Make Windows 10 Crapware-Free With Microsoft’s Refresh Windows Tool

Megalith

Megalith

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If you’ve been waiting for an easier way to do a clean install, here it is. W10 users will be getting an option that works like the “Reset this PC” recover option—except it gives you a totally stock OS.

Now, even normal Windows users should be able to clean install—really clean install—Windows 10. And do without worrying about crapware. In other words, if this tool works as advertised—and I’ll be testing it to this end over the weekend—anyone should be able to buy a new computer from any source, take it home, turn it on, and then blow away the crapware-laden PC maker install and get a clean image of Windows 10 on there. And then they can get on with their lives.
 
tetris42 said:
Man, I saw that title and thought it was a simple way to remove all the spyware, telemetry, mandatory updating, etc. from Windows 10.
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I'd pay for that.

How long b4 there is a lawsuit against MS by crapware developers, or the PC manufacturers that take money to factory install that shit?
 
We used to get these back on the day. Stripped down versions of an os. Loved em. Guess this is at least a step in that direction
 
But can it remove the crap that comes installed on a clean version of Windows 10? Candy Crush, just what I need on an Enterprise version.
 
If it removes malware does it also delete Windows 10?


OEMs are going to love this. you can almost hear the support calls.

Using this tool will remove ALL applications that do not come standard with Windows,including other Microsoft applications such as Office. It will also remove most pre-installed applications such as OEM applications, support applications, and drivers. The tool does not give you the option to recover removed applications automatically and you will need to manually reinstall any applications you wish to keep.
 
Will it also clean all the garbage apps such as money, news, facebook, twitter, weather, you know, the mobile apps that comes in windows 10? Nah, if it's like the phone version, it actually reinstalls them.
 
Jim Kim said:
If it removes malware does it also delete Windows 10?


OEMs are going to love this. you can almost hear the support calls.

Using this tool will remove ALL applications that do not come standard with Windows,including other Microsoft applications such as Office. It will also remove most pre-installed applications such as OEM applications, support applications, and drivers. The tool does not give you the option to recover removed applications automatically and you will need to manually reinstall any applications you wish to keep.
Click to expand...

Ummm, the support calls often do not start with the customer doing something like this. They usually end with the support tech requesting that the customer wipe and reinstall. Oh, we did not tell you to backup you data first, my bad.
 
Windows 10 users have had this option the whole time... you just boot to recovery mode and click "reset this PC"

This is not a new feature, I've used it a few times already after my win7 upgrade.

You can also go into settings => update & security => reset this pc

CGx8VYo.png
 
Jim Kim said:
Using this tool will remove ALL applications that do not come standard with Windows,including other Microsoft applications such as Office. It will also remove most pre-installed applications such as OEM applications, support applications, and drivers. The tool does not give you the option to recover removed applications automatically and you will need to manually reinstall any applications you wish to keep.
Click to expand...

You're making some assumptions that Thurrott is not making: "I still have questions, the most obvious being how it handles PC-specific drivers and utilities. But that’s why I have all these PCs here for testing purposes."
 
acquacow said:
Windows 10 users have had this option the whole time... you just boot to recovery mode and click "reset this PC"

This is not a new feature, I've used it a few times already after my win7 upgrade.

You can also go into settings => update & security => reset this pc/QUOTE]
Click to expand...

Not the same thing in the case with OEM Windows images. If you bought a system from an OEM and they use a system recovery partition. Then when you would use this refresh feature. It will use the image from the recovery partition and reload all the same crap that was on there like the day you got it. This tool works by downloading a fresh clean windows image from Microsoft and using that to reinstall Windows. This will effectively be the same as doing a fresh install with a clean windows disc. It also will upload you activation info and give you a digital entitlement so you won't need to enter you Product Key anymore on that system as well.
 
The hard part was never getting a clean windows on the PC, it's sourcing and installing all the drivers and all the utilities and apps you need for daily use.

In other words this is worthless. People who can't do a clean install of windows will not be able to download and install the drivers necessary either.
 
Unless your computer is a Lenovo with a BIOS-level rootkit to maintain their crapware software installations under any and all circumstances.
 
SGTGimpy said:
Not the same thing in the case with OEM Windows images. If you bought a system from an OEM and they use a system recovery partition. Then when you would use this refresh feature. It will use the image from the recovery partition and reload all the same crap that was on there like the day you got it. This tool works by downloading a fresh clean windows image from Microsoft and using that to reinstall Windows. This will effectively be the same as doing a fresh install with a clean windows disc. It also will upload you activation info and give you a digital entitlement so you won't need to enter you Product Key anymore on that system as well.
Click to expand...
Aah, well, I've never had an OEM windows image, so I guess it's possible/probable they do that.
 
rezerekted said:
But Win10 is crapware too.
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The biggest problem is the lack of even a single new "wow" feature in 10 to justify all the consumer-hostile stuff, all the functionally crippled metro apps taking over Win32 counterparts of earlier windows versions etc.

The last laptop I had to deal with that came preloaded with 10 took an hour to rip all the useless apps out, get rid of Edge and Cortada, nuke the telemetry and run a bunch of reghacks and powershell scripts from all over the net. Just way too much trouble to tame the damn thing.

I only ever upgrade software when there are improvements, and W10 isn't.
 
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Just gives us back a proper custom install option like we had last century for Christ's sake!

At the start of the install give the choice of full or custom. Custom gives you a long list of tick boxes that allows you to de-select all the crud you don't need or want.

Simple.

