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decrapping_windows_11

This is an old revision of the document!


Welp, Windows continues its slow march to robbing you of every ounce of freedom and control you once had. Sorry?

This is based on the Win10 directions, not all steps have been tested yet

Installation

To avoid having a Microsoft account to login to your own computer that you own, disconnect internet before installing. When it complains about this, tell it to shut up.

When it gets to "privacy settings", turn off EVERYTHING.

Rip out adware bullshit

You can go to add and remove programs and immediately rip out this bloatware trash: - Disney+ - Groove Music - Microsoft News - Microsoft OneDrive - Microsoft To Do - Movies & TV -

Additionally, we now live in a world where your /motherboard/ can contain crap that gets auto-installed after Windows comes up via UEFI. Some might be good (drivers), but there may be trash (shoddy RGB light controllers, various "gamer" services like "ROG" and "Armory", etc.) that you can kill.

Privacy/control of OS

Install O&O Shutup10 and enable the default options. Also, turn on "Allow deferred upgrades".

Get rid of adware trash start menu

Install Classic Shell, likely through Ninite.

Title bars

  • Press Win + I to open System settings
  • Personalization > Colors.
  • "Show color on Start, Taskbar, action center and title bar" → on

Explorer

  • View tab → Item checkboxes = OFF (if you want)
  • View tab → File name extensions = ON
  • View tab → Options
    • General tab
      • Open File Explorer to: This PC
      • Show recently used files in Quick access = off
      • Show frequently used folders in Quick access = off
    • View tab
      • Navigation pane (these were formerly in the general tab)
        • Show all folders → on
        • Expand to current folder → on
      • Display the full path in the title bar → on

Delete instead of recycle

right click recycle bin | properties

  • don't move files to the recycle bin → enable (maybe)
  • Display delete confirmation dialog → YES (jesus christ how is that not default?)

System properties

win+pause/break to get to system properties

  • "advanced system settings" on the left to get to the REAL system properties
    • advanced tab
      • performance | setttings | turn off candy as desired
      • startup and recovery | settings | automatically restart → off

Show keyboard shortcut underlines

  1. Start, type "ease", select 'Ease of Access Center'.
  2. Click 'Make the keyboard easier to use'.
  3. Tick ‘Underline keyboard shortcuts and access keys’
  4. While you're here, you can turn off sticky keys shortcut, etc.

Proper calculator

Win10 calculator sucks. I made a whole website to expedite getting old calculator: https://calcexe.com

"This PC" folder customization

There's a bunch of nonsense folders forced on you in your home directory. These can be managed with WinAero Tweaker.

This INI file for it will remove dumb folders and add Dropbox and Google Drive to the "This PC" view in explorer.

OLD: Info on manually removing just the '3D Objects' folder.

Enable auto login

If you want…

  1. Click Start, click Run, and type "control userpasswords2". This is a shortcut instead of having to click on Start → Control Panel → User Accounts.
  2. Uncheck the "Users must enter a username and password to use this computer" check box.
  3. Click Apply.
  4. Enter the user name and password you wish to automatically log on with, and then click OK.
  5. Click OK again and you're all done.

(from http://8help.osu.edu/2063.html)

3D Bronze cursor theme

If you are a crazy person and want the 3D bronze cursors from Windows XP:

  1. Extract this file somewhere
  2. Start | "mouse" | Pointers tab
  3. Save a new profile "3D Bronze"
  4. For each cursor in the ZIP, change the corresponding entry to it

OLD

disable telemetry

Superseded by O&O Shutup described above

based on this.

  • start → settings → privacy → feedback and diagnostics
    • stare with shocked amazement as the lowest setting is "basic", and "off" is not an option; you literally dont have that choice in the interface
    • set it to "basic", and proceed with the rest of the steps to really turn it off
  • regedit:
    • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\DataCollection
    • make dword "AllowTelemetry" = 0
  • in services, set the following to "disabled" and stop:
    • Diagnostics Tracking Service (early win10)
    • Connected User Experiences and Telemetry (later win10)
    • dmwappushsvc
decrapping_windows_11.1651017090.txt.gz · Last modified: 2022/04/26 16:51 by tkbletsc

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