clips, screenshots and broadcast using Game DVR.
• Unselect Show Game Bar when I play full screen games that Microsoft has verified.

 

How to completely disable Cortana.

nb. If you have Windows Professional this can be accomplished via the GUI: Group Policy Editor. For the sake of ease the manual registry edit that Windows Home users need to use will be provided.

 

Run the Registry Editor by Win+R "regedit"

Navigate to the following key in the left sidebar:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Search

If that doesn't exist, create a new entry under the \Windows\ parent using the context menu. (ie. right-click on Windows and select New>Key and name "Windows Search".)

Invoke the context-menu on this (new) folder and select New> DWORD (32-bit) Value.

Name it "AllowCortana" and set the value to: "0".

[alt3rn1ty]

Grant - Thanks for that, lots of very nice info there

 

I had one problem came up with trying to remove XBox

 

 

Remove-AppxPackage : Deployment failed with HRESULT: 0x80073CFA, Removal failed. Please contact your software vendor.

(Exception from HRESULT: 0x80073CFA)

error 0x80070032: AppX Deployment Remove operation on package

Microsoft.XboxGameCallableUI_1000.10240.16384.0_neutral_neutral_cw5n1h2txyewy from:

C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.XboxGameCallableUI_cw5n1h2txyewy failed.

This app is part of Windows and cannot be uninstalled on a per-user basis.

An administrator can attempt to remove the app from the computer using Turn Windows Features on or off.

However, it may not be possible to uninstall the app.

NOTE: For additional information, look for [ActivityId] 6903fce8-0786-0001-5828-04698607d101 in the Event Log or use

the command line Get-AppxLog -ActivityID 6903fce8-0786-0001-5828-04698607d101

At line:1 char:26

+ Get-AppxPackage *xbox* | Remove-AppxPackage

+                          ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    + CategoryInfo          : WriteError: (Microsoft.XboxG...l_cw5n1h2txyewy:String) [Remove-AppxPackage], IOException

    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : DeploymentError,Microsoft.Windows.Appx.PackageManager.Commands.RemoveAppxPackageCommand

 

Remove-AppxPackage : Deployment failed with HRESULT: 0x80073CFA, Removal failed. Please contact your software vendor.

(Exception from HRESULT: 0x80073CFA)

error 0x80070032: AppX Deployment Remove operation on package

Microsoft.XboxIdentityProvider_1000.10240.16384.0_neutral_neutral_cw5n1h2txyewy from:

C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.XboxIdentityProvider_cw5n1h2txyewy failed. This app is part of Windows and cannot be

uninstalled on a per-user basis. An administrator can attempt to remove the app from the computer using Turn Windows

Features on or off. However, it may not be possible to uninstall the app.

NOTE: For additional information, look for [ActivityId] 6903fce8-0786-0003-2327-04698607d101 in the Event Log or use

the command line Get-AppxLog -ActivityID 6903fce8-0786-0003-2327-04698607d101

At line:1 char:26

+ Get-AppxPackage *xbox* | Remove-AppxPackage

+                          ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    + CategoryInfo          : WriteError: (Microsoft.XboxI...l_cw5n1h2txyewy:String) [Remove-AppxPackage], IOException

    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : DeploymentError,Microsoft.Windows.Appx.PackageManager.Commands.RemoveAppxPackageCommand

And unfortunately ( as hinted in the errors ) its not any part of "Turn Windows Features on or off"

 

Neither is Edge ( I was hoping it would be similar to Internet Explorer 11 which is part of Windows Features list )

 

 

The rest went fine though :). I already had OneDrive disabled, but the command line method to completely uninstall is nice to have if you are sure you will never need it ( I certainly am, it does nothing extra that a USB drive can do for me without anyone else looking through my underwear ( just an apt metaphor I feel ) )

 

 

If its okay I am going to quote your post on AFK Mods topic .. ?

Credit for research and warning included.

[GrantSP]

As far as I can tell from users that saw that same error message it doesn't actually break anything. I too had that message but as far as I can see nothing is wrong.

[alt3rn1ty]

Copied the post here https://www.afkmods.com/index.php?/topic/4193-windows-10/page-11&do=findComment&comment=157536

( Did a little colour blind friendly highlighting changes )

[alt3rn1ty]

@ GrantSP

 

Just found an article on this on HowToGeek

 

https://www.howtogeek.com/224798/how-to-uninstall-windows-10s-built-in-apps-and-how-to-reinstall-them/

 

Listed there is Get-AppxPackage *xboxapp* | Remove-AppxPackage

 

That one works without error, there are a few more differences to your list too.

 

.. And how to re-install them should anyone ever need to.

Edited October 17, 2015 by alt3rn1ty

[GrantSP]

Thanks for that link. I added the code for the re-installation and also how to remove the 'alarms, clock & calc'. Also edited the xbox code to "xboxapp".