I see the new Windows 10 preview builds and "all the great new features" coming in it and I don't need any of them. It's simply more bloat. I just need a fast low profile OS that allows me to run my particular choice of Windows software and modern hardware.

Windows 10 would be a superb OS if I could easily carve out all the bloat I don't need.
 
daglesj said:
Just gives us back a proper custom install option like we had last century for Christ's sake!

At the start of the install give the choice of full or custom. Custom gives you a long list of tick boxes that allows you to de-select all the crud you don't need or want.

Simple.

I see the new Windows 10 preview builds and "all the great new features" coming in it and I don't need any of them. It's simply more bloat. I just need a fast low profile OS that allows me to run my particular choice of Windows software and modern hardware.

Windows 10 would be a superb OS if I could easily carve out all the bloat I don't need.
Click to expand...

The last time the start of the install let us do that was Windows 98 as I recall, maybe ME. Even XP did not allow anything like that. Also, I think your definition and my definition of bloat is not the same. My definition means the computer runs slower because of it, which is what bloat is.
 
SGTGimpy said:
Not the same thing in the case with OEM Windows images. If you bought a system from an OEM and they use a system recovery partition. Then when you would use this refresh feature. It will use the image from the recovery partition and reload all the same crap that was on there like the day you got it. This tool works by downloading a fresh clean windows image from Microsoft and using that to reinstall Windows. This will effectively be the same as doing a fresh install with a clean windows disc. It also will upload you activation info and give you a digital entitlement so you won't need to enter you Product Key anymore on that system as well.
Click to expand...


Yeah always loved re-installing Acer laptops for customers and then having to shut the machines down and rebooting in Safe mode after they installed the OS. Otherwise they did a first run install of all the bloatware after that. Usually abut 30+ items and most annoyingly the last 4-5 were crucial driver installs. Nice work Acer!

The Bloatware folder on Acer/HPs etc is usually a good 2GB+.
 
ManofGod said:
The last time the start of the install let us do that was Windows 98 as I recall, maybe ME. Even XP did not allow anything like that. Also, I think your definition and my definition of bloat is not the same. My definition means the computer runs slower because of it, which is what bloat is.
Click to expand...

As I said...last century.

Bloat/bloating is nothing to do with speed so my definition is closer.

Yours would be along the lines of increased drag or resistance.
 
DPI said:
The biggest problem is the lack of even a single new "wow" feature in 10 to justify all the consumer-hostile stuff, all the functionally crippled metro apps taking over Win32 counterparts of earlier windows versions etc.

The last laptop I had to deal with that came preloaded with 10 took an hour to rip all the useless apps out, get rid of Edge and Cortada, nuke the telemetry and run a bunch of reghacks and powershell scripts from all over the net. Just way too much trouble to tame the damn thing.

I only ever upgrade software when there are improvements, and W10 isn't.
Click to expand...

Hope you did that work for free then if it was not your laptop. Otherwise, you should not be dictating how another persons computer is setup.
 
daglesj said:
Just gives us back a proper custom install option like we had last century for Christ's sake!

At the start of the install give the choice of full or custom. Custom gives you a long list of tick boxes that allows you to de-select all the crud you don't need or want.

Simple.
Click to expand...

If I could have one thing back from Win9x, it would be that. I have missed that feature since Xp shipped without it.
 
I have had several people drop their Windows 10 laptops and PCs into me and asked me to "get rid of all that app crap and make it like 7 for me!"

I do advise them it will all come back in a few months as "MS knows best!" They still tell me to get rid of it. It's their money and I'll take it if they insist.

I have to say I have made a great amount of money from sorting out Windows 10. More than any other OS over the past 25 years. Thanks MS!
 
tetris42 said:
Man, I saw that title and thought it was a simple way to remove all the spyware, telemetry, mandatory updating, etc. from Windows 10.
Click to expand...
Turns out its just w away to install vanilla W10 in place of a customized prebuilt OS version.

For all of us who have ran vanilla since the beginning, this is not exciting.
 
daglesj said:
Yeah always loved re-installing Acer laptops for customers and then having to shut the machines down and rebooting in Safe mode after they installed the OS. Otherwise they did a first run install of all the bloatware after that. Usually abut 30+ items and most annoyingly the last 4-5 were crucial driver installs. Nice work Acer!

The Bloatware folder on Acer/HPs etc is usually a good 2GB+.
Click to expand...

There is a free utility you can download that removes the bloat from OEM installs. I have it dpownloaded but have never needed to run it yet so don't know how good it is or not but here it is if interested.

PC Decrapifier
 
rezerekted said:
There is a free utility you can download that removes the bloat from OEM installs. I have it dpownloaded but have never needed to run it yet so don't know how good it is or not but here it is if interested.

PC Decrapifier
Click to expand...


I've tried those utilities (and that one) before with varying results. To be honest its easier to use a retail copy and hope it works with the OEM serial.
 
acquacow said:
Windows 10 users have had this option the whole time... you just boot to recovery mode and click "reset this PC"

This is not a new feature, I've used it a few times already after my win7 upgrade.

You can also go into settings => update & security => reset this pc

CGx8VYo.png
Click to expand...
I'm pretty sure the reset would result in an out-of-the-box install on an OEM machine.

Most Windows 10 users probably know that there is a Reset This PC tool in Settings that lets you reset your PC back to its original, factory condition. But since PC makers can modify the system image used by Reset This PC, the resulting clean install is anything but clean, and will include whatever crapware the PC maker decides to include.
Click to expand...
 
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