Holy crap. Mother of god. This thing is an absolute dumpster fire. Let's go.

===== Privacy/control of OS =====
Install [[https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10|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 [[https://ninite.com/|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 =====
  - Start, type "ease", select 'Ease of Access Center'.
  - Click 'Make the keyboard easier to use'.
  - Tick ‘Underline keyboard shortcuts and access keys’
  - 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 [[https://winaero.com/comment.php?comment.news.1836|WinAero Tweaker]].

[[http://dsss.be/f/dat/This%20PC%20Folders%20-%20Dropbox%20and%20GDrive.ini|This INI file for it]] will remove dumb folders and add Dropbox and Google Drive to the "This PC" view in explorer.

OLD: [[http://www.thewindowsclub.com/remove-3d-objects-folder-winows-10|Info on manually removing just the '3D Objects' folder]].

===== Enable auto login =====
If you want...
  - Click Start, click Run, and type "control userpasswords2". This is a shortcut instead of having to click on Start -> Control Panel -> User Accounts.
  - Uncheck the "Users must enter a username and password to use this computer" check box.
  - Click Apply.
  - Enter the user name and password you wish to automatically log on with, and then click OK.
  - Click OK again and you're all done. 
(from http://8help.osu.edu/2063.html)


===== 3D Bronze cursor theme =====
**Note: Modern Windows 10/11 actually has decent cursor settings, so you can just make a big gold cursor yourself with the built-in options. Here's this old approach in case you still want it:**

{{ :hightlighted.png?|}}
If you are a crazy person and want the 3D bronze cursors from Windows XP:
  - Extract [[http://dsss.be/f/dat/3DCursors.zip|this file]] somewhere
  - Start | "mouse" | Pointers tab
  - Save a new profile "3D Bronze"
  - For each cursor in the ZIP, change the corresponding entry to it

----

===== OLD =====

==== disable telemetry ====
//Superseded by O&O Shutup described above//

based on [[http://winaero.com/blog/how-to-disable-telemetry-and-data-collection-in-windows-10/|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