Cleaning the bloat from Windows 10

That doc has a ton of extra junk that I wouldn't bother with. What a mess.

Yeah its quite a long list of registry changes which I advice people to be careful with, however I have added the link to my original post as its good to have extra info.
 
Alternatively if you want to disable Windows Defender and you don't trust the internet, you can launch regedit and browse to HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WinDefend, find the 'Start' property and set the value to 4 (disabled), reboot your computer and the Windows Defender Service will now be set to disabled.

Now THAT is the method I'm going to use. Thanks.
 
Currently I am trying to figure out how o disable these annoying notifications. As a result of disabling some of windows services such as Window Defender and Security Center I keep getting these little notifications which I can't find a way to disable.

http://i.imgur.com/95gcW6P.jpg
 
Thanks for the post and damn is that a lot of useless stuff to disable. lol
 
youre doing a great work dude, keeping all in a single thread, thanks.

lol now i postponed my win 10 install to.. monday! yes yes, busy busy. (lies, lazy :D)
 
That doc has a ton of extra junk that I wouldn't bother with. What a mess.

Use only what is necessary to you. Just copy and paste what you want - its all about having a choice!
 
Back when the early beta build of windows 10 was available I installed it on my virtual machine and gave it a spin, back then the search function was integrated in the start menu and most importantly OblyTile was compatible with windows 10 so you could create custom tiles.

Here is a screenshot from Build: 9841 http://i.imgur.com/8vOOaLV.png

I much prefer this build to be honest with you lol :(
 
Currently I am trying to figure out how o disable these annoying notifications. As a result of disabling some of windows services such as Window Defender and Security Center I keep getting these little notifications which I can't find a way to disable.

http://i.imgur.com/95gcW6P.jpg

Hit Win+R and launch "wscui.cpl", if it isn't listed in the center part of the window you should be able to disable them from the menu on the left:

TZamVzh.jpg
 
Hit Win+R and launch "wscui.cpl", if it isn't listed in the center part of the window you should be able to disable them from the menu on the left:

TZamVzh.jpg

Yes I tried that, but that one pop up keeps coming up after a reboot. Its no big deal but I rather not have it

I also like to add that Stardock are releasing a new version start10, now this is definitely worth a look at http://www.stardock.com/products/start10/
Now this brings back things more in line with the picture I posted above from an earlier build of Windows 10
 
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I also like to add that Stardock are releasing a new version start10, now this is definitely worth a look at http://www.stardock.com/products/start10/

oh im totally getting it if me likes = win 10, i use their start8 for three years and is the one thing that never gave any bug or trouble, totally customizable, full pc can crash and you still can access that shit and restart your pc instead of pressing reset, its crazy stable, recommended!
 
Back when the early beta build of windows 10 was available I installed it on my virtual machine and gave it a spin, back then the search function was integrated in the start menu and most importantly OblyTile was compatible with windows 10 so you could create custom tiles.

Here is a screenshot from Build: 9841 http://i.imgur.com/8vOOaLV.png

I much prefer this build to be honest with you lol :(

You can hide the search bar by right clicking the taskbar > search > hidden.

Even though you won't see the search box in Start, all you have to do is open Start and start typing, you don't need to click into the search box.
 
You can hide the search bar by right clicking the taskbar > search > hidden.

Even though you won't see the search box in Start, all you have to do is open Start and start typing, you don't need to click into the search box.

"all you have to do is open Start and start typing, you don't need to click into the search box"

WoW I genuinely was not aware of that, thanks a lot for that tip!
 
oh im totally getting it if me likes = win 10, i use their start8 for three years and is the one thing that never gave any bug or trouble, totally customizable, full pc can crash and you still can access that shit and restart your pc instead of pressing reset, its crazy stable, recommended!

I agree. Start8 has been troublefree for me as well. Already bought Start10.
 
I agree. Start8 has been troublefree for me as well. Already bought Start10.

I don't wanna advertise for another company but you got to give them credit, for $4.99 and the fact that its such a well coded peace of optimized software its totally worth it, I mean I just tried it out and it uses a total of 900kb of ram for the only one background process it has.
 
Something in the services being disabled makes the Store unable to download apps. I get store error 0x80073D0A. Looking up this code, it looks like a services problem -- probably Windows Firewall.

yup, it's the Firewall service. without it running, apps from the store won't install.
 
I need some help tracking something down.