 

Most of the differences you see are probably from his "Get-AppxPackage" searches being a little more stringent than mine.

e.g. Get-AppxPackage *windowscommunicationsapps* | Remove-AppxPackage should be exactly the same as Get-AppxPackage *communi* | Remove-AppxPackage

[DanimalTwo]

@GrantSP: Unless I did something wrong your steps did not work. I took a old laptop, that ran windows 7 pro, that I never use as a test machine. It is an old Dell Inspiron with an I3 processor.  I download an new install for Windows 10 pro with both 32 and 64 bit editions and created an install USB.  The new install allows you to enter your prodoct ID; however, I used it to do an in place upgrade and then did a fresh install, so I did not have to enter the product ID. When completed I followed your instructions. However, after Windows 10 pro went through it lastest patches everything returrned. Xbox, maps, etc. EVERYTHING. The windows build from USB was downloaded yesterday and this version for Windows Update only allows choices "Automatic" or "Notify to schedule a restart". You can still choose "Defer Upgrades". Anywho, windows did it upgrades and everything returned. Also with the version of windows install I installed yesterday, windows 10 pro 64 bit, there was no way to get rid of windows OneDrive. Again I may have missed something and this machine is just a test, no one really uses the machine. With my gaming machine I now have to actually pay attention as to what patches get installed. Microsoft is being very aggressive about forcing upgrades. See for example Microsoft Admits Forcing Upgrades Was a Mistake.

[GrantSP]

@GrantSP: Unless I did something wrong your steps did not work. I took a old laptop, that ran windows 7 pro, that I never use as a test machine. It is an old Dell Inspiron with an I3 processor.  I download an new install for Windows 10 pro with both 32 and 64 bit editions and created an install USB.  The new install allows you to enter your prodoct ID; however, I used it to do an in place upgrade and then did a fresh install, so I did not have to enter the product ID. When completed I followed your instructions. However, after Windows 10 pro went through it lastest patches everything returrned. Xbox, maps, etc. EVERYTHING. The windows build from USB was downloaded yesterday and this version for Windows Update only allows choices "Automatic" or "Notify to schedule a restart". You can still choose "Defer Upgrades". Anywho, windows did it upgrades and everything returned. Also with the version of windows install I installed yesterday, windows 10 pro 64 bit, there was no way to get rid of windows OneDrive. Again I may have missed something and this machine is just a test, no one really uses the machine. With my gaming machine I now have to actually pay attention as to what patches get installed. Microsoft is being very aggressive about forcing upgrades. See for example Microsoft Admits Forcing Upgrades Was a Mistake.

I don't know why it didn't work for you, can you run the processes again to remove them?

Just to be clear, I didn't invent these commands, all I did was scour the web for instructions and references and combined all the relevant ones together here for those I know might like them.

 

I've been running my desktop this way for a few days now and already had 1 update sent my way and everything has stayed the same.

[GrantSP]

Today Microsoft installed a rather large update to my system and reinstalled all these apps back again.

I simply redid all the steps again, some I had to do several times as the apps kept re-appearing in the Start Menu. Additionally some new apps can also be removed via the Control Panel, so you may also want to check what can be "fixed" there.

[Greg]

Paying the Microsoft tax... You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile.

[Ogham]

Today Microsoft installed a rather large update to my system and reinstalled all these apps back again.

I simply redid all the steps again, some I had to do several times as the apps kept re-appearing in the Start Menu. Additionally some new apps can also be removed via the Control Panel, so you may also want to check what can be "fixed" there.

I know it is not as fancy as your method, but, just wanted to share that I removed all the mentioned apps via CCleaner's 'Tools' menu and nothing came back in the Start Menu after a reboot.

Edited December 3, 2015 by Ogham

[TechAngel85]

CCleaner is a pretty good program. I've used it for a long time without any issues. Just don't let it run in the background since the monitoring is completely unnecessary.

[alt3rn1ty]

Reference all the Telemetry going on in Windows 10 ( and being back ported to Win 7 / 8 )

 

An old trusty name has popped up recently with a new tool :

 

Click >> Spybot Anti-Beacon << Click

 

Turns off the following ..

 

 

Spybot Anti-Beacon for Windows 10 is a small utility designed to block and stop the various tracking (aka telemetry) issues that come with Windows 10. Seeing the bunch of incomplete or broken scripts to disable tracking in Windows 10, and the tools that install adware or worse in exchange for their function, we wrapped disabling tracking up in a small tool that’s free and clean. With the upcoming news about telemetry in Windows 7 and 8.1, Spybot Anti-Beacon has added support for those as well.

Supported OS: Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 10

Spybot Anti-Beacon has this option when you install it :

 

Stay protected:

         Refresh immunization after each system restart

 

( In case MS undermines any hosts file entries etc )

 

It also sets a bunch of Registry keys to prevent services

 

 

Edited December 3, 2015 by alt3rn1ty

[JawZ]

When I was just about to post about spybot I've already been beaten.

 

But I can make this contribution at least;