Take everything we loved about Windows 7, add the under-the-hood improvements of Windows 8 and 10 but none of the marketing/cloud/phone app/user-tracking crap, and what do you get? Windows 10 Enterprise LTSB edition. I've been evaluating it through our MSDN account at work, and I think it's a keeper. Seems like it's the closest thing to a "Windows 10 Power User & Privacy Edition" we're going to get it.
I installed StartIsBack, downloaded Chrome+Adblock and uninstalled IE11, uninstalled OneDrive and removed the OneDrive icon/links from Explorer, and I'm in business. Only thing I'm waiting for now is Microsoft adding the promised ability for Enterprise SKU's to opt-out of data collection 100%. Meantime, I performed these privacy tweaks which includes the use of group policy editor to disable Telemetry.
What I like:
- No background APPS that I will never use, no APPS pre-installed that you can't remove, no EDGE browser, no Cortana. It's junk-free!
- No Windows App Store
- Default built-in tools like Calc are the real deal Win32 versions, not the sluggish and crashprone WinRT APP versions
- More control over updates and upgrades; Windows Update is security and hotfixes only - no lame marketing-features being force installed.
- Local account by default
- No upselling. No "suggested apps", no "Get Skype" button on the start menu that can't be removed, no notification spam to "Try Office 365"
You can test out a free 90-day trial of LTSB here >>> https://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/evalcenter/dn781239.aspx
I installed StartIsBack, downloaded Chrome+Adblock and uninstalled IE11, uninstalled OneDrive and removed the OneDrive icon/links from Explorer, and I'm in business. Only thing I'm waiting for now is Microsoft adding the promised ability for Enterprise SKU's to opt-out of data collection 100%. Meantime, I performed these privacy tweaks which includes the use of group policy editor to disable Telemetry.
What I like:
- No background APPS that I will never use, no APPS pre-installed that you can't remove, no EDGE browser, no Cortana. It's junk-free!
- No Windows App Store
- Default built-in tools like Calc are the real deal Win32 versions, not the sluggish and crashprone WinRT APP versions
- More control over updates and upgrades; Windows Update is security and hotfixes only - no lame marketing-features being force installed.
- Local account by default
- No upselling. No "suggested apps", no "Get Skype" button on the start menu that can't be removed, no notification spam to "Try Office 365"
You can test out a free 90-day trial of LTSB here >>> https://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/evalcenter/dn781239.aspx
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