In my WireShark, I noticed a *bunch* of traffic to:
Code:
512    62.982384000    <MYHOST>    bl3301-g.1drv.com    TCP    54    50213&#8594;https [ACK] Seq=112979 Ack=8010 Win=262144 Len=0
So, I looked up the WHOIS for 1drv.com

Code:
Domain Name: 1drv.com
Registry Domain ID: 1819966612_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.markmonitor.com
Registrar URL: http://www.markmonitor.com
Updated Date: 2015-07-05T02:14:55-0700
Creation Date: 2013-08-05T11:33:50-0700
Registrar Registration Expiration Date: 2016-08-05T00:00:00-0700
Registrar: MarkMonitor, Inc.
Registrar IANA ID: 292
Registrar Abuse Contact Email: [IMG]http://who.is/dimages/text/3027d8e4ca833a9.png[/IMG]@markmonitor.com
Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: +1.2083895740
Domain Status: clientUpdateProhibited (https://www.icann.org/epp#clientUpdateProhibited)
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited (https://www.icann.org/epp#clientTransferProhibited)
Domain Status: clientDeleteProhibited (https://www.icann.org/epp#clientDeleteProhibited)
Registry Registrant ID: 
[SIZE=4][B][COLOR=Red]Registrant Name: Domain Administrator
Registrant Organization: Microsoft Corporation
Registrant Street: One Microsoft Way, 
Registrant City: Redmond
Registrant State/Province: WA
Registrant Postal Code: 98052[/COLOR][/B][/SIZE]
Registrant Country: US
Registrant Phone: +1.4258828080
Registrant Phone Ext: 
Registrant Fax: +1.4259367329
Registrant Fax Ext: 
Registrant Email: [IMG]http://who.is/dimages/text/926daa3b7a1b784.png[/IMG]@microsoft.com
Registry Admin ID: 
Admin Name: Domain Administrator
Admin Organization: Microsoft Corporation
Admin Street: One Microsoft Way, 
Admin City: Redmond
Admin State/Province: WA
Admin Postal Code: 98052
Admin Country: US
Admin Phone: +1.4258828080
Admin Phone Ext: 
Admin Fax: +1.4259367329
Admin Fax Ext: 
Admin Email: [IMG]http://who.is/dimages/text/926daa3b7a1b784.png[/IMG]@microsoft.com
Registry Tech ID: 
Tech Name: MSN Hostmaster
Tech Organization: Microsoft Corporation
Tech Street: One Microsoft Way, 
Tech City: Redmond
Tech State/Province: WA
Tech Postal Code: 98052
Tech Country: US
Tech Phone: +1.4258828080
Tech Phone Ext: 
Tech Fax: +1.4259367329
Tech Fax Ext: 
Tech Email: [IMG]http://who.is/dimages/text/630e11be6bef669.png[/IMG]@microsoft.com
Name Server: ns2.msft.net
Name Server: ns4.msft.net
Name Server: ns3.msft.net
Name Server: ns1.msft.net
DNSSEC: unsigned
URL of the ICANN WHOIS Data Problem Reporting System: http://wdprs.internic.net/
>>> Last update of WHOIS database: 2015-07-31T07:57:19-0700 <<<

The Data in MarkMonitor.com's WHOIS database is provided by MarkMonitor.com for
information purposes, and to assist persons in obtaining information about or
related to a domain name registration record.  MarkMonitor.com does not guarantee
its accuracy.  By submitting a WHOIS query, you agree that you will use this Data
only for lawful purposes and that, under no circumstances will you use this Data to:
 (1) allow, enable, or otherwise support the transmission of mass unsolicited,
     commercial advertising or solicitations via e-mail (spam); or
 (2) enable high volume, automated, electronic processes that apply to
     MarkMonitor.com (or its systems).
MarkMonitor.com reserves the right to modify these terms at any time.
By submitting this query, you agree to abide by this policy.

MarkMonitor is the Global Leader in Online Brand Protection.

MarkMonitor Domain Management(TM)
MarkMonitor Brand Protection(TM)
MarkMonitor AntiPiracy(TM)
MarkMonitor AntiFraud(TM)
Professional and Managed Services

Visit MarkMonitor at http://www.markmonitor.com
Contact us at +1.8007459229
In Europe, at +44.02032062220
                
                Information Updated: Fri, 31 Jul 2015 14:57:19 UTC

So, I decided to track down markmonitor.com and it's a brand penetration tracking firm owned by Thomson Reuters. So, ads.

I just cannot figure out *what* is generating this traffic so I can block it.
 
Can't you just redirect its IP or DNS Name to the windows local IP 127.0.0.0 using the windows "host" file?
 
Can't you just redirect its IP or DNS Name to the windows local IP 127.0.0.0 using the windows "host" file?

that's one way to solve it but I'd really like to find out what inside windows is generating all of those requests so I can cut it off at the source.
 
Yeah I agree as personally I would like to know what it is also, by the way is your windows 10 installation an upgrade or a fresh reformat?

God knows what kind of back doors MS has implemented inside windows 10 the free spy of operating systems.
 
Yeah I agree as personally I would like to know what it is also, by the way is your windows 10 installation an upgrade or a fresh reformat?

God knows what kind of back doors MS has implemented inside windows 10 the free spy of operating systems.

right now, it's a clean install on hardware that I activated using the upgrade process.
 
So what ever this is must be part of windows 10 it self and not a 3rd party application
 
So what ever this is must be part of windows 10 it self and not a 3rd party application

yup, that's what I'm thinking. In digging a little bit, it looks like it might be either the Windows Store or Cortana.
 
In that case try to kill cortana completely, when you disable cortana the background process still runs as you can see in task manager, right click cortana and open the process root directory and take ownership of that directory first, then look for searchui.exe and rename it to something like searchui.exe.bak and kill the cortana process in task manager. This will prevent cortana from restarting, this way you can tell if this is related to cortana search process or not.

You can always revert the changes after.
 
In that case try to kill cortana completely, when you disable cortana the background process still runs as you can see in task manager, right click cortana and open the process root directory and take ownership of that directory first, then look for searchui.exe and rename it to something like searchui.exe.bak and kill the cortana process in task manager. This will prevent cortana from restarting, this way you can tell if this is related to cortana search process or not.

You can always revert the changes after.

Cortana didn't make a difference but the Windows Store did. It cut it down a lot but I still see that traffic.
 
I found a new service called the Live tile data update or something like that I can't remember it right now since I am on my laptop, if you look through the list of services I'm sure you will find it. The problem is that you can't normally disable it and every time you try and stop the service it auto restarts.

I think it has something to do with the active windows tiles such as weather and news that pull their data from MS store.
 
Can't you just redirect its IP or DNS Name to the windows local IP 127.0.0.0 using the windows "host" file?

I think it's a sad state of affairs when Windows starts to spam you with ads and you can't even disable the traffick. When I'm gaming I want zero extra traffic on the line.
 
Is the service "Tile Data model server"? Have you tried the registry hack I provided for Windows Defender? The key for this service seems to be HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\tiledatamodelsvc, again setting Start to 4 (and a reboot).
 
So i've deleted every "metro" app with that one command but somehow i didn't see that it will remove the store also, which is not really a big problem but is there any way to reinstall the Store? Thank you!
 
So i've deleted every "metro" app with that one command but somehow i didn't see that it will remove the store also, which is not really a big problem but is there any way to reinstall the Store? Thank you!

nope, that's why I gave the warning in my posts about it.
 
This thread is golden. Thanks alot! not only i disable this for maximum privacy but also because i mainly installed Win10 for DX12 upcoming games. So i want the OS to be very light on resources as possible. I dont need dozens of stinking MS bloatware to interfere with my gaming experience and hog my CPU and GPU for nothing. The less shtty worthless processes running in the background, the better. :)

I also disabled this Diagnostic and Usage Data and Telemetry sht sent to MS servers.

Steps taken from here : http://winaero.com/blog/how-to-disable-telemetry-and-data-collection-in-windows-10/

On Win 10 Pro

1.Open Registry Editor.
2.Go to the following Registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\DataCollection

3. There you need to create a new a 32-bit DWORD value named AllowTelemetry and set it to 0
4. Go to Services and Applications -> Services in the left pane. In the services list, disable the following services:

Diagnostics Tracking Service
dmwappushsvc

5. Double click the mentioned services and pick "Disabled" for the startup type
6. You need to restart Windows 10 for changes to take effect.
 
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This thread is golden. Thanks alot! not only i disable this for maximum privacy but also because i mainly installed Win10 for DX12 upcoming games. So i want the OS to be very light on resources as possible. I dont need dozens of stinking MS bloatware to interfere with my gaming experience and hog my CPU and GPU for nothing. The less shtty worthless processes running in the background, the better. :)

I also disabled this Diagnostic and Usage Data and Telemetry sht sent to MS servers.

Steps taken from here : http://winaero.com/blog/how-to-disable-telemetry-and-data-collection-in-windows-10/

On Win 10 Pro

1.Open Registry Editor.
2.Go to the following Registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\DataCollection

3. There you need to create a new a 32-bit DWORD value named AllowTelemetry and set it to 0
4. Go to Services and Applications -> Services in the left pane. In the services list, disable the following services:

Diagnostics Tracking Service
dmwappushsvc

5. Double click the mentioned services and pick "Disabled" for the startup type
6. You need to restart Windows 10 for changes to take effect.


Ah that is great thanks for this, I will create a section and add it to the first post also. This is clearly the kind of thing I wanted, for people to come up with great tips such as this so we can create a nice little database of what to modify.
 
i have taken most of it and turned them into scripts, for example all of the services that need to be disabled.
 
Just a quick edit, I added Jaymzkerten powershell command in my original post to remove all metro apps except Windows Store app as another alternative since its probably a good idea to keep the Windows Store app. And also Seroman tip on disabling Diagnostic and Usage Data and Telemetry, thanks for that.
 
i have taken most of it and turned them into scripts, for example all of the services that need to be disabled.

Just note that not all of the registry values can be modified through command line, for example the WinDefend key gets access denied if you try to set it through reg.exe or powershell, but if you navigate to the key you can set it by hand.
 
So i've deleted every "metro" app with that one command but somehow i didn't see that it will remove the store also, which is not really a big problem but is there any way to reinstall the Store? Thank you!

I read in one of those articles somewhere that even if you remove the store app it will come back through Windows Update, so you might be able to get it back from there.
 
Just note that not all of the registry values can be modified through command line, for example the WinDefend key gets access denied if you try to set it through reg.exe or powershell, but if you navigate to the key you can set it by hand.

It is working for me so long as I run cmd.exe as administrator.
 
That's weird, I'm running PS as admin and I get access denied trying to run set-itemproperty. It lets me use set-itemproperty on something like the smart card service, but not on Windows Defender.
 
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